Epic reminds iPhone, Mac, and iPad users that 'Apple is blocking Fortnite updates' and they won't get Season 4 tomorrow

By Oliver Haslam
published

fortnite on iPhone XR
fortnite on iPhone XR (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • Epic is updating Fortnite and kicking off Chapter 2 – Season 4 tomorrow.
  • Except, anyone who plays on iPhone, iPad, and Mac is out of luck.
  • Now Fortnite is blocked from the App Store, gamers can't update.

Tomorrow sees the arrival of Fortnite Chapter 2 – Season 4. Or, it does so long as you aren't playing on an iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Apple's decision to remove Fortnite from the App Store also means that Epic can't update which, in turn, means gamers can't join in on the new season. And Epic is making sure those gamers know who to blame about it

In an update to its #FreeFortnite campaign, Epic has told users that "Apple is blocking Fortnite updates," which is true. Although it's obviously missing out the part about why that is.

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Apple is blocking Fortnite updates and new installs on the App Store, and has said they will terminate our ability to develop Fortnite for Apple devices. As a result, Fortnite's newly released Chapter 2 - Season 4 update (v14.00), will not release on iOS and macOS on August 27.

This is all expected, although some had held out hope that Epic would remove its rule-breaking in-app purchase circumvention and get the game back into the App Store before we got to this point.

Clearly, that isn't happening and it's gamers who lose out.

Still, we could always switch to Android and sideload. Right?

JK.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.

4 Comments
  • The way Epic is handling this makes me not want to check out Fortnite at all
  • It's a tough one. Neither Apple nor Epic are doing themselves any favours with this whole thing.
  • True, they both could do a lot better here.
  • "Apple is blocking Fortnite updates..."
    "..."
    "because we violated Apple's TOS and didn't get the TRO we wanted, and we don't want to buckle."