Fortnite's U.S. iOS Return Seemingly Delayed For No Reason By Apple

Summary

Apple consumers in the United States should be able to play Fortnite on their devices by now. However, there is a holdup of some sort.
After a court decision paved the way for the battle royale to return, Epic Games submitted the app for review with the intention of having the game back up and running last week.
Most apps are reviewed in less than 24 hours, but Fortnite is now inching toward four days since it was submitted without a reason why it’s being held up.

After an absence of nearly five years, live-service battle royale Fortnite was supposed to return to iOS devices in the United States as early as last week. Keyword: was.

Harry and Kim from Disco Elysium on mobile phones.

Disco Elysium Is Coming To Mobile, And Maybe It Shouldn’t

Disco Elysium for the “TikTok user” is not the pitch ZA/UM thinks it is.

However, after roughly four days since initially applying for review, the app has yet to return to the Apple Store. Apple’s own website states that “90% of submissions are reviewed in less than 24 hours.” It’s unclear why exactly Fortnite has fallen in the camp of taking this long to be added to Apple’s ecosystem.

Fortnite Submitted Its Review On Friday, And There Hasn’t Been An Update Since

Originally, Epic Games won part of its dispute against Apple in an ongoing legal battle that dates back to 2020. That was last week, and Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found that Apple was in “willful violation” of an injunction that was meant to prevent the company from enacting anticompetitive practices.

The decision paved the way for Fortnite to return to the Apple ecosystem, and shortly after, CEO Tim Sweeney shared on social media that the game would be on devices by the following week.

While Apple disagreed with the ruling and filed a motion to stay, Epic reaffirmed on May 7 that it would still bring Fortnite back to iPhone and iPad devices. By May 9, the official Fortnite account revealed that it had submitted the app for review.

Flash forward to today and the question is: What’s taking so long? As Insider Gaming noted, it’s unlikely that there is an issue with the app itself, as Fortnite is available on iOS devices in other parts of the world.

For now, fans are stuck wondering when and if they’ll be able to resume loading up on their Apple hardware. There’s been no word on either side of what the delay is, and as the hours tick on, speculation only continues to rise.