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Epic Games says installation abandonment for its iPhone marketplace fell from about 65% to 25% after Apple simplified the process in iOS 18.6. That before-and-after result supports Epic’s case that the earlier flow created substantial friction. It does not, on its own, prove Apple deliberately designed the process to scare people away. The changes concerned alternative app marketplaces in the European Union—not a worldwide opening of iPhone app distribution.
What Epic says changed
In a statement published on October 1, 2025, Epic described Apple’s revised EU installation process as a reduction from 15 steps to six. Epic said the update, introduced with iOS 18.6 in July 2025, removed a warning screen it considered misleading and eliminated a detour into the iOS Settings app that could leave users without a clear next step. Epic’s account supplies the step counts and its characterization of the former flow; The Verge’s contemporaneous report places the change in the EU regulatory context.
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The distinction matters: installing an alternative marketplace is not the same as installing an individual app from a website. The dispute here concerns the path users had to follow to install a marketplace such as the Epic Games Store. Epic’s report does not mean that iPhone users everywhere can install competing stores through the same process.
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Epic’s numbers show a steep drop in abandonment
Epic says roughly 65% of users who started installing its iOS marketplace abandoned the process or were thwarted before Apple’s changes. After the revised flow, it put that figure at about 25%. That is a fall of 40 percentage points, or roughly a 62% relative reduction—close to Epic’s description of a 60% decline.
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Epic also said the iOS installation success rate began approaching rates it saw on Windows and macOS. That comparison, like the abandonment figures, is Epic’s own reporting rather than an independently audited result. The figures are meaningful as a signal that the revised process coincided with many more users completing installation. But the available reporting does not establish the size or composition of the measured group, precisely how Epic defined an attempt or an abandonment, or whether the desktop comparison used equivalent users and conditions.
Why that is evidence of friction, not proof of intent
Epic’s argument is intuitive: Apple made the process shorter and removed obstacles, then fewer people dropped out. That pattern is consistent with the old flow discouraging users. It is reasonable to treat the reported change as evidence that the earlier experience imposed significant friction.
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But the comparison does not isolate the cause of the improvement. The update changed several things at once: the number of steps, the warning, and the Settings detour. The reported figures cannot show how much each element contributed, or whether other factors also changed. Those might include users becoming more familiar with the process, changes in Epic’s instructions or promotion, or differences in the people, devices and software versions involved. The available sources do not provide the methodological detail needed to rule those explanations out.
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The EU regulatory backdrop
The change was specific to alternative app distribution in the European Union, where the Digital Markets Act applies to designated gatekeeper platforms. Epic framed Apple’s update as a response to DMA enforcement. The Verge reported that the European Commission had raised concerns in April 2025 that Apple’s alternative-distribution process was overly burdensome and confusing.
That context helps explain why Apple changed the flow, but it does not establish that regulators ordered each individual interface change. The safer conclusion is that the revision followed regulatory scrutiny—not that a particular legal decision dictated every screen or step.
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Epic says the wider dispute is not over
Epic welcomed the shorter installation process while arguing that Apple’s other policies still disadvantage competing marketplaces. Its complaints include Apple’s Core Technology Fee, developer terms it describes as discriminatory toward companies supporting alternative stores, and Apple’s approval and notarization requirements. Epic also said fewer developers distribute mobile games through its iOS store than through its Android store. These remain Epic’s allegations and assessments; the reported drop in installation abandonment does not resolve them.
Epic brought Google into its statement as a comparison, alleging that Android’s installation process still involved 12 steps and that more than half of attempts to install the Epic Games Store were abandoned or sabotaged. It also criticized a warning about software from prominent Google competitors. Those counts and descriptions are Epic’s claims, not independently established measurements of Android’s overall installation experience.
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What iPhone users should take away
For EU users, Epic’s report suggests that Apple’s revised iOS 18.6 marketplace-installation flow was easier to complete than the earlier one. For users elsewhere, it is not evidence that the same alternative-marketplace route is available: the change was tied to EU rules. It is also a report about users who began installing Epic’s marketplace, not a measure of how all iPhone owners feel about third-party stores.
The strongest supported takeaway is narrower than Epic’s headline claim. Its numbers, if accurate and comparable, indicate that simplifying Apple’s process coincided with a substantial reduction in abandonment. They strengthen the case that the old design deterred some motivated users. Without fuller methodology or evidence of Apple’s decision-making, they do not prove that Apple deliberately set out to frighten users away.
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