Apple fights legal and privacy battles as Supreme Court looms

Apple’s App Store fee fight reaches the Supreme Court

Apple lost its bid to pause the court‑ordered changes to App Store payment rules. The decision leaves external purchase links active and pushes the Epic Games dispute toward the Supreme Court. The TechCrunch report notes that the case will now be argued before the nation’s highest court. Apple must continue to honor the new payment architecture while the legal battle drags on. The stakes are clear: a ruling could reshape how developers monetize iOS apps and how much Apple can extract from each transaction.

Apple’s ad personalization settings under scrutiny

Apple lets users turn off personalized ads in Settings → Privacy & Security → Apple Advertising. The toggle stops the company from using browsing data to serve more relevant ads, but it does not guarantee fewer ads. The same settings page also controls location‑based ads. Users can disable Location Services entirely or set the App Store and Apple News to “Never” access their location. According to the HN guide, the steps are identical on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Apple markets the feature as privacy‑respectful, yet the ability to opt out highlights the tension between revenue and user control.

AI “nudify” apps proliferate despite Apple’s takedowns

The Tech Transparency Project identified 48 apps on the Apple App Store that can strip clothing from images of women. Those apps have been downloaded over 705 million times worldwide and generated $117 million in revenue. Apple removed 28 of the offending apps, but two were later restored. The Verge observed that Apple acted quickly against the ICEBlock app while allowing X to remain. Google suspended several similar apps on its Play Store, but the problem persists across both ecosystems. The report also notes that X and Grok, the most notorious nudify tools, are still available and face investigations in the EU and UK.

Brussels pushes Uber off Apple and Google stores

Brussels Minister of Mobility Pascal Smet filed a complaint seeking to ban Uber’s UberPOP service in the capital region. The minister plans to write to the Belgian Computer Crime Unit and to both Google and Apple, asking that the Uber app be removed from their stores. The move follows a pattern of local bans in Spain, Thailand, India, the United States, Brazil, and the Netherlands. Uber’s head of public policy for EMEA claims the company is “perfectly legal” and is doubling revenue every six months in Europe, but the Brussels push signals that regulatory pressure is intensifying.

What to watch

The Supreme Court’s ruling on the Epic Games case will set a precedent for all app‑store ecosystems. At the same time, Apple’s ad‑personalization controls and its handling of AI‑nudify apps will be tested by privacy advocates and regulators. Finally, Brussels’ attempt to force Apple and Google to pull Uber could become a template for other cities. Track the Court’s opinion, any new Apple policy updates, and the outcome of the Belgian complaint for the next wave of tech‑industry turbulence.

Updates

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