{"id":1959636,"date":"2026-05-28T10:28:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T07:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1959636"},"modified":"2026-05-28T10:28:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T07:28:07","slug":"fortnites-return-to-the-apple-app-store-and-ios-has-caused-an-eight-year-record-surge-in-downloads-with-a-spike-in-daily-activity-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1959636","title":{"rendered":"Fortnite&#8217;s return to the Apple App Store and iOS has caused an eight-year record surge in downloads, with a spike in daily activity, too"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/fortnite\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Fortnite<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">Fortnite&#8217;s return to the Apple App Store and iOS has caused an eight-year record surge in downloads, with a spike in daily activity, too<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">Epic comeback.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/fortnite-save-the-world.png?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Fortnite: Save the World key art\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"fortnite-save-the-world.png\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Epic Games<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Fran Ruiz avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/fran-j-ruiz-author.png?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Fran Ruiz avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"fran-j-ruiz-author.png\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/fran-ruiz\">Fran Ruiz<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Contributor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-05-28T10:28:07+00:00\">May 28, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/fortnite-apple-app-store-ios-return?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          1 comment<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"a8888b6d-5bc0-480f-a9ef-1f57b9dc36eb\" data-name=\"Fortnite\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Fortnite\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Fortnite\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Fortnite\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Fortnite\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Fortnite\" title=\"Follow Fortnite\"><br \/>\n  Follow Fortnite<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/fortnite\">Fortnite<\/a> has faced tons of difficulties in recent times, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/fortnite-still-biggest-game-in-the-world-but-playtime-dropped-in-2025\">engagement going down<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/fortnite-maker-epic-cuts-over-1000-jobs-as-battle-royale-suffers-slump\">massive layoffs<\/a> at Epic affecting its short-term creative potential. However, its recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/fortnite-app-store-epic-apple-court\">return to the Apple App Store<\/a> has kickstarted a surge in downloads and activity.<\/p>\n<p>The legal battle with Apple over storefront taxes and payment options isn&#8217;t over yet, but the raw numbers are in following Fortnite&#8217;s global return to iOS devices, and they&#8217;re fantastic to the point it almost neared its 2018 launch-week popularity on Apple&#8217;s platform.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\" style=\"display: none\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>Fortnite x Star Wars &#8211; Official Escape Vader Trailer<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cbYgC3qmm-I\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamesindustry.biz\/fortnites-global-ios-return-reportedly-reaches-34m-downloads-marking-an-eight-year-high\">GamesIndustry.biz<\/a> shared the data by AppMagic and compared the numbers to other key moments of Fortnite&#8217;s long life. With 3.4m downloads during last week&#8217;s return to the App Store, it nearly matched the launch-week figure of 3.7m, landing &#8220;its fourth-strongest week&#8221; ever. If you were wondering why Epic had been fighting Apple so hard over the game&#8217;s presence on Apple devices, there&#8217;s your answer.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Moreover, the global relaunch of sorts caused a sharp increase in daily activity, with installs rising by 1,408 percent, &#8220;from approximately 19,000 on May 18 to nearly 290,000 on May 19, peaking at 674,000 on May 23.&#8221; For reference, the original all-time record was around 764k daily downloads when it first launched on iOS. The previous daily install peak of 569k &#8211; achieved on 24th May, 2025, after its return to iOS only in the US &#8211; was also crushed thanks to the game reaching a global audience again.<\/p>\n<p>Is this enough to revitalise Fortnite in a way that satisfies Epic CEO Tim Sweeney and his team? It&#8217;s too early to tell, but it won&#8217;t bring back the hundreds of employees that were recently laid off. While the company&#8217;s plans remain ambitious and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/epic-set-to-release-arc-raiders-like-extraction-shooter-with-disney-characters-by-the-end-of-the-year\">might potentially extend beyond Fortnite<\/a>, the future is looking murky at best.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/fortnite\">Fortnite<\/a> has faced tons of difficulties in recent times, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/fortnite-still-biggest-game-in-the-world-but-playtime-dropped-in-2025\">engagement going down<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/fortnite-maker-epic-cuts-over-1000-jobs-as-battle-royale-suffers-slump\">massive layoffs<\/a> at Epic affecting its short-term creative potential. However, its recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/fortnite-app-store-epic-apple-court\">return to the Apple App Store<\/a> has kickstarted a surge in downloads and activity.<\/p>\n<p>The legal battle with Apple over storefront taxes and payment options isn&#8217;t over yet, but the raw numbers are in following Fortnite&#8217;s global return to iOS devices, and they&#8217;re fantastic to the point it almost neared its 2018 launch-week popularity on Apple&#8217;s platform.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\" style=\"display: none\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>Fortnite x Star Wars &#8211; Official Escape Vader Trailer<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cbYgC3qmm-I\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamesindustry.biz\/fortnites-global-ios-return-reportedly-reaches-34m-downloads-marking-an-eight-year-high\">GamesIndustry.biz<\/a> shared the data by AppMagic and compared the numbers to other key moments of Fortnite&#8217;s long life. With 3.4m downloads during last week&#8217;s return to the App Store, it nearly matched the launch-week figure of 3.7m, landing &#8220;its fourth-strongest week&#8221; ever. If you were wondering why Epic had been fighting Apple so hard over the game&#8217;s presence on Apple devices, there&#8217;s your answer.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Moreover, the global relaunch of sorts caused a sharp increase in daily activity, with installs rising by 1,408 percent, &#8220;from approximately 19,000 on May 18 to nearly 290,000 on May 19, peaking at 674,000 on May 23.&#8221; For reference, the original all-time record was around 764k daily downloads when it first launched on iOS. The previous daily install peak of 569k &#8211; achieved on 24th May, 2025, after its return to iOS only in the US &#8211; was also crushed thanks to the game reaching a global audience again.<\/p>\n<p>Is this enough to revitalise Fortnite in a way that satisfies Epic CEO Tim Sweeney and his team? It&#8217;s too early to tell, but it won&#8217;t bring back the hundreds of employees that were recently laid off. While the company&#8217;s plans remain ambitious and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/epic-set-to-release-arc-raiders-like-extraction-shooter-with-disney-characters-by-the-end-of-the-year\">might potentially extend beyond Fortnite<\/a>, the future is looking murky at best.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Fortnite Fortnite&#8217;s return to the Apple App Store and iOS has caused an eight-year record surge in downloads, with a spike in daily activity, too Epic comeback. Image credit: Epic Games News by Fran Ruiz Contributor Published on May 28, 2026 1 comment Follow Fortnite Fortnite has faced tons of difficulties in recent [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-1959636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1959636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1959636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1959636\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1959636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1959636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1959636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}