I finally squad-wiped with my iPhone friend last night. No more “Sorry bro, my phone can’t run Fortnite” excuses. After five years of Apple’s ban, the battle royale’s back on iOS—but this feels less like a victory lap and more like respawning mid-fight.

Remember when mobile gaming just worked? You’d tap “install” and shoot noobs same-day. Now we’re stuck between corporate giants throwing legal nades. Epic fought Apple’s 30% cut on V-Bucks, sure, but who pays the price? We do—through clunky workarounds and FOMO when games vanish. I once tried Xbox Cloud Gaming just to play Fortnite on my iPad. Laggy mess. Felt like building walls through molasses.

This comeback’s sweet, but tastes bitter too. Yeah, I can buy skins directly now—maybe cheaper?—but Apple’s already appealing the court decision. What happens if they hit “undo” on this update? We’ll get yeeted back to 2020, begging friends for console codes. Remember when games stayed where you installed them? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

Five years ago, mobile Fortnite felt revolutionary. Now? We’ve got crossplay everywhere but trust issues. PlayStation hugs Xbox, Nintendo high-fives PC—yet app stores still act like walled gardens. Why can’t we just play without corporate babysitters? I miss when “mobile gaming” meant Snake on a Nokia, not lawyers arguing over digital piggybanks.

Don’t get me wrong—I’ll crank 90s on my iPhone till they drag it away again. But this feels bigger than one game. If Epic’s fight lets more devs ditch greedy fees, maybe we’ll see cooler indie games thrive. Till then, grab your Victory Umbrellas while you can. Apple might just hit the emergency patch button.