Apple's NFT Rules, Explained: Why Blockchain Games Look Different on iPhone

If you've played the same blockchain game on a PC browser and an iPhone, you may have noticed the iPhone version feels oddly cut down. The marketplace is missing, a "buy" button leads nowhere, or the items you own appear but can't do anything. That isn't laziness on the studio's part. It's Apple's rulebook.

What the rules say

In October 2022, Apple updated its App Store Review Guidelines with rules written specifically for NFTs. The key points, in plain terms:

• Apps can sell NFTs, but only through Apple's own in-app purchase system. That means Apple takes its usual commission, up to 30%, on the sale.
• Apps can let you view NFTs you own, as long as owning them doesn't unlock features or functionality inside the app.
• Apps can't use buttons, links or other calls to action that send you to buy NFTs outside the App Store.
• Apps that let users browse NFT collections owned by others are allowed, as long as purchases follow the rules above.

For a blockchain game, the second rule is the big one. The whole point of an NFT sword is usually that it does something: you can equip it, it hits harder, it opens a dungeon. Under Apple's guidelines, that kind of NFT-gated functionality isn't allowed.

Why studios hate it

Web3 studios object to Apple's approach on several fronts:

• The 30% cut. Blockchain games often run marketplaces where players trade with each other. A commission of up to 30% on top of marketplace fees makes many of those economies unworkable.
• Gas fees. Moving an NFT on a blockchain costs a network fee. Apple's rules effectively treat those transactions as purchases that should run through in-app payment, which doesn't fit how blockchains work. In December 2022, Coinbase Wallet said Apple had blocked an app update until it disabled sending NFTs, on the grounds that gas fees had to be paid through in-app purchase.
• No unlocking. If NFTs can't unlock features, a lot of game designs simply can't run as intended on iPhone.

The result: many blockchain games ship an iPhone app that works as a "viewer" or play client, while trading and buying happen on the web.

What has changed since

Apple's grip on payments has loosened in some places, mostly because of law and lawsuits rather than blockchain:

• In the European Union, the Digital Markets Act forced Apple to allow alternative app marketplaces and alternative payment options on iPhone from 2024.
• In the United States, a federal court ruled in 2025, in the long-running Epic Games v. Apple case, that Apple had to allow apps to link out to external payment options without the restrictions and fees it had tried to impose.

Those changes don't rewrite the NFT-specific rules, but they give studios more room to send players to the web to buy items. How far that goes, region by region, is still being worked out.

What it means for players

• Expect the web to be the main storefront. Many blockchain games put marketplaces and purchases on their websites, not in the iPhone app.
• Items may look different on mobile. An NFT you own might be visible in the iPhone app but not usable there, depending on the game's design.
• Check the region. Rules for payments differ between the EU, the US and other markets, so the same game can work differently depending on where you live.

Why it matters

Platform rules quietly decide what blockchain games can be, sometimes more than any technology. Apple's stance isn't a ban, but by insisting on in-app payment and banning NFT-gated features, it pushes the "ownership" part of blockchain games off the iPhone. Google took a different path in 2023, allowing tokenised digital assets in Play Store games under its own policy. For many studios, that difference alone decides where they launch first.

For the bigger debate behind all this, read Do you really own that NFT sword?