With Apple having booted Fortnite from the App Store, many iPhone users may now be looking for an alternate way to get their Victory Royale. But whatever you do, I implore you, please don’t drop a ton of money on eBay to buy an iPhone with a previously installed version of Fortnite.
Because Fortnite is no longer available for download in the App Store, it’s become a bit more difficult to install Epic Games’s wildly popular shooter onto iOS devices, mainly for anyone who hadn’t downloaded the game before it’s removal. Everyone who hasn’t downloaded it before is out of look at the moment and in response, grifters on eBay and other auction sites have started posting listings for used iPhones that already have Fornite installed, with prices ranging from regular used phone prices to well over $US10,000 ($13,990).
While it’s true this is one way to circumvent’s Fornite’s recent removal from the App Store, I feel it’s important to remind people that not only is this a huge waste of money, it’s also a very clunky solution to a problem that can be solved a number of other ways.
For example, if you’ve downloaded Fortnite previously but have since deleted it for whatever reason, you should still be able to re-install the game by going by clicking on your picture in the App Store, tapping the Purchased tab, My Purchases, and then searching for it in the Not on this iPhone section. Alternatively, you may even be able to use a backup of your device to reinstall Fortnite, and then simply update the game to get the latest version.
Unfortunately, because Fortnite is no longer available on the App Store and Epic isn’t able to push new updates to Apple’s servers, when the next season of Fortnite comes out (Fortnite is currently on Chapter 2 Season 3), iOS users will be out of luck. While people with older versions of Fortnite will still be able to play the game, they won’t have access to any of the new items, cosmetics, or features.
If you’re an iOS user and still want to play Fortnite for the first time, you’d actually be better off buying a console for less than the cost of those ridiculously priced iPhones on eBay. Fortnite accounts can be linked across multiple platforms (iOS, Android, console, and PC), so you can get a Nintendo Switch for $US200 ($280) to $US300 ($420) instead of forking over money to grifters on auctions sites who are trying to take advantage of potentially desperate customers.
Or you could even buy a cheap Android phone. While Fortnite has also been pulled from the Google Play Store, Google does allow users to sideload apps. So you could also buy a used Android phone and install Fortnite yourself using Epic’s APK file.
Either way, both options would be significantly cheaper than paying $US1,000 ($1,399) or heaven forbid $US10,000 ($13,990) for a used iPhone with Fortnite installed on it. Yeah it’s a bummer and definitely annoying that Fortnite isn’t available on the App Store or Play Store anymore, but there are multiple alternative ways of getting your fix without spending all your (parents’) money.