Rave Sues Apple in Five Countries Over App Store Removal

Alleges Antitrust Violations in U.S., Canada, Brazil, the Netherlands and Russia to Restore Access for Users and Defend Fair Competition for App DevelopersAlleges Apple Acted to Stop Rave from Competing with Apple’s Own Co-Viewing AppRave Launches Proprietary, AI-enabled Moderation System, a-eye.com, to Protect Users from Explicit Content

Rave Inc. (“Rave” or the “Company”), the developer and operator of the Rave app, a cross-platform co-viewing “super app” with more than 225 million downloads, today announced that it has filed antitrust lawsuits against Apple in five countries: the United States, Canada, Brazil, the Netherlands and Russia. The lawsuits challenge Apple’s unilateral and anticompetitive decision to remove Rave from its App Store, thereby distorting competition, reducing consumer choice in co-viewing functionalities and increasing the costs to users of switching between iPhone and competing smartphone devices.

Rave operates a social entertainment app that allows users in different locations to watch their favorite videos, movies, and TV shows together in real time across multiple operating systems and devices, including iOS, Android, Windows and macOS, and communicate through chat and voice. Rave alleges that this cross-platform experience threatened Apple’s closed iOS ecosystem, which Apple maintains by limiting the ways that iPhone users can interact with non-Apple devices or services. Rave further alleges that Apple removed Rave from the App Store to monopolize the market for smartphone co-viewing by restricting iPhone users to its own, iPhone-exclusive co-viewing service, SharePlay, eliminating a product that competed with Apple and gave users freedom of choice across devices and platforms and replacing it with one that steers users to Apple’s devices and services.

“Apple’s pretextual removal of Rave from the App Store has harmed consumers significantly by limiting choice and effectively preventing Apple customers from co-viewing and connecting with non-Apple customers,” said Michael Pazaratz, Chief Executive Officer of Rave. “Apple’s actions denied users access to a product they enjoy, disrupted the communities built on Rave and impaired Rave’s ability to compete fairly based on the strength of its product.”

Mr. Pazaratz continued: “This case is not simply about Rave – it should also send chills down the spine of all app developers. As long as Apple’s ‘gatekeeper’ power remains unchecked, no developer operating within Apple's ecosystem can ever be secure. When a dominant platform removes competing products without a fair process or accountability, all developers are disincentivized to invest in the sort of innovation that builds businesses, creates jobs and benefits consumers. We are taking the necessary actions to restore access for our users, and also to help ensure that digital app marketplaces remain fair, open, competitive and accountable to the consumers and developers who depend on them.”

Over months of inquiries from Rave, Apple cycled through multiple justifications — including unspecified allegations of fraud and vague concerns about content moderation — without ever identifying any specific conduct by Rave that violated any rule Apple was citing. Rave has developed industry-leading content moderation and age verification technologies, which it licenses to other platforms at a-eye.com. Meanwhile, the Attorneys General of West Virginia and Kansas are currently pursuing Apple for failures to detect and report illegal content on its own services.

Apple’s harm to Rave extends beyond the App Store. Despite Apple never expressing any concerns about Rave's Mac app, Apple began blocking Rave on macOS, falsely and maliciously telling users “Malware Blocked and Moved to Trash. 'Rave.app' was not opened because it contains malware.”

Rave’s lawsuits seek to restore iOS and macOS access for Rave users, and recover damages related to its arbitrary and anticompetitive removal from the App Store and false malware designation of Rave's Mac application. Additional information, including legal filings and information about Rave’s claims, is available at SaveRave.com.

Rave Inc. is represented by Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP and Saiber LLC in the United States, DMG Advocates LLP in Canada, VMCA Advogados in Brazil, Hausfeld Advocaten in the Netherlands, and EPAM Law Offices in Russia.

About Rave Inc.
Rave is the world’s first multimedia messenger and social streaming app powered by a millisecond-precise synchronisation engine that enables users in different locations to watch their favorite videos, movies, and TV shows together in real time while communicating through chat and voice. Based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and founded in 2016, Rave has grown into a global community connecting millions of users through shared entertainment experiences on Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, YouTube, Google Drive, and more. Rave is compatible with iOS, Android, Windows and macOS, and has 225 million total downloads. For more information, please visit https://rave.io/ or follow Rave on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and X.

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