Opinion: How enforceable are EULAs today?

I was wondering today how often EULAs (end user license agreements) get tested in courts, and in particular, EULAs that appear in consumer-grade applications.

While most sound quite official, it’s hard to imagine most of them being very enforceable. Does anyone EVER read them?

Fair Cop !

I was amused a few years back when I was installing an application, clicked over the EULA and the application said “how could you possibly have read that in 1.076 seconds?”. Yep, got me there; that’s a fair cop.

Apple AppStore

What got me wondering about EULAs today though were the ones at the Apple AppStore. A while back, I installed a social media app on my iPhone. The new app seemed pretty good, right up till the day it had an update available. On the screen of my phone, it kept prompting me to update it.

I decided to update it, but that required logging into the AppStore. Even though it was a FREE application, I had to log in to the AppStore. Doing that on the phone is a bit cumbersome but ok. But after I did, it tells me that I now need to agree to the new AppStore terms and conditions. Once I had done that, it then told me that I should try my purchase again.

But the super annoying thing is that EVERY time I go to update the app, the AppStore terms and conditions seem to have changed. So this happens EVERY time.

No big deal you might say but the terms and conditions that you need to agree to occupy 58 PAGES. Has ANYONE EVER read all those 58 pages? And do I really need to read and agree to 58 pages of terms and conditions every time I want to update my free app? On a phone? You have to be kidding.

I’d love to see the page view statistics from Apple that show how many people have EVER retrieved most of those pages.

And as for the courts, I’m not sure how most judges would feel about enforcing rules that it’s almost impossible for a human to comply with.

2026-05-02