Respawn has confirmed a significant change under the hood of Apex Legends on PC. Effective September 29, 2026, the game switches its PC anticheat system to EA Javelin Anticheat, ending its long-running partnership with the Easy Anti Cheat team at Epic Games. The developers thanked that team for years of cooperation, but say the move in-house gives their anticheat staff far better visibility into emerging threats and more flexibility to build and improve detections as cheating evolves.
The stated goal is simple: keep a high standard of competitive integrity across the Apex games. If you want the announcement in your own language, EA also published a fully localized version on its official blog.
What EA Javelin Anticheat is
EA Javelin Anticheat is a PC anticheat solution built to ensure fair play in EA games by preventing and detecting cheating, while putting an emphasis on privacy and security. The idea is that results, progression and success come down purely to merit – a level playing field where cheaters can’t mess with other people’s matches, security or privacy.
According to EA, on the titles that already run EA Javelin Anticheat the system has blocked millions of cheating attempts while keeping an accuracy rate of over 99%. There’s also a deeper introduction to EA Javelin Anticheat if you want the technical background.
What you need to do on September 29
Nothing complicated. When the change goes live, PC players will be prompted to download a game update. Once it finishes, you launch Apex Legends and get migrated to EA Javelin Anticheat automatically.
- Download and install the update when prompted.
- Launch the game – migration happens on its own.
- Play as usual, no extra setup required.
One important detail: some players know EA Javelin Anticheat from other EA titles, where it required digging through BIOS menus to enable secure boot. That is not the case for Apex Legends right now – just download, install, launch and play. If you’re unsure whether your rig is ready for the game in the first place, we have a separate breakdown of the system requirements.
What about consoles?
This change covers the core PC protection layer, but Respawn stresses that game integrity is a multi-platform priority. The team says it continues to actively invest in specialized data models and server-side detection methods aimed at console-specific cheats. Pulling anticheat engineering, telemetry and data capabilities together in-house is meant to give the teams more speed and visibility, and sharpen their ability to curb cheating across the whole landscape.
Why it matters
Respawn frames this as an important step in its ongoing investment in the best possible competitive experience, with more anticheat tooling and further updates to come as they’re ready. Enforcement against rule-breaking at the top of the ladder has been a recurring theme lately – we covered the wave of account sharing suspensions in a separate article.
To stay on top of anticheat news, the studio points to ApexLiveComms on X and Threads.
Where to go next
If you’re just getting into the battle royale, start with our guide on how to play Apex Legends, and everything else we write about the game lives in the Apex Legends news section.
FAQ
The switch takes effect on September 29, 2026, for PC players.
Only download the game update you’re prompted with. After it installs, launch Apex Legends and you’ll be migrated to EA Javelin Anticheat automatically.
No. Unlike some other EA titles that use EA Javelin Anticheat, Apex Legends does not require secure boot at this time – you just download, install, launch and play.
Apex Legends is moving off it. Respawn thanked the Easy Anti Cheat team at Epic Games for a long and fruitful partnership, but PC protection now runs on EA Javelin Anticheat.
The announcement covers the PC anticheat layer. For consoles, the team says it keeps investing in specialized data models and server-side detection aimed at console-specific cheats.