What changed for Apex Legends on PC

Apex Legends moved to EA Javelin Anticheat on PC on September 29, replacing Epic Games' Easy Anti-Cheat as the game's main PC protection layer. Electronic Arts says bringing the system in-house gives its security teams more visibility into emerging threats and more flexibility to improve detections.

For players, the transition is deliberately small. The change arrives through a required game update; after it installs, launching Apex Legends automatically starts the game with Javelin. EA did not announce a separate installer, account migration or paid requirement.

Does Apex Legends require Secure Boot now?

No additional Secure Boot step is currently required for Apex Legends. EA specifically acknowledges that some Javelin-protected games have asked players to change BIOS settings, then says that is not the case here: install the update, launch the game and play.

EA also did not publish a new set of Apex-specific hardware requirements alongside the migration. Players encountering installation or launch errors should therefore distinguish a confirmed general requirement from an individual technical problem before changing firmware settings.

Why EA is moving Apex to Javelin

Javelin is the current name for EA's in-house PC anticheat technology, first launched in 2022. EA says the system has supported more than 28 million PC players across over 2.2 billion sessions in franchises including EA Sports FC, Madden NFL, Battlefield, F1, WRC and Plants vs. Zombies.

EA says the technology focuses on detecting and preventing cheating while accounting for privacy and security. It reports an accuracy rate above 99 percent across games already using the system, but the Apex announcement does not provide game-specific detection totals or an independent audit of that figure.

What this means for consoles—and what remains unknown

The client-side migration announced for September 29 is a PC change. EA says it continues to use platform-specific data models and server-side detection against console cheating, but it did not announce a Javelin download or equivalent console installation step.

  • EA has not published Apex-specific detection or false-positive figures for Javelin.
  • The announcement does not establish whether Secure Boot could become necessary later.
  • No new appeal, enforcement or account-recovery process was announced with the migration.
  • EA did not attach a detailed compatibility matrix beyond its existing supported PC platforms.