Apple Adds Extra Confirmation Step When Purchasing Subscriptions in Apps

[gorkt]

Until they put the subscriptions list as a main option under settings instead of being buried 4 layers deep, I don’t trust they really care about the consumer. Sure, I know how to get to it, but less tech savvy folks won’t know and will pay for subscriptions that they aren’t using. The business model depends on it, similar to Planet Fitness or other low price subscription services.

 

[C DM]

Until they put the subscriptions list as a main option under settings instead of being buried 4 layers deep, I don’t trust they really care about the consumer. Sure, I know how to get to it, but less tech savvy folks won’t know and will pay for subscriptions that they aren’t using. The business model depends on it, similar to Planet Fitness or other low price subscription services.

Not sure that having it in a fairly appropriate and fitting place means anything along the lines of them not caring about the consumer:

Open the App Store
Click on your avatar (upper right corner)
Select ‘manage subscriptions’ from the menu

 

[Briskit]

Thank god, I always keep my finger on the print and I’ve almost bought things before.

 

[fairuz]

What's with the complaints? It's one dialog box, and purchasing a subscription is a rare action.

 

[kmj2318]

Whoa! indeed

/s

 

[matrix07]

Cancelling a subscription is bloody hard to find. iOS Settings app search doesn't know the 'subscription' keyword (anymore). Really bad.

App Store app. Clicks your account and Manage Subscriptions is right there in plain sight.

 

[carltabet]

Accidental subscription purchases have been an ongoing problem with Touch ID iPhones where a purchase could be made unintentionally when putting a finger on the Home button (such as when pressing to exit out of the App Store), but the new confirmation screen makes it clearer that you're initiating a recurring subscription on both Face ID and Touch ID iPhones.

This happened to me once but App Store support canceled the subscription purchase before it was debited from my card.

 

[Digitalweddings]

Apple hides Subscription settings deliberately on the Iphone. I mean you have to go to Settings -> Your Name -> Itunes & App Store -> Click on your apple Id at the top (how must the average user know this?) -> View Apple Id -> Subscriptions right at the bottom. Subscriptions also don't come in Iphone search results ???

 

[Vjosullivan]

Until they put the subscriptions list as a main option under settings instead of being buried 4 layers deep, I don’t trust they really care about the consumer. Sure, I know how to get to it, but less tech savvy folks won’t know and will pay for subscriptions that they aren’t using. The business model depends on it, similar to Planet Fitness or other low price subscription services.

It's not really about customer care. It's about protecting themselves from being sued over accidental or surreptitious subscriptions given that all the apps in their store has been through their approval process.
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Apple paid $34 billion to developers in 2018, including subscriptions and one time purchases.

Those developers earned $34 billions from sales of their software to paying customers. It wasn't "given" to them by Apple.

 

[matrix07]

Apple hides Subscription settings deliberately on the Iphone. I mean you have to go to Settings -> Your Name -> Itunes & App Store -> Click on your apple Id at the top (how must the average user know this?) -> View Apple Id -> Subscriptions right at the bottom. Subscriptions also don't come in Iphone search results ???

iTunes purchases don’t come in search in Settings either because you’re looking at the wrong place. You purchase something, you looks for it on where you purchase. App Store or iTunes, not Settings.

Looks at post #31 for how to do it, easily.

 

[unplugme71]

automatic renewal of subscriptions is bogus. They should all have to be manually renewed each month with a simple prompt screen. Automatic rollover monthly payments should be only available as an opt in option. Not mandatory.

Or only allow automatic if you choose with a drop down of terms (6 mo, 12mo, 18mo, etc...)

 

[GeoStructural]

I hate this subscription schemes, I have none. All the productivity apps have good free alternatives.

 

[Wowmail]

I Love this! Every morning I start iHeart Radio to listen to 1 channel. The Subscription solicitation for extra services pops up. No matter how carefully you hit the "X" it still opens the app store. about this time I have coffee.. and catch it on time. This extra measure of security is well needed!

 

[KALLT]

iTunes purchases don’t come in search in Settings either because you’re looking at the wrong place. You purchase something, you looks for it on where you purchase. App Store or iTunes, not Settings.

The screenshot in the article shows that the alert states “Settings” though. This would only add to the confusion, because now a user might expect to find the menu somewhere in the settings app.

 

[hipnetic]

iTunes purchases don’t come in search in Settings either because you’re looking at the wrong place. You purchase something, you looks for it on where you purchase. App Store or iTunes, not Settings.

Looks at post #31 for how to do it, easily.

You are correct, and I learned about this later (but also forgot about it again). IMO, the search feature in Settings should *also* bring up a place where you can manage subscriptions. And before you tell me that "in only makes sense that this would be managed within the App Store", most app-specific things are managed via the Settings "app", not the App Store "app". So, part of the problem is that Apple's user experience on iOS devices is not as good as it should be.

But let's move away from how easy/hard Apple makes it to manage subscriptions...Apple is pretty strict (in some cases) about which apps they allow in their App Store, and there's no shortage of stories about apps that were allowed, then later disallowed, and Apple providing poor explanations for why. So we know that there are Apple employees who have the job of reviewing app submissions and allowing/disallowing them into the App Store. It seems like Apple could have some guidelines around subscriptions and if a subscription price is significant, they should have some strong guidelines about how an app makes that extremely clear to customers. And, on Apple's part, I think they could very easily have some sort of pop-up notification a week before the subscription kicks in that informs the user about it and explicitly states the amount that is going to be charged if the user doesn't cancel the subscription.
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automatic renewal of subscriptions is bogus. They should all have to be manually renewed each month with a simple prompt screen. Automatic rollover monthly payments should be only available as an opt in option. Not mandatory.

I think this would be overkill and would actually provide a poor user experience. If you're subscribing to Netflix via Apple TV, do you *really* want to have to manually agree to next month's re-up every month? But how about this? If you download a "free trial" with a "free xx month subscription" how about forcing you to opt-in to the *first* month/year auto-subscription that's about to kick in?

 

[matrix07]

on Apple's part, I think they could very easily have some sort of pop-up notification a week before the subscription kicks in that informs the user about it and explicitly states the amount that is going to be charged if the user doesn't cancel the subscription.

They do inform.. via email.
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The screenshot in the article shows that the alert states “Settings” though. This would only add to the confusion, because now a user might expect to find the menu somewhere in the settings app.

That’s great observation. I agree that it adds to the confusion.

 

[C DM]

Apple hides Subscription settings deliberately on the Iphone. I mean you have to go to Settings -> Your Name -> Itunes & App Store -> Click on your apple Id at the top (how must the average user know this?) -> View Apple Id -> Subscriptions right at the bottom. Subscriptions also don't come in Iphone search results ???

Or...

Open the App Store
Click on your avatar (upper right corner)
Select ‘manage subscriptions’ from the menu

 

[martyjmclean]

Cancelling a subscription is bloody hard to find. iOS Settings app search doesn't know the 'subscription' keyword (anymore). Really bad.

Why would App subscriptions be in Settings? They're in the App Store with the rest of your purchases.