Apple Extends Deadline Requiring Apps Offering Virtual Group Events to Use In-App Purchases

[MacRumors]

Apple in September tweaked its App Store rules surrounding in-app purchase requirements for realtime experiences, and as a result, apps that offer virtual events for more than a single person must use in-app purchases.

Apple was originally requiring apps to comply starting in December 2020, but the deadline has now been pushed out until June 30, 2021.

As the world fights COVID-19, we recognize that adapting experiences from in-person to digital continues to be a top priority. Although apps are required to offer any paid online group event experiences (one-to-few and one-to-many realtime experiences) through in-app purchase in accordance with App Store Review guideline 3.1.1, we temporarily deferred this requirement with an original deadline of December 2020. To allow additional time for developing in-app purchase solutions, this deadline has been extended to June 30, 2021.

Apple's App Store rules allow apps that offer realtime person-to-person experiences between two individuals to use purchase methods other than in-app purchase, but this does not extend to group classes. So, for example, tutoring, medical consultations, real estate tours, and one-on-one fitness training sessions can be purchased within apps without having to rely on in-app purchase, but that doesn't apply to group events.

All realtime person-to-person experiences that are one-to-a-few or one-to-many events that involve more than two people have to implement in-app purchases. Apple made this rule change because so many services have been forced to go digital due to the ongoing health crisis.

Apps like ClassPass and Airbnb normally offer real world purchase options that are not subject to in-app purchases, but have instead been offering virtual experiences in recent months.

Since virtual experiences are subject to in-app purchase rules, Apple has been wanting to take a cut of sales from those apps, which ClassPass and Airbnb have resisted. As a result, Apple tweaked the rules to allow for person-to-person purchases that don't have a fee, while subjecting group events to the fee.

Apple has said that waiving commission for ClassPass, Airbnb, and similar apps would be unfair to other developers. "Apple maintains a clear, consistent set of guidelines that apply equally to everyone," Apple has said of the dispute.

Apps like ClassPass and Airbnb will now have until the end of June 2021 to comply with Apple's new requirements. Apple also recently announced a policy that allows app developers that earn under $1 million per year to pay 15 percent commission to Apple instead of 30 percent.

Article Link: Apple Extends Deadline Requiring Apps Offering Virtual Group Events to Use In-App Purchases

 

[ozzymo]

Oh how nice of Apple. Won't they go bankrupt though without taking that juicy 30% of everything they can?

 

[Coconut Bean]

Looking forward to the day when VAT finally stands for VERY APPLE TAX!

 

[kennyt72]

Good to see the Apple money grab machine alive and well.

 

[MauiPa]

15%. Did anyone hear oh google and others dropped their fees too?

 

[ozzymo]

Yea they're getting scared of all the government scrutiny going on now. There is no goodwill on Apple's or Google's part. They figure it will be cheaper for them to drop some of the fees to 15% rather than take a chance of governments around the world forcing them to drop their rates and make other concessions.

 

[farewelwilliams]

if you can’t follow the rules, don’t submit to the app store. it’s not hard.

 

[PickUrPoison]

Oh how nice of Apple. Won't they go bankrupt though without taking that juicy 30% of everything they can?

Nope, they’ll be fine. I’m sure they appreciate your concern though 🙂

 

[PickUrPoison]

Good to see the Apple money grab machine alive and well.

You mean the Apple money giveaway machine, right? Or maybe you didn’t read the article 🤣

 

[PickUrPoison]

Yea they're getting scared of all the government scrutiny going on now. There is no goodwill on Apple's or Google's part. They figure it will be cheaper for them to drop some of the fees to 15% rather than take a chance of governments around the world forcing them to drop their rates and make other concessions.

Since when do governments around the world “force” companies to drop their commission rates 5 or 10 points because some complainers think it’s “too much”. That’s not a thing lol.

But yeah, cutting fees in half for all companies making less than a million is an awesome move. Thanks Tim Apple!

Large companies like Epic pay the full 30%, or maybe that 30% goes up to 35-40% to cover the money Apple will lose from giving smaller companies the 50% cut on commissions.

 

[ozzymo]

Since when do governments around the world “force” companies to drop their commission rates 5 or 10 points because some complainers think it’s “too much”. That’s not a thing lol.

But yeah, cutting fees in half for all companies making less than a million is an awesome move. Thanks Tim Apple!

Large companies like Epic pay the full 30%, or maybe that 30% goes up to 35-40% to cover the money Apple will lose from giving smaller companies the 50% cut on commissions.

Dude drink kool-aid much? Apple really cares about small businesses? Why did Apple just decide to spread forth the goodwill now years after the App Store opened? They could have done this years ago. You really really think its a coincidence they're doing it now when they are under investigation all around the world for monopolistic app stores. Apple's bread and butter is not iPhones or iPads it is the App Store ecosystem. If they are forced to open up the ecosystem they will lose billions. Certain governments are already holding talks about these Silicon Valley app stores and their practices. Hopefully it is only a matter of time before they bust them open and knock apple down a peg or two.

 

[ozzymo]

Did anyone else laugh when they read the quote that "Apple maintains a clear, consistent set of guidelines that apply equally to everyone"? Yea everyone who isn't Netflix or anyone who doesn't have enough power to threaten our bottom line. Apple hates Netflix and tried years ago to make them adhere to a stricter set of rules like the ones they are holding game streaming apps to. Netflix laughed and called their bluff and then Apple caved and made a different rule for video streaming apps known as the Netflix exception. Apple knows that if they pissed Netflix off and they took their app off iOS devices they would lose millions and millions of iOS customers to Android. Apple is so full of it. And it's crazy how many hoops the people on here will jump through to justify every random decision Apple makes.

But I posted in another thread and I would love for the apple cultists on here to defend two positions of Apple: 1). The fact that Apple caves to the Chinese government and kicks off apps the government doesn't like. Nothing wrong with doing that, but then you can't turn around and claim to be a company with a conscience that believes in human rights. 2). The privacy violations that are just coming out about Big Sur. Apple changed the network extension API that firewalls are allowed to use and made sure that their own processes and telemetry go around that api so no firewall can block it.

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

Looking forward to the day when VAT finally stands for VERY APPLE TAX!

Vast Apple Tax

 

[GermanSuplex]

Apple is being generous here. They invested the R&D into these products that are now crucial to everyday life for millions of students, workers, friends and family. Naturally, they want a return on their investment. How popular would Zoom and these other platforms be without Apple, Samsung, etc?

If I invented a product the world suddenly needed, I’d hope to be compensated. That said, Apple can afford the loss at the moment and I think it’s a good thing they’ve paused taking a cut.

 

[MauiPa]

Yea they're getting scared of all the government scrutiny going on now. There is no goodwill on Apple's or Google's part. They figure it will be cheaper for them to drop some of the fees to 15% rather than take a chance of governments around the world forcing them to drop their rates and make other concessions.

Long live the free market. Btw, did google drop its fees yet?

 

[MauiPa]

Did anyone else laugh when they read the quote that "Apple maintains a clear, consistent set of guidelines that apply equally to everyone"? Yea everyone who isn't Netflix or anyone who doesn't have enough power to threaten our bottom line. Apple hates Netflix and tried years ago to make them adhere to a stricter set of rules like the ones they are holding game streaming apps to. Netflix laughed and called their bluff and then Apple caved and made a different rule for video streaming apps known as the Netflix exception. Apple knows that if they pissed Netflix off and they took their app off iOS devices they would lose millions and millions of iOS customers to Android. Apple is so full of it. And it's crazy how many hoops the people on here will jump through to justify every random decision Apple makes.

But I posted in another thread and I would love for the apple cultists on here to defend two positions of Apple: 1). The fact that Apple caves to the Chinese government and kicks off apps the government doesn't like. Nothing wrong with doing that, but then you can't turn around and claim to be a company with a conscience that believes in human rights. 2). The privacy violations that are just coming out about Big Sur. Apple changed the network extension API that firewalls are allowed to use and made sure that their own processes and telemetry go around that api so no firewall can block it.

And Apple caves to the US Government too. It’s called adherence to local laws and regulations. Maybe you could come up with a scenario where a company doesn’t have to comply?

 

[MauiPa]

Dude drink kool-aid much? Apple really cares about small businesses? Why did Apple just decide to spread forth the goodwill now years after the App Store opened? They could have done this years ago. You really really think its a coincidence they're doing it now when they are under investigation all around the world for monopolistic app stores. Apple's bread and butter is not iPhones or iPads it is the App Store ecosystem. If they are forced to open up the ecosystem they will lose billions. Certain governments are already holding talks about these Silicon Valley app stores and their practices. Hopefully it is only a matter of time before they bust them open and knock apple down a peg or two.

Yawn. I agree they are a market leader and dropped fees way before google, who hasn’t yet. But try and estimate how much developers earned on various platforms while not having to handle marketing, billing and payments

I do not know what the right rate is, but I know google and all the others charge 30% still. Let the market decide - a basic principle of free markets

 

[PickUrPoison]

Dude drink kool-aid much? Apple really cares about small businesses? Why did Apple just decide to spread forth the goodwill now years after the App Store opened? They could have done this years ago. You really really think its a coincidence they're doing it now when they are under investigation all around the world for monopolistic app stores. Apple's bread and butter is not iPhones or iPads it is the App Store ecosystem. If they are forced to open up the ecosystem they will lose billions. Certain governments are already holding talks about these Silicon Valley app stores and their practices. Hopefully it is only a matter of time before they bust them open and knock apple down a peg or two.

I get you’re triggered when Apple does good things, but this is more about the pandemic than antitrust issues 🤷‍♂️

Those one-to-many fees will kick in next June, or possibly be delayed temporarily depending on the pandemic. Doesn’t sound to me like Apple is overly concerned wrt that particular category of App Store fees. Apple may carve out some exceptions, we’ll see.

The half price deal for devs making less than a million may be temporary or permanent, afaik. But Apple will continue to collect the 30% (maybe more, who can predict the future lol) from the larger devs, who can afford to subsidize the smaller devs.

It doesn’t seem like Apple’s exactly running scared to me, but if it pleases you to think so, feel free 🙂

On the other hand, daddy goin’ drop the hammer on Google and Amazon. Facebook is a whole other cesspool, with Twitter almost as bad, so for those who like to see increasing regulatory scrutiny leading to government action, they should get their fill over the next 3-10 years as the various lawsuits play out.

Boy will the heads explode around here when Apple faces little to no interference from various governments 🤯

 

[PickUrPoison]

Did anyone else laugh when they read the quote that "Apple maintains a clear, consistent set of guidelines that apply equally to everyone"? Yea everyone who isn't Netflix or anyone who doesn't have enough power to threaten our bottom line. Apple hates Netflix and tried years ago to make them adhere to a stricter set of rules like the ones they are holding game streaming apps to. Netflix laughed and called their bluff and then Apple caved and made a different rule for video streaming apps known as the Netflix exception. Apple knows that if they pissed Netflix off and they took their app off iOS devices they would lose millions and millions of iOS customers to Android. Apple is so full of it. And it's crazy how many hoops the people on here will jump through to justify every random decision Apple makes.

But I posted in another thread and I would love for the apple cultists on here to defend two positions of Apple: 1). The fact that Apple caves to the Chinese government and kicks off apps the government doesn't like. Nothing wrong with doing that, but then you can't turn around and claim to be a company with a conscience that believes in human rights. 2). The privacy violations that are just coming out about Big Sur. Apple changed the network extension API that firewalls are allowed to use and made sure that their own processes and telemetry go around that api so no firewall can block it.

Black and white thinking much?

1) Apple must follow the same laws every other company does. Sure, they could pull out of China but they haven’t. 100% good minus 5% bad is still 95% good.

Same with the ecoterrorists around here trying to claim Apple isn’t green because RAM or SSDs aren’t socketed anymore. 100% awesome less 2% suckage still gives Apple a 98% awesomeness rating, right?

That’s how things work in the real world. No one is perfect, far from it—Apple included 🤷‍♂️

2) haven’t heard about this egregious violation of customer privacy yet.

 

[ozzymo]

Black and white thinking much?

1) Apple must follow the same laws every other company does. Sure, they could pull out of China but they haven’t. 100% good minus 5% bad is still 95% good.

Same with the ecoterrorists around here trying to claim Apple isn’t green because RAM or SSDs aren’t socketed anymore. 100% awesome less 2% suckage still gives Apple a 98% awesomeness rating, right?

That’s how things work in the real world. No one is perfect, far from it—Apple included 🤷‍♂️

2) haven’t heard about this egregious violation of customer privacy yet.

I love this thinking. If a country has horrible laws that involve human rights violations; companies should just give in and adhere to said laws so they don't lose profits. Which is all fine and good, this is a capitalist country and Apple is worth over a trillion dollars. But please, please explain how Apple can do that and then still go around acting like they are a company with such a big heart and cares deeply about human rights and social justice and all that. Apple does like 1% good, it donates to charities an amount which would be equal to us donating like a quarter and then does horrible things like gets in bed with China so it can keep their industry leading profit margins. You know it's pretty bad when workers are jumping to their deaths to escape factories which produce iPhones. But please keep espousing the good word from the book of Apple. This is coming from someone who loves Apple products but just never did develop a taste for the KoolAid.

 

[ozzymo]

And Apple caves to the US Government too. It’s called adherence to local laws and regulations. Maybe you could come up with a scenario where a company doesn’t have to comply?

Name one example of Apple caving to the US Government involving human rights violations. They cave to the government when it comes to things like terrorism or investigating crimes. When it comes to China, Apple will kick apps off the store that involve people protesting their government. They do business with a government that enslaves people to their job where people have to commit suicide to get out of the job. And those jobs involve making iPhones and iPads. So yea of course when you are involved in things like that, you are going to donate a little bit of money and stand up for privacy; just anything to take the attention off of your deeds in China.

 

[ksec]

Since when do governments around the world “force” companies to drop their commission rates 5 or 10 points because some complainers think it’s “too much”. That’s not a thing lol.

You should read up Visa and MasterCard.

 

[4509968]

if you can’t follow the rules, don’t submit to the app store. it’s not hard.

I am an iOS App Developer

"When vaccines become mandatory and you dont want to vaccinate, just stop living. it's not hard."
"When the rule says women cant vote, and women want to vote, just dont vote. it's not hard."

That's how smart you say.

Guess you dont really think what is the reasoning behind rules, or reasonability of rules, do you?

 

[4509968]

Yawn. I agree they are a market leader and dropped fees way before google, who hasn’t yet. But try and estimate how much developers earned on various platforms while not having to handle marketing, billing and payments

I do not know what the right rate is, but I know google and all the others charge 30% still. Let the market decide - a basic principle of free markets

the subscription fee drop while at the same time forcing in-app purchases for this, is bean counting. most new subs will be for online classes. So it is still gonna make more money. Why else would Apple do it, for charity? FYI Apple doesnt do that.

'way before google' is cute. a few days is way before? Google just has to calculate whether doing the same as Apple makes sense. Including forcing in-app purchases for group classes. they will prep for that. Google just set the same 30% as Apple before. Also copied the drop to 15% after a year. Are they really gonna not copy now?

I am an iOS App Developer. So I think I can answer a bit on these?

marketing? do you think apple actually helps in marketing apps so well? Nope, not really. If you mean that Apple lets me pay for Ads to come up on Search Results, yea great help. Their search is garbage and doesnt help in discoverability. And the 'Today' tab? That happens when an app does well in the first place. Which isnt thanks to Apple helping in 'marketing'. Let me give you a hint who actually help. Reviewers on websites. And web search results with such reviews.

billing and payments? think they account for 30% of revenue if a developer does it themselves? (I am gonna stick with 30%, not 15%, as that was what was done for years) Ok, you want to say App Store hosting and support matters. But, they dont charge anything for free apps. So it's not exactly charged for all apps. Still, how much of revenue can billing and payment account for, 15%? 10%

and 'let the market decide'? let me say, if 'the market' actually decides in a duopoly, apple and google here (there are no other players worth it, please), might need to see what 'the market' even means, and how duopolies even work, in tandem. a 'free market' of two, when both players are syncing their policies, is not really choice.

Finally, what exactly is the amazing support that Apple provides for these group events, to justify a 15% cut and 'must use in-app purchases'? Spotify can be bought without forcing in-app purchases. Why not these?

 

[4509968]

2) haven’t heard about this egregious violation of customer privacy yet.

havent heard huh.

tell me, if you dont hear a tree fall in a forest, did the tree fall?

here, let me google it for you. when Apple does such things, it must be spoonfed to apologists, i realise.

Apple lets some Big Sur network traffic bypass firewalls

Firewalls are “100% blind” to ~50 Apple apps and processes under undocumented change.

arstechnica.com