Apple Pulled Cal AI for Deceptive Billing Design, Not External Payments

[MacRumors]

Apple recently cracked down on Cal AI, an app owned by MyFitnessPal that tried to skirt Apple's in-app purchase rules. Apple told TechCrunch that it briefly pulled the calorie-counting app last week for violating purchasing guidelines and using a deceptive billing design.

When the app was pulled last week, there was speculation that it was removed for implementing web-based payments, something that is now allowed in the U.S. Apple said that's not the whole story, though, and the app was violating other guidelines.

Apple's ongoing legal battle with Epic Games led a judge to force Apple to allow U.S. developers to include links to external payment systems in their apps, but apps that are not classified as reader apps also have to include an in-app purchase option. Apps like Netflix and Spotify that offer streaming content are considered reader apps, but Cal AI is not.

As a non-reader app, Cal AI was allowed to direct users to a non-Apple purchase option for a subscription, which it did with a purchase flow using Stripe, but the purchase option should have been displayed alongside an in-app purchase option. Apple said Cal AI bypassed its required in-app purchase flow, misled customers by displaying the weekly calculated pricing more prominently than the amount the user would be billed, and had a free trial toggle that did not make the subscription's automatic renewal clear.

The app also prompted users who declined the initial subscription to agree to a second, different subscription purchase flow, leading to multiple negative reviews for its confusing third-party payment options.

Cal AI fixed the issues that Apple brought up, and the app returned to the App Store. TechCrunch suggests that Cal AI was experimenting to see whether Apple was still enforcing its rules following the court ruling requiring it to allow external payments in apps. With the Cal AI crackdown, Apple made it clear that it is indeed policing external payments.

MyFitnessPal and Cal AI have not commented on the situation. After returning to the App Store, Cal AI is once again the number four app on the App Store's Health and Fitness charts.

Article Link: Apple Pulled Cal AI for Deceptive Billing Design, Not External Payments

 

[germanbeer007]

good. pull myfitnesspal too. follow the rules or get banned. don't like it, go make it for android.

 

[HouseLannister]

Just waiting for some judge to shut Apple up and make the category of "reader app" go away. It already includes everything you could read, listen to, or watch. Doesn't mean there should be more punitive rules for apps that can't negotiate their status with Apple into this ridiculously wide and arbitrary category of preferred apps. It's like saying they don't have the elite membership card, so they need to pay more.

 

[mushy peas]

An insight into all of the scams and dodgy behaviour that is coming our way with the changes to the payment rules.

Developers are going to lose out here. What they gain in the reduction of the Apple fee is going to be offset and more by a reduction in the number of people comfortable with spending money on the App Store because of confusing, opaque and scammy behaviour like this.

Such a shame.

 

[ikramerica]

An insight into all of the scams and dodgy behaviour that is coming our way with the changes to the payment rules.

Developers are going to lose out here. What they gain in the reduction of the Apple fee is going to be offset and more by a reduction in the number of people comfortable with spending money on the App Store because of confusing, opaque and scammy behaviour like this.

Such a shame.

Yep. Chinese, Russian and dodgy apps from around the USA and the world billing directly will be the wild west of the internet all over again.

 

[canadianreader]

It's not a bad thing let these devs lose they're becoming worse than corporations charging subscriptions and collecting and selling users' data. Just look at the privacy app info and the amount of stuff they need us to share with them just to use a simple app. I'm done rewarding them with my money.

 

[HouseLannister]

the wild west of the internet all over again.

Is this sarcasm? How is the open web a bad thing? Want to go back to AOL keywords?

 

[sw1tcher]

Apple recently cracked down on Cal AI, an app owned by MyFitnessPal that tried to skirt Apple's in-app purchase rules. Apple told TechCrunch that it briefly pulled the calorie-counting app last week for violating purchasing guidelines and using a deceptive billing design.

good. pull myfitnesspal too. follow the rules or get banned. don't like it, go make it for android.

... unless you're X or Grok or someone with deep pockets who can hit back. That's when Apple will contact you privately and just give you a warning. If your app update doesn't fix the issue, Apple still won't ban the app but rather give you more chances until they're finally satisfied with the fix.

 

[JitteryJimmy]

using a deceptive billing design.

To be fair, many US companies across all industries engage in deceptive billing design. It's part of the innovation of tricking customers in hopes they can't spend the time to battle a billing bot.

Heck, I'm battling my ISP on a deceptive "discount" that evaporated a year early. Billing BS is everywhere.

If "Alternative App stores" permit anything that feels like billing trickery or deception, then they're going to fail. Nobody likes a fraudster.

 

[@Brett]

The amount of influencers peddling that app. It seemed like a scam anyway.

 

[svish]

Good to know about this. Don't think any app can escape by breaking Apple's rules. Apple will always be reviewing the apps submitted.

 

[Haiku_Oezu]

Yeah that tracks, I had Apple reject an update of mine for the same reason

We were using IAP but my stupid boss insisted we wrote “$1 month” instead of “$12 a year” for our subscription and the review team dinged us for it

 

[jerryjohnson]

Apple allowing external payments doesn’t mean apps can use deceptive pricing or hide subscription terms. If Cal AI was making weekly pricing more visible than the real charge, Apple was right to step in. Competition is good, but transparency matters more.