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Apple Reminds Developers That Apps Offering Account Creation Need to Add Account Deletion by June 30

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Apple today reminded developers that all apps that support account creation need to have functionality for account deletion starting on June 30, 2022. That means if an app allows a person to sign up for an account, there must be an in-app way to delete said account later on.

iOS-App-Store-General-Feature-Sqaure-Complement.jpg

The account deletion rule was implemented as part of App Store changes that were introduced in June 2021, and Apple initially planned to require developers to support account deletion by January 31, 2022. That deadline has now been pushed back to give developers more time to make changes, and the rule will officially be enforced at the end of June.

According to Apple's guidelines, apps must make it easy for users to find the account deletion option, and it is insufficient for an app to offer to temporarily disable or deactivate an account. An account must be able to be deleted, along with all personal data.

Apple says that some apps in highly regulated industries can use customer service flows for confirming the account deletion, but apps outside of those industries should not require people to make a call, send an email, or otherwise jump through hoops to delete an account.

Developers can find more information about the account deletion requirements on Apple's website.

Article Link: Apple Reminds Developers That Apps Offering Account Creation Need to Add Account Deletion by June 30
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/05/24/apps-account-deletion-requirement-june-30/
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This is an example of what Apple does right, they think about the privacy and needs of users for details like this. It's not all the time, no company is perfect, but this is a step above pretty much any competitor. The requirement to delete all personal data is an important touch, I have no idea how many websites out there have my personal data stored on them, just waiting for someone to use it for their own (nefarious?) ends.
 
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Reactions: james2538, MacBH928, Maximara and 15 others
The New York Times was such a blatant example the reason this rule exists. A few years ago I subscribed to the NYT. Then I realized I wasn't reading it much so I decided to end the subscription.

There is literally no way to do so on the website. You have to call in and speak to a person!

Kudos to Apple for this.
 
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4jasontv said:
Is twitter hard to quit? LinkedIn is like herpes. You can't get rid of it. The best you can hope for is to live with it.
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tbh i haven't used linkedin in a while but i've heard its ended up like the rest

winxmac said:
You forgot Facebook and Instagram and WhatsApp...
Click to expand...

i feel those are harder to get by. at least FB. when i tried to make an account a few years ago, they wanted my picture ID. ended the sign up process right there and then. ill be damned if i give some social company my id.
 
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4jasontv said:
Is twitter hard to quit? LinkedIn is like herpes. You can't get rid of it. The best you can hope for is to live with it.
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haha I went to that professional conference and all I got was a lousy, venereal social network

SMH the suggested folks to connect with is creepy AF how accurate it is in finding people from years ago, college, etc. that I had nearly completely forgotten about
 
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scheinderrob said:
tbh i haven't used linkedin in a while but i've heard its ended up like the rest
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LOL. I have quit LinkedIn so many times I am starting to think they are owned by R. J. Reynolds.
scheinderrob said:
i feel those are harder to get by. at least FB. when i tried to make an account a few years ago, they wanted my picture ID. ended the sign up process right there and then. ill be damned if i give some social company my id.
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I don't know why, but I didn't use my real name when signing up for Facebook.
 
zorinlynx said:
The New York Times was such a blatant example the reason this rule exists. A few years ago I subscribed to the NYT. Then I realized I wasn't reading it much so I decided to end the subscription.

There is literally no way to do so on the website. You have to call in and speak to a person!

Kudos to Apple for this.
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Unfortunately this has been my experience with several newspapers. They make it a huge pain, not even including long wait times on hold trying to talk to the right team in customer service.
 
zorinlynx said:
The New York Times was such a blatant example the reason this rule exists. A few years ago I subscribed to the NYT. Then I realized I wasn't reading it much so I decided to end the subscription.

There is literally no way to do so on the website. You have to call in and speak to a person!

Kudos to Apple for this.
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If anyone is still having trouble with something similar, change your address to somewhere in California to enable online cancellations.
 
Stamps.com (not an iOS app) is an example of this shady practice. You’ve got to CALL them to cancel the monthly subscription. No way to do it online.
 
isn't this going to just drive developers to not allow account creation in app?
similar to how you can't buy stuff in app without using the apple payment options, the apps just make you buy stuff on the website
 
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This will be largely ineffective because most of the worst offending subscription apps (hulu, etc) do the account creation and payment outside the app store. Trying to delete one of those accounts, is a nightmare. Fig leaf policy at best.
 
4jasontv said:
I don't know why, but I didn't use my real name when signing up for Facebook.
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cuz you're smart. i didn't either and that's why i suspect they wanted my ID. someone who works there explained to me they they try their best to match you to a real person. if your email doesn't have your name, your phone number doesn't match their databases or they don't have any tracking cookies to tie you to a real person, they will try to verify you manually.
 
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Keymaster said:
This is an example of what Apple does right, they think about the privacy and needs of users for details like this. It's not all the time, no company is perfect, but this is a step above pretty much any competitor. The requirement to delete all personal data is an important touch, I have no idea how many websites out there have my personal data stored on them, just waiting for someone to use it for their own (nefarious?) ends.
Click to expand...

This is one of the arguments I make against the opening up of the App Store. I see buying an iphone like joining a union. There are annoying parts, but as a whole, I appreciate that this gives users a collective voice to force app makers to behave. If there are rival app stores or if users are able to sideload apps, then the user base can be divided, losing power to app developers.
 
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Reactions: hans1972, Maximara, Argoduck and 1 other person
Oh wow, this is a gorgeous move.

Our data stays on the Internet forever otherwise, and there's actually no way to delete it.
 
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