I can definitely see this being advantageous for the more reputable services, but there are so many apps that have "Free for 7 days, then $99.99 a week in perpetuity" on like a Photo Vault app, that is complete ******** in my opinion. Apple needs to crack down on these types of apps that are specifically designed to fleece end users of money in a shady way.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Developers May Soon Be Able to Automatically Charge Apple Users for Subscription Price Increases
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Why wouldn't it be legal? As the article said, they notify you about the change, just not make you explicitly say "yes". When your cell provider, server provider or whatever increase the price you usually just get an email about it, I've never been forced to actually say "yes". That said, I think it is much better for users to actually have to say "yes". This is not something I support.
>pilot test on a new subscription system.
This is not a pilot test on a new subscription system. This is Apple's everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others until it was called out by developers, it is suddenly a "pilot test".
This is not a pilot test on a new subscription system. This is Apple's everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others until it was called out by developers, it is suddenly a "pilot test".
One simple reason. Their 30% cut.
This may be an unfortunate byproduct of all the litigation around the App Store. And sorry developers, but this is exactly the sort of thing that makes me not want to hassle with spending money on apps. Default opt-in price increase is just not how I manage my finances. I suppose water and electricity are the exceptions but both have government oversight. Can’t imagine devs are interested in that.
Oh man, what about Family Sharing? It essentially invalidates the entire feature if the price I’m approving is subject to change without needing me to re-approve.
Oh man, what about Family Sharing? It essentially invalidates the entire feature if the price I’m approving is subject to change without needing me to re-approve.
It has been a long time since I looked into it, but generally speaking, EU, UK, and CommonWealth do not accept implied consent as in you read the message and if you dont disagree we will charge you X. They will need to seek explicit confirmation, or both parties can terminate the contract.
In the old days ( not really old, but pre Digital world ) this would have been a phone call. With Digital you could argue a press of a button is consent, but without a No / ignore button on the same screen would simply not be legal.
But then again this is Apple. Which doesn't give a flying flamingo about law outside of US.
Last edited:
AFAIK the EU was working on expanding consumer protections around subscriptions in general and one of the points was that it should be about as easy to cancel as it is to subscribe/renew. Not sure how far such proposals went.
I think it's more to address shady business practices which require a much more draconian process to cancel compared to subscribe or renew, e.g. having to mail or phone call their business instead of just clicking a few buttons.
I assume if such a rationale were to apply, an automatic renewal should be notified with a button which can be clicked and cancels the renewal directly.
Sure doesn’t help the matter that I still have notification issues from time to time - seemingly lost or greatly delayed - which is not terribly surprising as I regularly use 5 different Apple products within the same day, each have varying levels of Focus/Do Not Disturb settings between them. But if that’s the sole avenue I’ll be alerted of my $5/mo subscription turning into a $99/wk sub then the stakes are clearly much greater.
Last edited:
This what you get when anti-competitive practices are allowed
The same folk who want third party payment systems, in their apparent zeal to complain loudly about this, seem to forget that any developer with a third party system would already have had the ability to do this.
Is this Apple preparing for the future and getting their foot in the door now, before they're forced to allow third party payments?
This may be may well case of - you asked for it...
Is this Apple preparing for the future and getting their foot in the door now, before they're forced to allow third party payments?
This may be may well case of - you asked for it...
A vendor is required to offer the consumer the option to cancel the contract in case of unilateral price increases, but AFAIK the increase does not require explicit consent as long as the consumer is informed and the option to cancel can be exercised easily enough.
I can’t imagine that even the most generous assumptions would make the additional money collected from this more than a blip on the gigantic radar that is Apple’s revenue. This seems much more of an attempt to better situate Apple’s position in potential future trials brought on by developers (similar to the Epic/Fortnite saga).
I only have two active subscriptions through Apple, but this has me considering canceling the automatic renewal, and I'll decide once a year if the price hike is worth. I don't want developers deciding for me.
That's the only problem I see coming with this. Scam apps will start with $0.99/month subscriptions, and then up it to $20/mon after a few weeks.
Couldn’t agree more. Legislators, supposedly in their position to advocate/protect their constituents, get swept up in the “break up Big Tech” fever and end up forcing these companies hands to eliminate systems that protect consumers.
Suppose it’s just a coincidence that these developers that are integral in drumming up the anti-Apple sentiment are the same party that stands to gain the most by these changes.
As much as I do not want this... Notifications from the app store along with emails when the system detects one of these automatic prices changes would help prevent some predatory apps.. Something else that may help is if a developer makes a a subscription price change it doesn't go into affect for let us just say 30 days, this along with notifications of a detected price change from the app store would help a lot.
but please. just no.
but please. just no.
This is terrible for some obvious reasons, but the two that kill me:
1: Completely against all principles Apple claims to be about
2: This is a really *really* stupid time for them to do this. They are already under scrutiny for app store practices, with side loading becoming a possible reality in Europe. From a PR standpoint, multiple people need to be fired yesterday. This is pure arrogance.
Edit: If this thing truly goes live, and people stop subscribing to things, watch how fast this program gets dead.
1: Completely against all principles Apple claims to be about
2: This is a really *really* stupid time for them to do this. They are already under scrutiny for app store practices, with side loading becoming a possible reality in Europe. From a PR standpoint, multiple people need to be fired yesterday. This is pure arrogance.
Edit: If this thing truly goes live, and people stop subscribing to things, watch how fast this program gets dead.
Classic whataboutism
"Go hang out in a jail cell, that is worse"
"Put yourself in a plane that's crashing, that is more like hell"
"Your partner is dying from cancer, that is definitely worse than this"
Yes -- there are an endless number of worse things that are more akin to "hell".
We are allowed to think something is awful without having to also spell out all the other awful things as well.
This will happen anyway with 3rd party app stores and sideloading, if it can happen in the iOS App Store.
Saying that this is an "automatic" charge is misleading. The service is still required to notify you of the price increase in advance and you still have the opportunity to cancel your subscription before the new charges take effect.
To be fair, it says you get a notification letting you know its changing. But still *** that.