Apple is taking another step towards de-escalation in the dispute over payment options in the App Store. An agreement provides that developers for iOS and iPadOS are now allowed to inform users about alternative payment options with the help of data collected from the use of the app.
This is the result of an out-of-court settlement reached by Apple and developers on a class action lawsuit regarding the payment terms in the App Store, which has yet to be approved by the competent court and which the iPhone manufacturer informed about in a press release. In this, Apple also undertakes to specify the guidelines to the effect that iOS developers may, with their permission, also use the data collected in their apps to inform users about payment options outside the App Store. If a user has saved their email address in the app, the developer can use this to inform them about other payment options in the future. However, users must explicitly consent to this type of contact and can revoke it at any time. Offering additional payment options within the app is still prohibited.
Departure from previous implementation
The company is again softening its previously very restrictive approach for the second time within just three months: Until June 2021, developers were explicitly prohibited from actively informing users outside of the app store about other payment options. Apple already weakened this rule with the update of the App Store guidelines in the same month so that developers could actively approach their users and inform them of other payment options outside the store – but until then without the data obtained from the apps. At this point in time, Apple was already receiving enormous criticism in many parts of the world because of its payment methods, especially with subscription models, among other things, Spotify and Epic submitted antitrust complaints to the EU independently of each other, but there was also trouble in their own country.
Small developers are compensated afterwards
The agreement also includes other points: For example, Apple is committed to paying $ 100 million into the “Small Developer Assistance Fund”, which among developers who spend $ 1 million or less “for all of their apps in each calendar year, in which the developers earned an account between June 4th, 2015 and April 26th, 2021 “, is divided. Developers can expect payments of $ 250 to $ 30,000, depending on how many requests are made for a distribution. The remaining funds should go to the non-profit organization “Girls Who Code”.
Reduced commission also in the next few years
Other points have already been implemented in the past: For example, on January 1, 2021, as part of the “App Store Small Business Program”, Apple reduced the commission for developers who received less than 1 million US dollars from app sales in the store, to 15 percent. In the agreement that has now been concluded, the new commission rate is to remain unchanged for the next 3 years. In addition, Apple is committed to submitting an annual transparency report through the App Store. According to the company, this should include meaningful statistics about the app review process, including the number of apps rejected for various reasons, the number of deactivated customer and developer accounts, objective data on search queries and results as well as the number of those from the app Store removed apps. It has not yet been clarified when the report will be published, but here, too, Apple has committed itself to a period of at least three years. At the same time, the company will add additional information about the app complaint process on the app review website to give developers a better understanding of the complaint process.
Free pricing
In addition, the number of previous price points for subscriptions, in-app purchases and paid apps will be increased from around 100 to 500. Developers are thus given the opportunity to position themselves more broadly in terms of prices. Apple also undertakes to leave the current system of the App Store search untouched for at least 3 years.
Richard Czeslawski, President of Pure Sweat Basketball, Inc. and one of the plaintiffs, stated in a statement that developers will now be able to “use the contact information we received when we signed up for our app to talk to our customers to communicate outside of the app about purchase alternatives to IAP. That's a big deal. “
No judgment better than a bad judgment
However, the concession by Apple and the attempt to reach an out-of-court settlement could also be interpreted in the direction that the iPhone manufacturer no longer had high hopes of being able to end a possible procedure in its favor and thus a negative judgment, which may also apply to others Disputes could be used to avert.
concessions in other areas
The However, the points mentioned are not the only changes that Apple is aiming for in the App Store these days: Only on Thursday the company announced that it would also reduce the commission for in-app purchases from publishers to 15 percent in the first year. The prerequisite for this is participation in Apple's news service, News. But even if the changes made and the settlement in the present litigation, provided it receives the necessary judicial approval, should not be inconvenient for Apple, it is likely to be questionable that other regulatory and competition authorities see this as a sufficient concession and of theirs so far Refrain from investigations initiated.