Apple new App Store policy allows developers to charge more subscription fee without user consent
Apple has launched a new App Store policy that allows developers to deduct increased fees for subscriptions without intimation to the subscriber. This could lead to a renewal of the subscription with higher prices without the knowledge of the subscriber.
Prior to this policy update, developers couldn’t execute a price hike without a user’s explicit consent. The Apple iOS developers send permission to increase the subscription fee to the user via mail, in-app message and push notifications too. If the user did not respond to any of these notifications, the subscription does not get renewed. This was a good feature for people who subscribed service for a short period without any intention to carry it forward, or even those who didn’t want to pay the higher price. Instead, they could later agree to pay the higher price at a later date and resume the service.
Why did Apple change the policy?
According to Apple, the previous policy was leading to many unintentional interruptions for users who missed the notifications or in any way failed to re-subscribe.
How will the money be deducted now?
Once the subscription policy comes into effect, the user will give advance notice to users. The developers can increase the auto-renewable subscription fees without any prior notice to the user. However, there are a few conditions that Apple has put in place to avoid misuse of the new policy. If any of the conditions are not fulfilled, the developer needs the permission of the user to increase the price of the subscription.
The conditions are:
-Price shouldn’t increase more than once per year.
-The price hike shouldn’t be more than $5 or 50% of the existing subscription price.
-For annual subscriptions, the price increase shouldn’t exceed $50 or 50% of the subscription price.
-The price increase should be permissible by local law.
-Apple will inform users about the increased prices through email, a notification and in-app messages. Users will only have to act if they do not wish to continue the subscription.
According to Apple, users will still be able to cancel their subscriptions if they are not okay with the increased prices. The new subscription policy has no effect on the user’s ability to view, manage and cancel subscriptions.
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