While there’s a lot of controversy regarding the App Store (whether Apple should let users have the option to pay for apps off it), governments and third-party developers continue to raise questions regarding if the store is a monopoly or not, the company could soon face another controversy as it is piloting tests that allow developers to automatically charge users for subscription price increases.
As first reported by TechCrunch, developer Max Seelemann posted on his Twitter that his Disney+ subscription price increased as “mere notice instead of having to confirm” it. Apart from him, several other users also said they noticed similar issues.
As the publication noted, Apple’s official developer documentation “states this is not how App Store subscriptions should work. The documentation explains that customers have to manually agree to new prices through the price consent sheet that automatically displays in the developer’s app.”
TechCrunch did reach out to Apple, which confirmed it’s piloting a test:
“We are piloting a new commerce feature we plan to launch very soon. The pilot includes developers across various app categories, organization sizes, and regions to help test an upcoming enhancement that we believe will be great for both developers and users, and we’ll have more details to share in the coming weeks,” the spokesperson said.
The problem here is that instead of giving users the choice to cancel their subscription from the start, Apple is only stating that a price change was made.
As always, it’s not clear which categories are part of this piloting test and when will it be announced as official – if it ever will.
With Apple being accused several times of giving some developers exclusive deals, at least the company says it’s not doing that with Disney+ in this case.
How do you feel about this new pilot? Should Apple keep things as they are or just warn that a subscription has a price increase? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
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