
App Store Subscriptions - dirtyaura
https://developer.apple.com/app-store/subscriptions/
======
numbsafari
Apple needs to provide an API to allow developers to cancel a subscription on
a user's behalf. Currently, the only way to do this is through the app store,
and many customers find this very confusing, resulting in poor customer
experience and a heavy support burden on developers.

Many customers forget where they even sourced their subscription to begin
with, especially if you have a multi-/omni-channel presence.

~~~
tuna-piano
You mean the process to get to the subscription management page isn't
intuitive? I'd actually be shocked if more than 3 people out of the 1 billion
that have bought iOS devices have ever figured this out without Googling or
being shown. "Tap View Apple ID", seriously?

1\. On the Home screen, tap Settings.

2\. Tap iTunes & App Store.

3\. Tap your Apple ID at the top of the screen.

4\. Tap View Apple ID.

[https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202039](https://support.apple.com/en-
us/HT202039)

~~~
dandare
I keep watching in disbelief (from distance) how Apple more and more sucks at
user experience. The next thing I know Microsoft will be releasing software
that just works, lol.

~~~
pavlov
The other day I tried to figure out how to change the 2nd city shown on the
Apple Watch's default watchface. (There's a "world clock" feature that
displays the time in another city in the corner of the watch screen.)

Turns out that the process to do this involves first configuring the city in
an app within the iPhone, and then on the watch doing a series of UI actions:
a force-touch, a swipe, a tap _and_ turning the "digital crown" to find the
right city within a UI element that is a list although it doesn't look like
one. Several of these actions are entirely undiscoverable (the force-touch and
digital crown in these contexts are just actions you have to stumble on by
trying all the possible combinations, I guess).

I don't think there would have been any way to figure this out without
googling it. And this is a feature that's prominently displayed in the default
view of the Apple Watch screen, so it's perfectly reasonable to expect that
users will want to change the city.

It's hard to believe that this device was designed by the company famous for
the one-button mouse. I do find the physical design attractive though.

~~~
dhimes
Actually, that's exactly the kind of shit you have to do when you only have
one button. I was using my cousin's apple mouse one day and discovered context
menus are found by touching or rubbing it on the front somehow (don't exactly
remember a couple years later).

Simple is great, but not when you try to make simple do complex.

~~~
CamperBob2
Apple has forgotten the "... but no simpler" part of Einstein's dictum.

------
xg15
_Auto-renewable subscriptions provide a simple way to offer free trials to
users._

I do like that Apple promotes the classic "let's hook them with a free trial
and hope they forget to unsubscribe in time" dark pattern as an official use
case.

(Edit) Also:

 _Even if a user cancels and resubscribes within 60 days, they will still
accumulate days of service from the point where they lapsed. [...] As part of
your overall subscription marketing plan, consider ways to win back lapsed
subscribers with targeted messaging, such as email or in-app messaging, to
communicate the value of your subscriptions and encourage users to
resubscribe._

So app developers are not just incentivized, Apple explicitly advises that
they spam unsubscribers with notifications to win them back. Sounds great!

~~~
scarlac
In my experience, Apple actually warns about renewal before they renew. This
is something I have yet to see with other major services. Hopefully it'll stay
in and other services follows suit.

~~~
xg15
If that's the case, it would make it somewhat less suspicious. Given how deep
the unsubscribe button seems to be buried, I hadn't been hopeful.

------
seibelj
I hope to god they make testing them easier. If you set a subscription to
annual, then your test account can only test it every hour (and it used to be
every 4 hours).[0] Imagine during development and testing only being able to
verify your code flow every hour! I changed to "non-renewing subscriptions" to
avoid this, which are essentially one-time purchases that don't require using
their ridiculously awful subscription API.

[0]
[https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/Langua...](https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/LanguagesUtilities/Conceptual/iTunesConnectInAppPurchase_Guide/Chapters/TestingInAppPurchases.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40013727-CH4-SW3)

~~~
asimuvPR
I recently had to work with it and drove me insane. Development sandboxes
should be frictionless.

------
redwards510
> At the end of each subscription duration, the subscription will
> automatically renew until a user chooses to cancel it.

What happens when a user dies? I mean, that does happen occasionally. Are the
relatives on the hook to somehow email apple the death certificate to clear
out their debts five years later? The issue of death on the internet is
woefully overlooked. Perhaps there is an opportunity here for a startup to
provide "closure services" where they settle all accounts.

~~~
usaphp
Probably the same as what happens when for example a gym member dies? All your
credit cards probably be closed and services won't be able to charge you
anymore.

~~~
ProAm
Then you go to collections

~~~
lazerwalker
Presumably, when a credit card charge for a renewal of a recurring service
fails, they don't send you to collections, they just cancel your account.

~~~
ProAm
You'd be surprised, many contracts have an auto-renew clause and you
absolutely go to collections. If you are lucky they just cancel you.

------
koolba
I want an option, as a consumer, that disables the ability to sign up for
anything that has recurring billing.

Yes it's possible to have no credit card at all on file for your itunes
account ( _though they go out of their way for you to not realize that_ ), but
sometimes you may want to actually pay for an app too.

~~~
jlg23
> Yes it's possible to have no credit card at all on file for your itunes
> account [-] though they go out of their way for you to not realize that

Funnily I tried to give apple some money through the app store but made the
mistake of signing up with my German credit card when living in LA and was
lost in a "we cannot accept this German CC with a LA address"-limbo and never
was offered a way out. So I now have a crapple account that one cannot put
money into without some apparently lengthy verification process and I
therefore can give my app store credentials to friends who just need some
xcode update :D

------
chrisan
It's odd they are using Netflix as a poster child for this. Isn't 30->15% of
your subscription really a big deal for them?

I'm an audible, spotify, and netflix subscriber currently. I have to purchase
(or use tokens) on their respective sites then I can stream the content in the
app.

What is the value add for companies like these to "take advantage" of an app
store subscription?

~~~
ktta
>What is the value add for companies like these to "take advantage" of an app
store subscription?

As I see it, none. But Apple would _love_ getting netflix and spotify
subscribers, since those services are ones that people stay on forever.

Actually some companies DO NOT like it, because they might lose some users due
to the pricing being bumped up 30%

www.theverge.com/2015/7/8/8913105/spotify-apple-app-store-email

www.recode.net/2016/6/30/12067578/spotify-apple-app-store-rejection

------
AJRF
This looks like it will result in dark patterns to try and get people to stay
beyond the treshold for increased returns.

~~~
eridius
What, offering enough value so the user subscribes for longer than a year? How
is that a "dark pattern"?

~~~
AJRF
No.

------
matt_m
There's a lot of negativity around recurring payments but I'm excited about
this model both as a developer and a consumer particularly on iPad. There's
been a race to the bottom in pricing in mobile app stores, where a one-time
payment equivalent to a cup of coffee can be seen as too expensive for an app
costing tens of thousands of dollars (or more) in engineer time to make /
support. Maybe as a result of this there's no shortage of micropayment or
advertising based mobile games but the productivity space is not very
competitive with Mac/PC where people don't blink at paying 10x that cost up
front.

If this can establish a middle ground where more app categories can find a
sustainable business model including long term support and updates that could
be very interesting, especially now that many apps might want to include
cloud-based features where committing to support forever in exchange for a
one-time payment might be a risky proposition.

------
KenanSulayman
"For apps currently offering subscriptions, note that if you raise prices
before iOS 10 is available, customer notification will behave as it does
today. We recommend holding on price increases until iOS 10 is available so
your apps can take advantage of customer consent to price increase
notifications."

------
cpr
The free trial period is a _huge_ win for developers, something we've been
wanting since the beginning.

(Though admittedly it's only for subscription-based pricing, but, let's admit
it, one-time software purchases seem to be going the way of the dodo.)

~~~
chipperyman573
How would trials work with one-time purchases?

~~~
krrrh
Download app for free, it works for n days then it displays a 'thanks for
trying' screen unless you pay. Desktop "shareware" has worked like this for
decades.

------
larrik
Is this a new page? I thought these were a thing for a while.

~~~
ihuman
Subscriptions have been around for a while, but recently Apple has been
clarifying new, acceptable use cases for them.

------
erickhill
I love the opportunity this model provides. But for an existing app (that
would greatly benefit from subscriptions and offers continuous new content
daily) how to message this kind of switch w/o simply starting over seems,
well, difficult to say the least. Unless you put one app "to bed" and start
anew, how do others imagine taking advantage of this model? Or does it apply
better to only new apps? Hard to say.

~~~
aaronbrager
You can enable new features only to users with a subscription.

------
daemonhunter
Apple and their ever-so-generous 30% take. As a multiple Apple product user, I
still see that is horrible.

------
mpweiher
"Auto-renewable subscriptions provide a simple way to offer free trials to
users."

Not sure it said that before.

~~~
ovao
On April 19th [0], it read: "If you have an app with auto-renewable
subscriptions, you have the option of offering free trials to new users."

[0]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20160419200531/https://developer...](https://web.archive.org/web/20160419200531/https://developer.apple.com/app-
store/subscriptions/)

------
edoceo
I hope they don't force the use of this. I have a web app with subscription
working now. Added an App that only works with existing subscription. What if
I'm forced to this?

~~~
chipperyman573
It'd be pretty hard to enforce for apps that are normally web-based but also
have an app (they might just redevelop their website to be mobile friendly
instead of needing an app) or apps that aren't just for iOS (it's easier to
maintain one subscription service instead of two)

------
ourcat
I wonder what the deal is with the fact that in the UK, everyone who uses the
BBC iPlayer on any platform must now own a 'TV License' and pay £145 per year.

Until yesterday, you could use the app to watch things on catch-up. Now the
'levy/subscription/tax/license' is mandatory.

Is there a loophole they're using that I'm missing? eg: That they don't want
to call it a 'subscription', even though that's exactly what is. (Well, more
of a 'tax', but they hate calling it that too.)

~~~
matthewmacleod
What's the problem? You're still perfectly able to provide service to
customers who've already got a subscription; you are only denied the ability
to offer them an opportunity to purchase that subscription from the app.

~~~
ourcat
No problem. Just wanting to clarify how it relates.

So, since no one 'buys' a subscription 'through the app' then Apple can't
demand a cut? Is that right?

I thought there was an issue if an app provided content which was only
consumable through a paid subscription. Which the iPlayer now is. (Though you
don't need to log in to view it, but you'll be breaking the law if you do and
you haven't paid.)

ta.

~~~
ldjb
Yes, subscriptions to content that can be access through an iOS app aren't
required to go through Apple (so long as they are purchased outside of the
app), in which case Apple won't take a cut.

Note that this is purely down to Apple allowing it — there's nothing stopping
Apple from disallowing apps that do this, but to do so wouldn't be in Apple's
interests.

Also, the TV licence is officially a tax. Not that that really changes
anything. Apple could still chuck BBC iPlayer off the App Store if they really
wanted to, but they'd be crazy to do so.

~~~
ourcat
Thanks for clearing that up. It's been gnawing away at my brain all day.

------
Happpy
Could you subscribe to receive/buy weekly/monthly coins(virtual currency)?

Or is this only for app usage.

~~~
aaronbrager
You can't use subscriptions for consumable purchases.

------
koolba
Let the lawsuits and squabbles over negative response billing for iOS apps
begin!

