Apple forcing app developers to implement auto-billing after free trial

Post by xsmasher » Wed, Jul 01, 2020, 7:22 PM UTC

rideontime wrote: post #55

Worked on an app that tried the same thing - new users were immediately granted a free month of the "premium" membership on our own backend. The exec who came up with the idea literally called it the "drug dealer" approach - "the first hit is free" - and the user couldn't see the pricing until their trial expired and they tried to enable one of those premium features again, at which point they'd see the subscription…

Post by Frost1x » Wed, Jul 01, 2020, 7:22 PM UTC

prophesi wrote: post #60

Frost1x wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder which you're more likely to pay for: a subscription you intend to cancel or having something free shift to an expense? From my experience, even with due diligence and setting up calendar event notifications, I've missed a few subscription cancelations I intended. On the other hand, whenever I use something free, I always proceed under the assumption it can shift to a pay for service/product at some point in…

Yeah, it sounds like the anti-pattern here is not being up-front about whether it's free, a one-time fee, or a subscription. Forcing all subscriptions to auto-renew doesn't fix this. I've seen plenty of apps/services where the selling point is the fact that they _don't_ require a card for their free trial. And people renew their subscription because they've found the product to be worthwhile; not because they used it…

Post by wtetzner » Wed, Jul 01, 2020, 7:24 PM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #84

gizmo wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hold up, the point of the trial is so people can try the app for free. Then, after having tried the app, users can choose to pay. Or not. There is no issue about misleading customers here, because many apps promise features that don't work well or have other problems and the only ways for the user to figure out if an app is worth it is by (a) reading reviews and (b) trying it, and that will result in an informed deci…

> What Apple is doing here is moving the purchase decision forward, to the point where the user knows practically nothing about the product. How can you make an informed decision if all you've seen are a couple of screenshots and some vague list of features on the App store page? No, what they're doing is they turn: "I tried this app and I want to keep it, so I click before/after trial ends to be charged with the sub…

Post by bluesign » Wed, Jul 01, 2020, 7:38 PM UTC

Frost1x wrote: post #155

baddox wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think Apple is intending to cover the "subscription you intend to cancel" case. When you start a free trial for a paid subscription in an iPhone app, you have to do a normal payment authorization which looks almost exactly the same as an instant payment authorization. If you have no intention of paying for a subscription and you don't think you can remember to cancel the subscription before the free trial end…

That's not the case I was describing. By intend to cancel, I mean during the free trial period. However, how is a "subscription you intend to cancel" case different from a "free trial you decided you didn't like and forgot to cancel" case, as far as paid subscription management? For example, CBS All Access had a free trial a few months back which had Picard on it. The monthly fee was nominal and it looked like they h…

Post by threeseed » Wed, Jul 01, 2020, 7:40 PM UTC

BilalBudhani wrote: post #148

I think comments saying "Apple is doing this to provide a better experience" completely misses the point. If I'm creating an app (like a business) I should be incharge of deciding when I would like to charge my customers because I understand my target audience better than Apple at least. Apple is not just dictating how customers will pay but when they should be charged which is ridiculous.