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Apple requires account deletion within apps in AppStore starting January 31

developer.apple.com

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Re: Apple requires account deletion within apps in AppStore starting January 31

#481

Post by AnthonyMouse »

jrek wrote: post #423
AnthonyMouse wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If the user is allowed according with their contract or law to delete their account they should be able to request that themselves from within the app. This is what I understand from what Apple is requiring the apps to do. But now you're exposing the huge problem. It goes from "everybody has to be able to cancel their account in the app" to having to be a contract lawyer steeped in the specifics of every business a…

This is making a mountain out of a molehill. There's nothing to suggest any pre-conditions for deleting an account have to be removed, simply that it must be possible to "initiate deletion" from within the app.

Then you're defeating the purpose of the requirement, because the scummy scam service will let you "initiate" deletion but to actually carry it out you still have to call them and wait on hold for sixteen years or come show your ID in person at their offices in Northern Alaska.

Re: Apple requires account deletion within apps in AppStore starting January 31

#482

Post by olah_1 »

caf wrote: post #279
olah_1 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can have decentralized p2p systems that respect users (allow deletes). One example would be Gun which allows you to “tombstone” your data. Just overwrite it with a blank. A new version of Scuttlebutt allows tombstoning too. I think mutable should be the default. Make it all ephemeral with optional permanence.

Can you stop anyone keeping a copy of everything that someone tries to tombstone, though?

No, you can’t. But you also can’t stop someone from screenshotting everything you do online.

The reality is that most people don’t have hardcore enemies that go out of their way to do things like that. And if you do, you ideally would have them blocked anyway.

Regardless, not posting totally publicly is becoming the norm now anyway. Posting in some kind of context limits the danger of this level of malicious snooping.

Re: Apple requires account deletion within apps in AppStore starting January 31

#483

Post by delfinom »

ceejayoz wrote: post #57
madars wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I heard you can change your address to California, which then gives the option to cancel online (due to state law). It is absolutely ridiculous that NYT will happily take your card info online, but require you to be on hold to speak with their "customer care" to cancel. Maybe it is time to use virtual CC's a la privacy.com.

Even better, when I had to cancel my NYT subscription, it said there weren't enough cancellation reps to connect me; "try again later". I went in via the normal support chat, said I wanted to cancel, and was immediately redirected to one. It was an outright lie.

Is apple somehow weird with canceling subscriptions on the iPhone?

I can just go into the Google Play store and terminate the subscription for the NYTimes on Android in one click.

Re: Apple requires account deletion within apps in AppStore starting January 31

#484

Post by enos_feedler »

kall wrote: post #439
enos_feedler wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d be interested to hear what dark billing patterns you are seeing rn with Apple?

When you start an app trial, and cancel right away, your trial stays active for it‘s duration. When you do the same with an Apple service like Music or Arcade, the service stops right away. This keeps you from pre cancelling a subscription while you trial in peace. I can’t imagine any technical reason for this and I‘m sure other developers would like to do the same thing.

That is bad. They should give you the trial for the remainder of the period. I use this pattern all the time. Cancelling earlier removes the burden of having to remember to cancel later. Thanks for sharing I had no idea they did this.

Re: Apple requires account deletion within apps in AppStore starting January 31

#485

Post by jackson1442 »

6nf wrote: post #260
jackson1442 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think my bank does this, when I called for another reason this week there was an option on the phone menu to stop a recurring payment.

I've done this using my credit card company (not the bank) and they were very helpful. I explained why I wanted them to stop the recurring payment and they asked if I wanted to dispute any of the older charges, took less than 5 minutes. I call the 'fraud/disputes' phone number on the back of my card for this and I think that is not the bank, I think it's Visa / Mastercard themselves.

I bet processes like this are why subscriptions like gyms are starting to require your _bank account info_ rather than just a card.

Re: Apple requires account deletion within apps in AppStore starting January 31

#486

Post by simonklitj »

Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #393
mehrdada wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sideloading is allowed with a free developer account.

Not really. You also need a computer running XCode (i.e. a mac), you'll need to follow the instructions out of 9 rather not obvious pounts and you'll also need to build be app you want to install. Oh, and of course you won't be able to use push notifications, because Apple.

Not true anymore! You can sideload .ipa's using AltStore without Xcode and without the source code.

Re: Apple requires account deletion within apps in AppStore starting January 31

#487

Post by barsonme »

xg15 wrote: post #420
barsonme wrote: post #413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a very optimistic opinion :) And just to nitpick about blockchains, ledgers, etc.: they don’t need to be world-readable. You can protect them the same as you would a regular database.

> You can protect them the same as you would a regular database. Then you'll need some central entity to manage access to the chain. If you already have a central entity, you can just use a regular database instead of a blockchain and save yourself all the energy waste.

The key aspect of a blockchain is that each block contains the hash of the previous block. That provides integrity guarantees that you don't get simply by using a central entity.

Re: Apple requires account deletion within apps in AppStore starting January 31

#488

Post by SllX »

gmadsen wrote: post #466
SllX wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mate, I mentioned up above that the process by which I cancelled was a chat box that intermittently ate maybe three minutes. Not mentioned was I did it while cooking breakfast. The best experience would have been no human intervention necessary, but for a process where someone was involved, it was incredibly straightforward. They gave me an offer, I refused it, and nobody had to be a dick about it and no phone calls…

Then that part has changed. I had to talk on the phone when I canceled about 8 years ago

Someone informed me in a different part of the thread that this apparently is the California cancellation experience from the New York Times, which I wasn’t sure of. Like I said above, I was expecting a button or link because that is more akin to how I actually signed up, but there you go.

Unfortunately that leaves the phone option as the remaining option for everyone else.

Re: Apple requires account deletion within apps in AppStore starting January 31

#489

Post by oauea »

simonklitj wrote: post #486
Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. You also need a computer running XCode (i.e. a mac), you'll need to follow the instructions out of 9 rather not obvious pounts and you'll also need to build be app you want to install. Oh, and of course you won't be able to use push notifications, because Apple.

Not true anymore! You can sideload .ipa's using AltStore without Xcode and without the source code.

How? There must be some restrictions or this would be HUGE news and Epic would rejoice.

edit: the apps expire after 1 week and need to be constantly reinstalled. This is abusing an exploit in apple's walled garden that will surely be "fixed".

Re: Apple requires account deletion within apps in AppStore starting January 31

#490

Post by simonklitj »

oauea wrote: post #489
simonklitj wrote: post #486

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not true anymore! You can sideload .ipa's using AltStore without Xcode and without the source code.

How? There must be some restrictions or this would be HUGE news and Epic would rejoice. edit: the apps expire after 1 week and need to be constantly reinstalled. This is abusing an exploit in apple's walled garden that will surely be "fixed".

They’re not abusing an exploit. You might be able to argue that they’re abusing a policy.

The fact is that you are allowed to sign apps with a free dev account, the cert will just expire after a week.

AltStore’s been around since 2019, so they’ve had ample time to “fix” it.

Edit: they do not need to be reinstalled. With AltStore the cert update is automatic and wireless (your computer handles it and sends the updated cert to your phone). You will never notice their expiration, and never need to reinstall, unless you’re away from your computer for more than a week.

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