Everything that is done with a platform dependent app can be done with a platform independent web app. I don't know what the best way out of this is but app stores were a step back. Your phone could have one app...a web browser and maybe a few utilities like a calculator, calendar, clock. Even these could be implemented as web apps running in the browser.
So you can't have any platform differentiation and at the same time lose any cohesive, platform specific UI with known conventions.
Instead of two major mobile vendors we end up with one or best case scenario two major browsers from one or two tech companies with enough resources to to build and maintain them.
Thanks Apple, for "letting" me accept payment outside the App Store. Thanks for not watching the streets and not intervening when somebody tries to pay me. All jokes aside, the wording is wrong. Apple does not "let me". I do. And Apple indeed doesn't stop me. In one sentence Apple not only 'backs down', but presents itself as the one who 'lets you'. Well, thanks Apple. :')
If I have a web app allowing people to register and pay a recurring fee. Can Apple require that people using the iOS version app pay the subscription through the web store and then pay the Apple tax ?
To be honest, I have no clue. When they have physical control, they can block whatever they want. When you enter an agreement with them, they can legally force things.
What they can not do - however - is act like they are the ones making the law, and saying stuff like they "let" you and me.
They are not gods and their only prophet was a Cluster B disordered hippy who is now dead.
This is a step in the right direction, but it's not reform, nor is the kind of transparency that would have remedied issues like the Hey email scandal. In any case, it's an interesting departure from the "courageous" Apple that unabashedly removed the headphone jack and dismissed concern over on-device scanning as 'screeching'.
Actually, it is. Hey developers insisted on their right to tell customers where they can pay right from the app. And shortly they will have this right.
Thanks Apple, for "letting" me accept payment outside the App Store. Thanks for not watching the streets and not intervening when somebody tries to pay me. All jokes aside, the wording is wrong. Apple does not "let me". I do. And Apple indeed doesn't stop me. In one sentence Apple not only 'backs down', but presents itself as the one who 'lets you'. Well, thanks Apple. :')
If I have a web app allowing people to register and pay a recurring fee. Can Apple require that people using the iOS version app pay the subscription through the web store and then pay the Apple tax ?
No, this has never been the case. For example, you can buy a subscription to the Downdog app through thir website where it's SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than via their iOS app. After this, you can continue using their iOS app as a fully paid subscriber just fine.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28323688 Linking this here from the other thread, because the above comment cites the actual court documents, which clear up a lot of confusion I'm seeing on this thread. Apple's concession only applies to communications outside of the app using contact information obtained outside of the app . (Which, yes, was somehow disallowed before.) If your user signed up through the app? To…
I wonder if this will lead to apps not allowing the initial sign-up inside the app, thus potentially reducing usage of AppleID? Although it wouldn't surprise me if Apple were to forbid apps that don't allow in-app sign-up.
They do, unless you’re Netflix, or certain “business” apps which they change the definition of every few days.