Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apps supporting account creation must also offer account deletion

developer.apple.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 106 posts

Re: Apps supporting account creation must also offer account deletion

#71

Post by xuki »

egocentric wrote: post #63
cube2222 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's already there. If you subscribe using the app store subscription mechanism you can see a list of subscriptions in your account settings, including unsubscribe buttons.

My point is for that to also be in the downloaded app, since the new rule requires account creation and deletion to both be in the same place - which I think is a natural place to look for it as a user, savvy or not.

Well, you can blame Apple for that, there is no way to developers to cancel a subscription or issue a refund.

Re: Apps supporting account creation must also offer account deletion

#72

Post by tenryuu »

thomasahle wrote: post #34

A few years ago I was part of an AI customer service startup. One of our first customers was a web hosting company, and we were supposed to take some of the load off the chat support team. When we talked to the support team they told us their by far largest task was handling account deletions. They had tried to just put a button in the control panel, but the CEO of the company thought it was bad for retention. So we…

To me, even if you don't have an account deletion button. User retention isn't going to matter because the people who are looking for it aren't going to use the service anyway, you are just holding onto dead data

Re: Apps supporting account creation must also offer account deletion

#73

Post by contriban »

9wzYQbTYsAIc wrote: post #66
contriban wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything is an app and nothing is an app. I opened my bank account through an app. Is iCloud more important than my bank account? “iCloud is not an app and does not need a delete button through the same UI” is a double-standard cop out. Delay the deletion by 2 weeks if it’s really that dangerous, but they should still allow it.

Arguably, yes, for some people, iCloud is more important than, or as important as, their bank account if their iCloud is used for disaster recovery of their primary computing device data, including passwords. Maybe even the password for their bank account.

How about my Google account? Is Google an app or my life?

Any app could follow into your description, should they have an exception? 1Password doesn't need this? Backblaze? Amazon Photos?

I already gave a solution to the problem: Allow it, delay deletion. Apple does not need an exception to its own rule.

Re: Apps supporting account creation must also offer account deletion

#74

Post by veeti »

iseanstevens wrote: post #5
fshbbdssbbgdd wrote: post #4

I can create an iCloud account on my iPhone at the top of the settings menu. How do I delete it?

That is not an app. Also the stakes are a lot higher as it could delete all of someone’s photos, backups, music and video purchases - not to mention all of their apps and related data. I believe you can delete it through the iCloud website.

The stakes are also high for users of apps like Google Drive, OneDrive, etc. but I don't see them getting an exemption from this policy.

Re: Apps supporting account creation must also offer account deletion

#75

Post by bellyfullofbac »

baq wrote: post #27
aroman wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of proof could establish that something has been deleted?

GDPR data package request should return an empty set.

Well, here's a snippet from my GdprReportGenerator.java :

account = getAccount(); if (account.wasDeleted) { return emptyPdf(); }

Of course there might be hell to pay if the EU catches this, but well..

Re: Apps supporting account creation must also offer account deletion

#76

Post by kart23 »

9wzYQbTYsAIc wrote: post #67
kart23 wrote: post #65

>If your app doesn’t include significant account-based features, let people use it without a login...Apps may not require users to enter personal information to function, except when directly relevant to the core functionality of the app or required by law. If your core app functionality is not related to a specific social network (e.g. Facebook, WeChat, Weibo, Twitter, etc.), you must provide access without a login…

Not all apps are free and persistent purchases tied to a user account are certainly preferable to needing to keep a list of license keys handy every time you delete and reinstall an app, etc.

yeah, an exception for paid apps would be ok.

Re: Apps supporting account creation must also offer account deletion

#77

Post by veeti »

threeseed wrote: post #70
Tabular-Iceberg wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why isn’t it an app? What’s the criteria for something being an app?

An app is a program that launches, does something and exits. iCloud is an "always on" cloud storage/sync service where you choose what data you want to use it for.

How is this a meaningful distinction whatsoever? There are countless apps that allow you to sign up for an "always on" service. Should they be exempt from allowing you to delete your account as well? Or is that privilege reserved for built in bloatware?

Re: Apps supporting account creation must also offer account deletion

#78

Post by jackvalentine »

DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #54
nindalf wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or indeed, deletion of your comments. The way dang explained it to me was that each comment thread is a shared work created by multiple people rather than a collection of individual comments. Since you don’t own your comments, you can’t delete them. He is very accommodating about requests to disavow comments from your account. But I don’t expect people on HN to complain about this. They hold every other website to ab…

> Since you don’t own your comments where on HN did I waive or assign copyright or ownership to YC? The FAQ ( https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html ) says you just need to email them to get stuff deleted: > we care about protecting individual users and take care of privacy requests every day, so if we can help, please email hn@ycombinator.com

I did that once and got this reply:

Hi ,

I’m sorry to disappoint, but Hacker News doesn’t delete entire accounts because that would gut the threads it participated in. We do sometimes remove specific comments if users are worried they’ll get in trouble, and we’re also working on the ability to rename accounts. Would either of those help?

Regards,

    (a moderator)
I don’t quite agree with it but have to recognise I have no leverage here.

Re: Apps supporting account creation must also offer account deletion

#79

Post by HatchedLake721 »

lmm wrote: post #62
nindalf wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or indeed, deletion of your comments. The way dang explained it to me was that each comment thread is a shared work created by multiple people rather than a collection of individual comments. Since you don’t own your comments, you can’t delete them. He is very accommodating about requests to disavow comments from your account. But I don’t expect people on HN to complain about this. They hold every other website to ab…

Yeah, HN privacy standards are really low. I was horrified to read of moderators using the email addresses that they say are for account recovery to contact commenters. (Thankfully I never put an email in my account; I'd definitely have felt the need to send a GDPR notice if that happened to me). I assume that sooner or later an EU resident will decide they actually want to quit and force the site to buck up.

GDPR notice? Do you mean a Right of Access/Subject Access Request? What for?

What is the issue around moderators of a service you signed up for, contacting you via the email you provided to use this service?

Re: Apps supporting account creation must also offer account deletion

#80

Post by intricatedetail »

tenryuu wrote: post #72
thomasahle wrote: post #34

A few years ago I was part of an AI customer service startup. One of our first customers was a web hosting company, and we were supposed to take some of the load off the chat support team. When we talked to the support team they told us their by far largest task was handling account deletions. They had tried to just put a button in the control panel, but the CEO of the company thought it was bad for retention. So we…

To me, even if you don't have an account deletion button. User retention isn't going to matter because the people who are looking for it aren't going to use the service anyway, you are just holding onto dead data

CEO with attachment issues, the worst kind...
Post reply on HN