Developer Max Seeleman found that Apple is testing a new payment feature that will allow developers to automatically charge for subscription price increases on App Store. Currently, Apple requires that developer needs subscribers’ consent to new price through a price consent sheet displayed in the app.
Apple has introduced several changes to the App Store because of pressure from developers and legislators to make its digital marketplace more competitive for small developers and user-friendly. The company allowed all reader apps to add links to external payment websites and charges a 15% commission from small developers for all in-app purchases via App Store.
The company also allows users to review and rate native apps, made account deletion within apps mandatory, and brought back the “Report a Problem” link to counter scam apps on the App Store. However, the new commerce feature which does not seek users’ consent to pay an increased subscription fee might be seen as a controversial change.
Apple confirms it is testing a new commerce feature for App Store
As seen in the screenshot shared by Seeleman on Twitter, the new “subscription price increase” prompt informs the users that the developer has raised the price of the plan and lists the new price, old price, and the date it going into effect.
There is also a “review your subscription” option for users to either learn more about the price increase or cancel the subscription.
Following up on information shared by Seeleman, Tech Crunch contacted Apple for confirmation. The tech company said that it is indeed testing a pilot for a new commerce feature which will be great for developers and users and will launch soon. Besides that, no additional details about the new feature were shared.
“We are piloting a new commerce feature we plan to launch very soon. The pilot includes developers across various app categories, organization sizes, and regions to help test an upcoming enhancement that we believe will be great for both developers and users, and we’ll have more details to share in the coming weeks,” the spokesperson said.
