Apple is facing a sudden public backlash from developers large and small against the tax it imposes on some in-app purchases.
Though apps can be hosted on the App Store for free, Apple charges a commission of 15% to 30% on certain purchases made in the app. If, for example, you buy a premium Spotify subscription through Spotify's iOS app, Apple takes a 30% cut. The same fee applies to other digital-content purchases, such as virtual items or e-books.
This week, a buzzy new subscription email service called Hey said Apple was trying to strong-arm it into integrating in-app purchases so it could get this commission, Protocol first reported on Tuesday.
According to Protocol, Hey, which comes from Basecamp and costs $99 a year, doesn't let you subscribe or pay inside the iOS app.
Soon after launching on Monday, Hey tried to roll out an update fixing some bugs in its iOS app, then received an email from Apple rejecting the update. The email suggested that Hey had broken the rules by not implementing Apple's in-app purchase system, which automatically takes the 15% to 30% cut. An Apple reviewer later said that the app might be removed if it didn't comply.
Apple's developer guidelines say that while apps can offer users access to services or content they've previously purchased, they cannot "directly or indirectly target iOS users to use a purchasing method other than in-app purchase." The guidelines also say that apps can't offer access to new, paid features within the app — they must offer in-app purchases.
Hey's executives had thought the rule didn't apply to them because the app allows people to sign in to something they are already subscribed to, as is the case with platforms like Netflix and Slack, Protocol reported.
"There is no chance in bloody hell that we're going to pay Apple's ransom," Basecamp's chief technology officer, David Heinemeier Hansson, tweeted on Tuesday. "I will burn this house down myself, before I let gangsters like that spin it for spoils. This is profoundly, perversely abusive and unfair."
According to Protocol, Apple enforced the rule because Hey is a consumer app rather than an enterprise app.
Heinemeier Hansson said the policy was enforced inconsistently. "The Basecamp app has been in the App Store for YEARS offering access to a subscription bought elsewhere," he tweeted. "The store is FULL of apps doing just that. Even other email apps!"
—DHH (@dhh) June 16, 2020
The Stratechery analyst Ben Thompson said on Twitter early Wednesday that he had received multiple emails from developers saying they'd had similar experiences. He suggested this was a recent reinterpretation of Apple's policy.
—Ben Thompson (@benthompson) June 17, 2020
