Although, Apple wants the developers to intimate customers of their increased prices beforehand, in terms of push notifications, emails, or a message within the app. Changes of such are permitted only once a year, after which developers should ask customers with a warning message as usual.
New Subscription Policy in App Store
As if Apple isn’t facing enough heat from the community, the company announced a new subscription policy change in its App Store today. As per it, the app developers of iOS can charge an increased subscription cost without seeking explicit permission from the users. To date, any developer who tends to charge an increased subscription should push a warning message to the user, stating the change by asking the user with an “Agree to New Price” interface. If the user declines this, it will automatically cancel the subscription. But now, the new policy will let developers skip this warning message and continue to serve the user with an increased subscription price! Well, there are limitations, though. Apple said a developer can increase the subscription price only once a year, and not more than $5 or 50% of the cost (monthly), and $50 or 50% of the cost (yearly). Further, Apple will inform the users with a push notification, an email, and a message within the app regarding the increased subscription, if any. So the users should be vigilant about new changes all the time, to make sure they’re not robbed. The notification Apple provides also contains instructions on how to view, manage, and cancel subscriptions. Well, if the developers want to increase the subscription price often, they should follow the regular procedure of seeking permission from users with a warning message as now.
