Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Renewing the App Store Small Business Program

Greg Pierce:

I got an email from Apple saying I’m eligible for the Small Business Program–which I am already in. Do we need to re-apply?

So did I, though I don’t recall getting such an e-mail last year. There doesn’t seem to be a place to actually check your status, so of course I re-applied. I’m guessing that Apple sent a mass e-mail without bothering to scope it to those not already in the program, but now they’ll have to process lots of duplicate applications.

Jesse Squires:

Wouldn’t it be nice if App Store Connect showed some kind of “small business program” badge or other visual indicator of your status?

Instead, I see developers talking about back-calculating Apple’s fee from their financial reports to see whether they’re still in the program.

Previously:

Update (2023-02-03): John Siracusa:

I had to email Apple to find out if I was still enrolled in the Small Business Program. (If it’s anywhere on any website, I couldn’t find it, and the person who answered my email at Apple didn’t tell me where I could have found it myself.) The result: I am still enrolled, despite getting that email about the program.

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I got the same thing last week, and was wondering this too. I presumed Apple developed amnesia, so I filled out the form as though I'd never done it before, and haven't heard anything since.

I googled around at the time to no avail and thought I might be an anomalous case, so it's heartening to see I'm not alone.

Beatrix Willius

I got the email, too, and ignored it. Emails like this make me really wonder what is going on inside Apple.

As a current Small Business Program member, I got the same email and was wondering what was up. Emailed Apple Developer Support and got this response:

--
Upon checking, you have already joined the App Store Small Business Program.

Developers who were already approved for the App Store Small Business Program don’t need to enroll again when their account expires if they still meet the eligibility criteria listed on App Store Small Business Program.
--

Sounds like it was a mistake on Apple's part to send the email to all Apple Developers instead of those just not currently in the program.

Like many others, I also received this email. In the past, I continued to see a banner advertising the program in App Store Connect, despite having already enrolled. The program terms make it sound like you’ll stay enrolled if you make under $1MM, but none of this is convincing, so like Matthew, I emailed developer support to check. They confirmed I was still enrolled, but my goodness, this entire experience is absurd. How hard could it be to display enrollment status (and not advertise to those who are already enrolled)?

If you happen to have a subscription product on the appstore, downloading the pricing information will produce a csv where you can see price, 1st year proceeds, 2nd year proceeds. If year 1 and 2 are the same (15% less than the sticker price), you are enrolled in the small business program.

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