Jeff Johnson:
The problem is that what Apple means here by “free” as opposed to “paid” is simply that you don’t have to pay before downloading the app, but Apple’s counterintuitive definition tends to obscure what is most important to consumers: how much you have to pay to use the app. The range of allowed use can vary drastically among apps that are free with IAP. Some apps can be used forever for free with no apparent limitations, and the IAP merely unlocks bonus content or features. Some can be used for free in “reader” mode, with the ability to open and read documents, while an IAP is required to edit and/or sync documents. Some apps are free to use fully for only a limited time; in other words, they have a time-limited free trial. At the end of the trial, various outcomes are possible. Time-limited trials are especially popular with auto-renewing subscription apps, which start charging you automatically at the end of the trial. And ironically, some so-called “free” apps don’t allow any use at all unless you first pay the IAP.
At this point, I think the way the store represents this information is obscuring more than it’s helping.
You might be shocked to learn that the window is actually floating. That is, it floats above and covers every other window on the Mac, even if you switch to a different app. And Apple approved this. You can close the floating window, but that quits the app.
By default, the lifetime $39.99 license is selected. It’s labeled “Best choice - no subscription”. The 3 day free trial is available only if you select the $19.99 yearly subscription option. The subtitle of the subscription option says, “Only $5.00/month”, the math of which is way off and would add up to $60 per year if accurate. I don’t know how that window got approved by Apple.
Apple is so picky about payment screens in some cases, but then it approves stuff like this.
Apple is supposed to protect users by making refunds and subscription cancelations easy, but Apple doesn’t actually make it as clear and easy as claimed. Why aren’t there refund and cancel buttons directly on the app’s product page? Such buttons could be right above the Ratings & Reviews section! For that matter, why don’t app developers have to ability to offer refunds directly to customers?
I recently had two cases where customers encountered problems related to Apple’s Bluetooth API and asked Apple for refunds. Even though the purchases were recent, Apple refused and told them to contact the developer instead—even though we can’t offer refunds. Luckily, I was able to work around the bug.
Previously:
App Store Business In-App Purchase iOS iOS 18 iOS App Mac Mac App Mac App Store macOS 15 Sequoia
Sarah Perez:
Creator platform Patreon has rolled out an updated version of its app that now allows users to make purchases via the web, in the wake of the Apple-Epic court ruling that forced Apple to allow app developers to include links to alternative forms of payment without being subject to Apple’s commission.
Previously, on version 125.4.1 of Patreon’s iOS app, users who wanted to subscribe to a creator’s membership plan would have to do so using Apple’s in-app purchases.
[…]
The option to use Apple’s own in-app purchases method, meanwhile, is shown only in very small text below the larger, bold “Join” button.
Jess Weatherbed:
The new Patreon web payment option supports Apple Pay, credit cards, Venmo, and PayPal. The alternative checkout options are currently limited to fans purchasing new memberships and creators using the subscription billing model, which charges fans based on their sign-up date, according to Patreon. The company is working to include alternative checkout options for one-time payments “in a future update.”
Matt Birchler:
This post from last year remains relevant today. Apple’s logic around “safety and security” for allowed payment methods was:
- it’s safe enough to enter your credit card in an app to buy physical goods
- it’s safe enough to enter you card into an app to buy digital goods you enjoy on other devices
- it’s unsafe to enter your card in an app to buy digital goods you enjoy on that device
Not entering your card info and just using Apple Pay: also not allowed.
Via Nick Heer:
This nonsense remains true outside the U.S. and the other regions that have mandated, to varying degrees, a revision to Apple’s payment terms. It makes no sense at all — but, of course, nothing about this really does. It is all reverse justification — a way for Apple to absorb a slice of an economy it feels it is owed for little reason other than because.
Jeff Johnson:
It’s nonsensical!
If a purchase occurs in Safari—which is Apple’s app—then Apple is NOT owed a cut, but if a purchase is made in Amazon’s app, then Apple IS owed a cut???
Previously:
App Store Apple Pay External iOS Payments In-App Purchase iOS iOS 18 iOS App Patreon
Juli Clover:
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said over the weekend (via The Verge) that Epic will use its Epic Games Sweden account to submit Fortnite to the App Store in the U.S. Apparently, Sweeney has spoken to Apple about the issue, and based on his wording, it sounds like Apple could allow the plan, but he did not say that he has explicit approval from Apple.
Tim Sweeney (last week):
We will return Fortnite to the US iOS App Store next week.
Tim Sweeney:
Not Monday or Tuesday. Beyond that, we’re working as hard as possible and aren’t certain what day it will be ready.
John Gruber:
If Apple were going to allow Fortnite back into the App Store they could have done so at any point in the last four years. And there’s nothing, not a word, in Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’s decision last week that says Apple needs to reinstate Epic Games. I think Apple just stays the course and Fortnite remains persona non grata as far as the App Store is concerned.
Juli Clover:
It has cost Epic Games more than $100 million to challenge Apple’s App Store rules in the ongoing Apple vs. Epic Games legal battle, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said today in an interview with Business Insider.
Sweeney said that Epic Games has paid “legal bills” in excess of $100 million, but that the dispute has cost the company a lot more.
But if you look at lost revenue, that’s another story. We can’t predict exactly how much we would have made on iOS, but in the two years that we were on the platform, Fortnite had made about $300 million on iOS. So you could have projected hundreds of millions of dollars of lost revenue as a result of the fight.
Previously:
App Store Business External iOS Payments Fortnite iOS iOS 18 iOS App Legal
Joe Rossignol:
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman today said that iPadOS 19 will be “more like macOS.”
Gurman said that iPadOS 19 will be “more like a Mac” in three ways:
- Improved productivity
- Improved multitasking
- Improved app window management
Previous discussion of the rumored redesign had focused on fears of macOS becoming more like iOS or iOS becoming more like visionOS, but this sounds more promising.
Jason Snell:
This report is intriguing, but frustratingly vague. Apple wanting to tinker with iPad multitasking and app window management is dog-bites-man stuff at this point.
Stephen Hackett:
That certainly sounds like what our anonymous commenter was describing, and while it would be great for the iPad to gain a more Mac-like windowing system, I don’t think the people who want macOS on their iPads will look at iPadOS 19 and be truly satisfied.
Window management doesn’t address the core issue that has haunted the iPad since the beginning.
Joe Rossignol:
When an iPad running iPadOS 19 is connected to a Magic Keyboard, a macOS-like menu bar will appear on the screen, according to the leaker Majin Bu.
That makes sense.
Joe Rossignol:
A leaker known as Majin Bu today claimed that iOS 19 will enable support for at least a limited version of Stage Manager on iPhone models with a USB-C port.
Ryan Christoffel:
According to Jon Prosser, there’s a change coming that will impact users of large iPhones especially.
iOS 19 will reportedly move apps’ search bar to the bottom of the app—a big change from its current location.
Previously:
Update (2025-05-08): John Gruber:
One of the reasons why Apple’s own apps are always better — and more capable — on MacOS than on iOS or iPad is that they’ve got more commands, better organized, because there’s a menu bar. Apple Notes, Apple Mail, the whole iWork suite — they’re all better on Mac, and they all have way more features on the Mac.
Reading a menu is also far more humane than scrutinizing icons.
[…]
I know iPadOS today already supports a menu-bar-like HUD thing when you have a keyboard attached and hold down the Command key. I find that to be far less usable and far more distracting than a Mac-style menu bar. There’s a reason the Mac only shows you one menu at a time. Focus.
[…]
Why shouldn’t users be able to access all menu commands when they’re just using the iPad via touch? It’s unnecessarily restrictive that the full list of commands in an app is only available when a keyboard is attached — especially for a device that many users never attach a keyboard to.
iOS iOS 19 iOS Multitasking iPadOS iPadOS 19 Magic Keyboard for iPad Rumor Stage Manager
