Pure Sweat Basketball v. Apple
A developer of mobile sports apps has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against Apple, seeking to recover commissions iBiz allegedly collected in violation of a federal injunction intended to allow developers to use alternative payment systems.
The complaint [PDF], filed on May 2 in California Northern District Court by law firm Hagens Berman on behalf of Pure Sweat Basketball, seeks class-action status to represent other affected iOS developers.
[…]
“Had Apple complied with the injunction as issued, Apple’s own studies show that developers would have saved potentially billions in in-app purchase commissions,” the complaint says. “These are ill-gotten gains and Apple should not be permitted to retain them.”
Due to Apple’s anti-steering implementation, only 34 developers of 136,000 took advantage of the external payment link option before the terms were changed last week, and the lawsuit is seeking restitution for all U.S. developers who offered in-app purchases for non-zero prices between January 17, 2024 and when Apple fully complied with the original injunction.
Our app cannot use in app purchases because Apple does not offer metered billing, in addition IAP are limited to $999 whereas some of our clients are paying 3k-5k a month. So by every account IT IS IMPOSSIBLE for our business to use in app purchases. We fought with apple for MONTHS to even allow our app on the app store. Finally they agreed IF and only IF:
- We do not allow users to sign up in app, they have to sign up from our website.
- We DO NOT LINK our website ANYWHERE within the app
- We cannot allow users to manage their license (cancel, change, etc) within the app NOR can we send them a link to show them WHERE to do this.
This forced us to have to call customers or have them call us to resolve super simple things like changing a credit card. Apple’s rules were ridiculous, abusive (imagine taking 30% of 5k!) and to add further insult to injury Apple took FORTY-FIVE days to pay out. Stripe pays in 1-3 business days and takes 3%, and they have a better built in SDK that Apple.
Previously:
- App Review Guidelines Updated for Epic Anti-Steering
- Court Orders Apple to Comply With Anti-Steering Injunction
