Critical Warning for External Purchases in App Store
first time seeing this. Apple will punish the apps with external payment system
Yup it’s real, you see this warning if the app doesn’t use IAP.
Also it says external purchases next to the “get” button
It’s confusing to follow all the changes, but apparently—unlike in the US—external purchases in the EU don’t need to have corresponding IAP versions.
The warning adds five lines of text at the top of the App Store screen, above even the app’s name and icon.
On macOS, Apple declares three levels of alerts:
Informational (app icon): “to be used to inform the user about a current or impending event”
Warning (app icon): “to be used to warn the user about a current or impending event[…] when the alert’s content is more severe than [informational]”
Critical (orange ! triangle icon): “Use a caution symbol sparingly. Using a caution symbol like
exclamationmark.triangletoo frequently in your alerts diminishes its significance. Use the symbol only when extra attention is really needed, as when confirming an action that might result in unexpected loss of data.”
Guess which icon the App Store uses for external payments.
But I wonder how many users will see the warnings. If you’ve already purchased an app, it can auto-update to add external payments without your having to go back to the store. And I think the DMA mandated that there can’t be scare screens at the time of purchase.
Previously:
- Apple Appeals Epic Anti-Steering Injunction
- App Review Guidelines Updated for Epic Anti-Steering
- Court Orders Apple to Comply With Anti-Steering Injunction
- Testimony on External Purchase Fee and Scare Screens
- DMA Compliance: Custom External Link Designs
- EU Fines Apple $2 Billion Over Anti-Steering Rules
- Apple Attacks Sideloading
- Annoying Catalina Security Features
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The problem is not really the icon. The problem is the text that strongly implies that other payment solutions are not secure (or as private as Apple's solution).
This is quite lamentapple.
Pretty much in line with them strongly implying that anything not notarized by Apple is malware that will definitely hurt your computer. Or that an app not signed is garbage to be thrown right in the trash.
They're so awful. I think at this point it's safe to say they're the new Microsoft. And at least Microsoft, however ham-fistedly and in a sweaty cocaine fueled stupor, actually tried to care about developers.
