{"id":25937,"date":"2019-07-12T15:16:52","date_gmt":"2019-07-12T19:16:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=25937"},"modified":"2021-02-08T14:43:31","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T19:43:31","slug":"predatory-ios-app-subscriptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2019\/07\/12\/predatory-ios-app-subscriptions\/","title":{"rendered":"Predatory iOS App Subscriptions"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Barnard<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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I decided to try and tune the my niece’s Disney princess guitar and went to the App Store looking for a tuner. Top result is an ad for an app by MVM, the company I called out last week for shady onboarding and $400+\/yr subscriptions.<\/p>\n

Second result is a curated story, so I figured that would be better than continuing to look through the search results. So I download one of those apps. Similar shady onboarding, then a $100\/yr subscription. (At least this one has a close button hidden in the top left.)<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

What’s especially insidious is that to make these scams work, developers are spending tons of money on user acquisition. I’ve talked to some knowledgable folks who estimate these apps spend as much as 90% of their gross revenue on app install ads.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Apple is allowing these scams to tarnish their brand and destroy people’s trust in the App Store to make a little extra money and pad the pockets of Google and Facebook. They’ve been playing whack-a-mole for years instead of doing the deeper work of re-aligning incentives.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

And that brings us back to my rant last fall. Not only is Apple failing to re-aligning incentives, they are actively incentivizing revenue over user experience by featuring apps based on how well they do financially without regard for how they do it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Dominik Wagner<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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The @AppStore currently promotes a metronome app that has a $7.99 weekly price. That is $415.48 for the default trial subscription it shows at start. That’s promoting fraud. And not the first occasion. @Apple we demand better.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Rene Ritchie<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Gross. Looks like a few metronome apps do this. Among a ton of other gross of apps.<\/p>\n

Totally destroys the “you can just trust it” reputation of the @AppStore<\/p>\n

Hope Apple cracks down on all the subscription scams and yesterday.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

I don’t think Apple should ban these apps or prevent developers from setting the prices. But it should be easier for customers to see what they’re committing to and to cancel before they get rebilled.<\/p>\n\n

Ryan Jones<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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The scammers that are ruining the App Store WILL erode consumer trust, Apple’s advantage, viability of good products, and services revenue.<\/p>\n

Again, I think and talk about it a lot, because these things change slowly, then all of a sudden.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n