daring-rss

Message from a DF reader:

I came across an app that’s getting away with directly linking to
a website to start a subscription instead of IAP. It’s a
straightforward violation of App Store rules in the US. If you
look at reviews, a lot of people complain about fraudulent charges
and not being able to cancel. But apparently Apple hasn’t stopped
them yet.

I downloaded the app and signed up; immediately after confirming your email address, you get sent to a screen in the app where you choose from account tiers to begin a free trial. The lowest tier is $100/month, the highest is $500/month. And after making your selection, you get sent to this page on DealMachine’s website to pay using Stripe. (That link won’t actually work, because I omitted the tracking code portion of the URL for the throwaway account I created, so here’s a screenshot.) Not only are they circumventing in-app payments, they don’t even offer using them as a choice.

Here’s a review from their App Store Listing:

No Customer Support / Rough
Their annual plan is over a thousand dollars. I haven’t used their service in
months. The renewal comes around, they charge me another thousand
dollars. I reach out to get a refund, all I get is a robot.

I don’t think DealMachine is a scam. Stripe is as legit as it gets. But when you handle payments on your own, you handle refunds and subscription cancellations on your own too. Renewal reminders too. And if you don’t send renewal reminders, customers don’t get them. And if you don’t feel like issuing a refund for a $1,000/year subscription that a customer wanted to cancel but didn’t, you can let the customer sort it out with their credit card company. All that stuff works awesome, from the user’s perspective, with Apple’s App Store payment system. So DealMachine is like getting a taste of what our friends in the EU will be getting from marketplace apps soon.

 ★ 

Message from a DF reader:

I came across an app that’s getting away with directly linking to
a website to start a subscription instead of IAP. It’s a
straightforward violation of App Store rules in the US. If you
look at reviews, a lot of people complain about fraudulent charges
and not being able to cancel. But apparently Apple hasn’t stopped
them yet.

I downloaded the app and signed up; immediately after confirming your email address, you get sent to a screen in the app where you choose from account tiers to begin a free trial. The lowest tier is $100/month, the highest is $500/month. And after making your selection, you get sent to this page on DealMachine’s website to pay using Stripe. (That link won’t actually work, because I omitted the tracking code portion of the URL for the throwaway account I created, so here’s a screenshot.) Not only are they circumventing in-app payments, they don’t even offer using them as a choice.

Here’s a review from their App Store Listing:

No Customer Support / Rough
Their annual plan is over a thousand dollars. I haven’t used their service in
months. The renewal comes around, they charge me another thousand
dollars. I reach out to get a refund, all I get is a robot.

I don’t think DealMachine is a scam. Stripe is as legit as it gets. But when you handle payments on your own, you handle refunds and subscription cancellations on your own too. Renewal reminders too. And if you don’t send renewal reminders, customers don’t get them. And if you don’t feel like issuing a refund for a $1,000/year subscription that a customer wanted to cancel but didn’t, you can let the customer sort it out with their credit card company. All that stuff works awesome, from the user’s perspective, with Apple’s App Store payment system. So DealMachine is like getting a taste of what our friends in the EU will be getting from marketplace apps soon.

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Apple Developer News:

Web Distribution, available with a software update later this spring, will let authorized developers distribute their iOS apps to EU users directly from a website owned by the developer. Apple will provide authorized developers access to APIs that facilitate the distribution of their apps from the web, integrate with system functionality, back up and restore users’ apps, and more. For details, visit Getting ready for Web Distribution in the EU.

 ★ 

Apple Developer News:

Web Distribution, available with a software update later this spring, will let authorized developers distribute their iOS apps to EU users directly from a website owned by the developer. Apple will provide authorized developers access to APIs that facilitate the distribution of their apps from the web, integrate with system functionality, back up and restore users’ apps, and more. For details, visit Getting ready for Web Distribution in the EU.

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Although Apple as an institution granted, revoked, and under public pressure reinstated Epic’s new account, from the perspective of Apple leadership, they only revoked a new account that had been created through an automated system — not for criticism, per se, but for the same reason Epic’s Fortnite developer account remains revoked and Fortnite remains unavailable on Apple platforms worldwide: for the 2020 Fortnite IAP Trojan horse stunt.

Three weeks ago, when Epic Games announced their approval from Apple for a new Apple developer account, under Epic’s Swedish subsidiary, and their intention to use that account to create an Epic Games Store app marketplace in the EU, the assumption was that this had been approved at a high level inside Apple. It seemed pretty safe to assume that no one at Apple had forgotten who Epic is, and that was certainly how Epic presented it, starting with Tim Sweeney graciously describing it as “a good faith move by Apple amidst our cataclysmic antitrust battle”.

So the conventional wisdom as to what has occurred from then forward goes like this:

Epic, seeing the opportunity offered by Apple’s DMA compliance plan in the EU, petitioned Apple for a new developer account to create an EU marketplace.
Senior Apple executives — perhaps Phil Schiller, head of the App Store, personally — consider the petition, and despite having previously banned Epic Games’s Fortnite developer account for the 2020 in-app payments Trojan horse stunt, decide to grant it.
Epic announces their plans.
Apple then revokes Epic’s newly-granted developer account, citing other recent tweets from Sweeney in which he scathingly criticizes Apple’s DMA compliance plan.
Epic goes public with the correspondence from Schiller (email to Sweeney, asking for assurances) and Apple’s attorney (letter [pp. 1 and 2] to Epic’s attorneys, officially terminating the new account, and thus, briefly, dashing Epic’s plans for an EU marketplace.
Everyone, largely stemming from assumption item 2 in this list, sees this as astonishingly thin-skinned retaliation on Apple’s part for public remarks criticizing Apple’s plans. “Everyone” here included EC commissioner Thierry Breton, who tweets that he is immediately opening an investigation.
Under this pressure, Apple relents and reinstates Epic’s newly-created account and agrees to allow the Epic Games Store marketplace to proceed.

This list is largely true, but the problem is item 2. Epic, under the assumption or hope that the DMA demanded Apple permit them to open a store, had simply gone through the enrollment form on Apple’s developer website and paid the $99 annual fee. Per Sweeney, responding to a question from me tonight on Twitter/X, that was Friday, February 9, and their account was approved on the following Monday, February 12. Epic made their public announcement that they intended to create an Epic Games Store for iOS in the EU on Friday, February 16.

That announcement, seemingly, was in fact the first time Epic’s plans came to the attention Apple’s leadership. Schiller’s email to Sweeney was sent the following Friday, February 23, and concluded:

You have stated that allowing enrollment of Epic Games Sweden in
the Developer Program is “a good faith move by Apple.” We invite
you to provide us with written assurance that you are also acting
in good faith, and that Epic Games Sweden will, despite your
public actions and rhetoric, honor all of its commitments. In
plain, unqualified terms, please tell us why we should trust Epic
this time.

It doesn’t make any sense for Schiller to have asked that on February 23 if any senior Apple executives had considered the implications — including Epic’s history of performative non-compliance with the App Store’s terms — and explicitly approved Epic’s new developer account two weeks earlier. Florian Mueller was the first observer to note this, in a post on his new site Games Fray on March 6, this past Wednesday:

The original grant of the developer account appeared to be a sign
of a potential improvement of their relationship, but that may
have been the result of an oversight as opposed to a conscious
decision by Apple’s executives and lawyers to give Epic a chance
to prove to be a reliable app store operator in the EU. Right
after the developer account was announced (February 16, 2024),
Epic’s Swedish subsidiary applied for a DMA consultation slot, and
five days later apparently saw that the request had been turned
down. Those consultations are offered by Apple to organizations
interested in exercising certain rights under the DMA with a view
to alternative app stores. The fact that they weren’t going to
talk to Epic about this was already a first negative sign.

Stephen Warwick, reporting for iMore, followed up on Florian’s speculation and confirmed it:

Apple has confirmed to iMore that Epic Games Sweden entered the
DLPA without any executive review on Apple’s part, confirming
Mueller’s suspicion.

To be clear, regardless of executive review, “Apple” had approved Epic Games Sweden’s developer account. But that approval was seemingly automated, or mostly automated, and it was only after that when Apple executives and lawyers engaged Epic in any back-and-forth regarding assurances of future compliance with Apple’s DMA guidelines.

So the real order of events is something more like this:

Epic Games Sweden enrolls in the developer program online and gets approval after the weekend.
Epic presumes, somewhat reasonably, that this means they have the go-ahead.1 It is very Apple-like to simply grant the new account without any personal contact. Epic knows Apple is doing this through gritted teeth, because Apple itself has made clear they don’t agree with any of the demands of the DMA.
Epic announces their plan for an iOS games store.
Now Schiller and others in Apple leadership ponder the question of what to do, and a week later Schiller emails Sweeney.
Sweeney responds in the affirmative, replying to Schiller: “Epic and its subsidiaries are acting in good faith and will comply with all terms of current and future agreements with Apple, and we’ll be glad to provide Apple with any specific further assurances on the topic that you’d like.”
Apple considers that insufficient, thinking something to the effect of “These guys complained incessantly about the App Store before pulling their Fortnite IAP stunt, and we perma-banned them for good reason then. Now they’re complaining just as incessantly about our DMA compliance plans, so they’re just as likely to pull a rule-breaking stunt again if we grant them a developer account to run a marketplace in the EU. Nothing’s changed with Epic, so screw ’em, they still don’t deserve to be in the developer program.”

I.e., while Apple as an institution granted, revoked, and under public pressure reinstated Epic’s new account, from the perspective of Apple leadership, they only revoked a new account that had been created through an automated system — not for criticism, per se, but for the same reason Epic’s Fortnite developer account remains revoked and Fortnite remains unavailable on Apple platforms worldwide: for the 2020 Fortnite IAP Trojan horse stunt. The “colorful” tweets Schiller quoted and which Apple’s attorney cited were mentioned as proof that Epic hadn’t changed, not as the reason for revoking the new account.

I’m farting into the wind by writing about this somewhat subtle distinction, because the conventional wisdom isn’t going to change. Almost everyone paying any attention at all to this will continue to believe, forever, that Apple executives granted Epic a new developer account and then revoked it because Tim Sweeney tweeted things they didn’t like about their DMA plans.2

The bottom line remains as I concluded Friday: Apple played this whole thing terribly. The automated developer program enrollment form — the one that gave Epic the impression they’d been granted express permission to proceed with building an iOS marketplace for the EU — is Apple’s. The whole App Store bureaucracy is Apple’s. (Or as Sweeney aptly called it tonight, “Apple’s App DMV”.)

At the beginning of Apple attorney Mark Perry’s letter terminating Epic’s new developer account, he lays bare Apple’s thinking:

In the past, Epic has denigrated Apple’s developer terms,
including the Developer Program License Agreement (DPLA) as a
prelude to breaking them.

To Apple executives, it might have made sense to cite in their correspondence with Epic their ongoing denigration of Apple’s developer terms, as evidence that Epic remains recalcitrant and untrustworthy. To almost everyone outside Apple Park, however — most especially (a) third-party developers who have been, for years, souring on Apple’s App Store policies; and (b) EC commissioners, who are ebulliently roasting Apple as a regulatory target and feasting on the resulting publicity — it looks not like a policy of “We’re not going to reinstate Developer Program privileges to a proven rule-breaker whose stated goal was then, and remains now, to break our control over our own platform”, but instead a retaliatory policy of “We’ll terminate the account of any developer who speaks out against us.”

That Apple couldn’t see how this would play is on them.

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Benjamin Mayo, reporting for 9t05Mac:

Apple is said to be testing an AI-powered ads platform with a
select group of partners, via Business Insider.

The AI tool chooses where to place ads in the various App Store
promoted ad placement slots. Right now, this is seemingly being
used to improve advertiser campaign performance for App Store
Search Ads. However, Business Insider speculates the technology
could eventually be used elsewhere as Apple gradually expands its
offering of ad-supported services.

If this AI system is so smart, I suggest Apple use it to figure out how to run the App Store without any ads at all.

 ★ 

Benjamin Mayo, reporting for 9t05Mac:

Apple is said to be testing an AI-powered ads platform with a
select group of partners, via Business Insider.

The AI tool chooses where to place ads in the various App Store
promoted ad placement slots. Right now, this is seemingly being
used to improve advertiser campaign performance for App Store
Search Ads. However, Business Insider speculates the technology
could eventually be used elsewhere as Apple gradually expands its
offering of ad-supported services.

If this AI system is so smart, I suggest Apple use it to figure out how to run the App Store without any ads at all.

Read More 

Zoom in on that first image and you can see his case is rather stained.

 ★ 

Zoom in on that first image and you can see his case is rather stained.

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Scharon Harding, reporting for Ars Technica:

This month, users on Roku’s support forums reported
suddenly seeing a message when turning on their Roku TV
or streaming device reading: “We’ve made an important update:
We’ve updated our Dispute Resolution Terms. Select ‘Agree’ to
agree to these updated Terms and to continue enjoying our products
and services. Press * to view these updated Terms.” A large button
reading “Agree” follows. The pop-up doesn’t offer a way to
disagree, and users are unable to use their device unless they hit
agree. […]

Roku has further aggravated customers who have found that
disagreeing to its updated terms is harder than necessary. Roku is
willing to accept agreement to its terms with a single button
press, but to opt out, users must jump through hoops that include
finding that old book of stamps.

To opt out of Roku’s ToS update, which primarily changes the
“Dispute Resolution Terms,” users must send a letter to
Roku’s general counsel in California mentioning: “the name of each
person opting out and contact information for each such person,
the specific product models, software, or services used that are
at issue, the email address that you used to set up your Roku
account (if you have one), and, if applicable, a copy of your
purchase receipt.” Roku required all this to opt out of its terms
previously, as well.

Requiring a written letter (and a copy of the purchase receipt — how many people keep that for what may well be a years-old purchase?) is just a huge “fuck you” to their customers.

 ★ 

Scharon Harding, reporting for Ars Technica:

This month, users on Roku’s support forums reported
suddenly seeing a message when turning on their Roku TV
or streaming device reading: “We’ve made an important update:
We’ve updated our Dispute Resolution Terms. Select ‘Agree’ to
agree to these updated Terms and to continue enjoying our products
and services. Press * to view these updated Terms.” A large button
reading “Agree” follows. The pop-up doesn’t offer a way to
disagree, and users are unable to use their device unless they hit
agree. […]

Roku has further aggravated customers who have found that
disagreeing to its updated terms is harder than necessary. Roku is
willing to accept agreement to its terms with a single button
press, but to opt out, users must jump through hoops that include
finding that old book of stamps.

To opt out of Roku’s ToS update, which primarily changes the
“Dispute Resolution Terms,” users must send a letter to
Roku’s general counsel in California mentioning: “the name of each
person opting out and contact information for each such person,
the specific product models, software, or services used that are
at issue, the email address that you used to set up your Roku
account (if you have one), and, if applicable, a copy of your
purchase receipt.” Roku required all this to opt out of its terms
previously, as well.

Requiring a written letter (and a copy of the purchase receipt — how many people keep that for what may well be a years-old purchase?) is just a huge “fuck you” to their customers.

Read More 

Jason Kottke:

When the Star Wars films aired in Chile, instead of cutting away from the movie for commercial breaks, the TV station “seamlessly” inserted ads for Cerveza Cristal beer. We’re talking Obi-Wan opening a chest to find a lightsaber for Luke and instead it reveals an ice-chest full of beer. Or the Emperor Force-reaching for a lightsaber and a can of beer flies into his hand.

These commercials aired like 20 years ago, but went supernova-viral last week. It’s impossible to explain how that works, but they deserved to go crazy viral. They’re so goddamn funny, even though you know the gag.

(Sidenote: Pitch-perfect redesign over there at the home of fine hypertext products since 1998.)

 ★ 

Jason Kottke:

When the Star Wars films aired in Chile, instead of cutting away from the movie for commercial breaks, the TV station “seamlessly” inserted ads for Cerveza Cristal beer. We’re talking Obi-Wan opening a chest to find a lightsaber for Luke and instead it reveals an ice-chest full of beer. Or the Emperor Force-reaching for a lightsaber and a can of beer flies into his hand.

These commercials aired like 20 years ago, but went supernova-viral last week. It’s impossible to explain how that works, but they deserved to go crazy viral. They’re so goddamn funny, even though you know the gag.

(Sidenote: Pitch-perfect redesign over there at the home of fine hypertext products since 1998.)

Read More 

If Apple had just let Epic proceed from the start, they’d have looked magnanimous. But as it stands, Apple looks bitter, and from the EC’s perspective, in need of close policing.

Epic Games:

Apple has told us and committed to the European Commission that
they will reinstate our developer account. This sends a strong
signal to developers that the European Commission will act swiftly
to enforce the Digital Markets Act and hold gatekeepers
accountable. We are moving forward as planned to launch the Epic
Games Store and bring Fortnite back to iOS in Europe. Onward!

Tim Sweeney:

The DMA went through its first major challenge with Apple banning
Epic Games Sweden from competing with the App Store, and the DMA
just had its first major victory. Following a swift inquiry by the
European Commission, Apple notified the Commission and Epic that
it would relent and restore our access to bring back Fortnite and
launch Epic Games Store in Europe under the DMA law.

A big win for European rule of law, for the European Commision,
and for the freedom of developers worldwide to speak up.
#FreeFortnite!

This is in response to a tweet, just yesterday, from Thierry Breton of the European Commission (emojis and hashtags untouched):

🚨Under the #DMA, there is no room for threats by gatekeepers to
silence developers.

I have asked our services to look into Apple’s termination of
Epic’s developer account as a matter of priority.

To all developers in 🇪🇺 & 🌍: now is the time to have your say on
gatekeepers’ compliance solutions!

(I had a version of this post almost ready to publish before I ran out of gas late last night; I seemingly can’t write fast enough to keep up with Apple’s EU regulatory adventure. Today’s Dithering is, I think, a particularly good episode and still relevant, but its shelf life of being up-to-date on the news was about 6 hours.)

Theory A: Apple is playing grandmaster-level chess, and orchestrated this entire back-and-forth to give the EU a high-publicity win — “Look, the DMA, just one day old, is already working, showing that we can push Apple around” — regarding an Epic Games Store that Apple should have just let through from the start. It’s a lot of publicity for a thing that I don’t expect will amount to a significant concession by Apple.

Theory B: Apple is flailing erratically trying to deal with their loss of autonomy.

I vote B, because to me the real win for Apple would have been just let Epic use their Swedish subsidiary to open an iOS games store without the back-and-forth. If Apple had gone that route, the European Commission could still have taken credit for proof of the DMA’s effectiveness, and Apple would look like they’re complying graciously with the law. But the way things actually played out makes clear they’re complying begrudgingly, and, worse, plays into the worst assumptions about Apple’s institutional arrogance and vindictiveness.

Apple seems to have been particularly wrong-footed (to borrow a sports analogy even EU citizens might get) by this Epic thing. Again, I think Apple should have let Epic open an Epic Games Store in the EU. I think Apple could have just made clear from the moment they announced their DMA compliance plans that Epic remained ineligible for a developer account because of their flagrant violation of the App Store rules four years ago. The EC might have — and I think would have — forced Apple to relent on that, but it could have been adjudicated without any implication of spite or pettiness on Apple’s part.

But instead Apple played it the worst way possible: They let Epic’s Swedish subsidiary open a new Apple Developer Account, and proceed far enough toward building a games store that Epic announced it, and only then revoked Epic’s developer account, while almost literally justifying it not on the grounds that Epic can’t be trusted because they’re an egregious rule breaker, but instead because Tim Sweeney continued to voice his strident (or if you prefer, colorful) opinions about the App Store being an illegal monopoly. Apple doesn’t revoke developer licenses for criticizing Apple. But a lot of people — including the EC! — now think Apple did just that.

How was a “priority” investigation by the EC not going to happen the way Apple played this? If Apple had just let Epic proceed from the start, they’d have looked magnanimous. They even had Tim Sweeney calling it “a good faith move”. But as it stands, Apple looks bitter, and from the EC’s perspective, in need of close policing.

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Signal:

Usernames in Signal do not function like usernames on social media
platforms. Signal usernames are not logins or handles that you’ll
be known by on the app — they’re simply a quick way to connect
without sharing a phone number. […]

Usernames simply allow you to initiate a connection on Signal
without sharing your phone number, and Signal’s robust privacy
safeguards remain unchanged. Signal is built so that we do not
know who you message, what you say, which group chats you
participate in, who’s in your contact list, and more.

If you want to create a username, you can do so in Settings >
Profile. A username on Signal (unlike a profile name) must be
unique and must have two or more numbers at the end of it; a
choice intended to help keep usernames egalitarian and minimize
spoofing. Usernames can be changed as often as you like, and you
can delete your username entirely if you prefer to no longer
have one.

Clever solution. Especially given that these usernames aren’t like social media handles, I particularly like the “every username gets at least 2 digits appended” rule.

 ★ 

Signal:

Usernames in Signal do not function like usernames on social media
platforms. Signal usernames are not logins or handles that you’ll
be known by on the app — they’re simply a quick way to connect
without sharing a phone number. […]

Usernames simply allow you to initiate a connection on Signal
without sharing your phone number, and Signal’s robust privacy
safeguards remain unchanged. Signal is built so that we do not
know who you message, what you say, which group chats you
participate in, who’s in your contact list, and more.

If you want to create a username, you can do so in Settings >
Profile. A username on Signal (unlike a profile name) must be
unique and must have two or more numbers at the end of it; a
choice intended to help keep usernames egalitarian and minimize
spoofing. Usernames can be changed as often as you like, and you
can delete your username entirely if you prefer to no longer
have one.

Clever solution. Especially given that these usernames aren’t like social media handles, I particularly like the “every username gets at least 2 digits appended” rule.

Read More 

Apple support document:

To reflect the Digital Markets Act’s changes, users in the
European Union are able to install alternative app marketplaces
and install apps offered through alternative app marketplaces in
iOS 17.4 or later. The country or region of your Apple ID must be
set to one of the countries or regions of the European Union, and
you must be physically located in the European Union.

Your device eligibility for alternative app marketplaces is
determined by using on-device processing, with only an indicator
of eligibility sent to Apple. To preserve your privacy, Apple does
not collect your device’s location.

If you leave the European Union for short-term travel, you’ll
continue to have access to alternative app marketplaces for a
grace period. If you’re gone for too long, you’ll lose access to
some features, including installing new alternative app
marketplaces. Apps you installed from alternative app marketplaces
will continue to function, but they can’t be updated by the
marketplace you downloaded them from.

How long is “too long”? What a confusing mess this is shaping up to be.

 ★ 

Apple support document:

To reflect the Digital Markets Act’s changes, users in the
European Union are able to install alternative app marketplaces
and install apps offered through alternative app marketplaces in
iOS 17.4 or later. The country or region of your Apple ID must be
set to one of the countries or regions of the European Union, and
you must be physically located in the European Union.

Your device eligibility for alternative app marketplaces is
determined by using on-device processing, with only an indicator
of eligibility sent to Apple. To preserve your privacy, Apple does
not collect your device’s location.

If you leave the European Union for short-term travel, you’ll
continue to have access to alternative app marketplaces for a
grace period. If you’re gone for too long, you’ll lose access to
some features, including installing new alternative app
marketplaces. Apps you installed from alternative app marketplaces
will continue to function, but they can’t be updated by the
marketplace you downloaded them from.

How long is “too long”? What a confusing mess this is shaping up to be.

Read More