Apple has considerably strict guidelines on its App Store. Last month, he removed a popular app because it was named after a drug, a move it had to reverse after public reaction. The company is now cracking down on applications with “irrationally high prices”.
In the past few months, there have been several posts on the Apple Developer Forums by developers claiming that their apps have been removed for setting high prices. One of these developers had subscription offers valued at $ 39.99 / month, reaching $ 99.99 / year, with a reported 60% retention rate, but it was still scolded by Apple.
A new report from 9to5Mac cites a similar case in which a developer submission was rejected for the same reason. Apple sent the following email to the developer:
Customers expect the App Store to be a safe and reliable marketplace for purchasing digital products. Applications should never betray that trust by trying to deceive or mislead users in any way.
Unfortunately, the prices you have selected for your app or in-app purchase products in your app do not reflect the value of the features and content offered to the user. Charging irrationally high prices for content or services with limited value is a scam for customers and is not appropriate for the App Store.
[…] To resolve this issue, we recommend that you perform the following steps:
- Review your app or in-app purchase products to provide more value to the user at the time of purchase
- Choose a price for your app or in-app purchase products that accurately reflects the value provided to the user
- After making the appropriate changes, please resubmit your application for review
The next submission of this application may require a longer review time and will not be eligible for an accelerated review until the issue is resolved.
While the developer was able to publish his application explaining to Apple that they use expensive APIs that generate most of the costs, the change certainly highlights a growing tendency for the company to remove applications that it believes “steal” its customers.
In fact, the App Store Review Guidelines state that:
There are many ways to monetize your app on the App Store. If your business model is not obvious, be sure to explain in your application metadata and evaluation notes. If we are unable to understand how your app works or if your in-app purchases are not immediately obvious, this will delay your review and may cause a rejection. And while the price is up to you, we will not distribute apps and in-app purchase items that are clearly stolen. We will reject expensive apps that try to trick users with unreasonably high prices.
The above text is not unquestionably clear, as it sets no limit on what Apple considers “unreasonably high prices”. This seems to be an increasingly problematic point for honest developers who are charging justifiably high prices for their services. Other older forum posts have also highlighted cases where Apple takes a long time to respond to justifications provided by developers and reinstate applications.