Apple is making some changes to the App Store rules and complaints process.
Angela Lang / CNET
While new versions of iOS, iPadOS, MacOS and the upcoming switch from Intel to Arm processors dominated the opening of Apple’s WWDC virtual developer conference. The iPhone maker has more subtly revealed some of the changes it is making than its app store is under fire from developers and regulators.
Apple is included in a press release on new developer tools and explains how troubleshooting updates for apps that are already in the App Store are no longer saved “for policy violations other than legal issues.” Instead, developers can do this to “address the issue in their next submission.”
Apple will also enable developers not only to “challenge decisions about whether an app violates a particular App Store Review Guideline policy” but “to have a mechanism to contest the policy itself”.
Both changes are to be “implemented this summer”.
The updates will be released as Apple faces increased regulatory and developer pressure related to its App Store policies. The company recently had a public dispute with the Hey email app, which blocked a recently released bug fix for the app because developer Basecamp didn’t offer an in-app option to buy the service for $ 99 a year.
Apple handles 30% of in-app purchases for apps in its app stores. On Monday, shortly before the start of the WWDC, the Update to Hey has been approved.
Spotify has Similarly, Apple accused of abusing its App Store power and 30% fee, the Swedish music company’s complaint eventually becoming one European Union antitrust investigation on this subject.