Apple has made a few changes to its App Store policy regarding subscription prices. From now on, iOS developers will now be able to charge users more money without notifying them.
The company announced the changes in a blog post on May 16.
Prior to this update, users should have opted into a renewal before the price increase is applied. However, Apple noted that this resulted in “some services being unintentionally interrupted.”
According to the new rules, developers can increase the price for auto-renewable subscriptions without notifying users under certain conditions:
- The price increase shouldn’t occur more than once a year;
- The increase shouldn’t be more than $5 and 50% of the price for monthly subscriptions;
- The increase shouldn’t exceed $50 and 50% of the price for annual subscriptions.
In all other cases, or if the increase happens within countries where local law requires notifications, Apple will still notify users of how to manage and cancel subscriptions. The company will also always notify users of any pricing changes in advance via email, push notifications, and in-app messages.