In-App Purchases

In compliance with a legal decision, Apple has allowed dating apps in the Netherlands to offer alternative payment systems, for which it will charge 27% commission net of tax, 9to5Mac is reporting. The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) had ruled on December 24th that Apple must allow dating apps published to the Netherlands’ App...

After a period of stagnancy, Twitter recently came out and announced a complete aesthetic redesign, along with a slew of new features that will put the social network in contention with the likes of Clubhouse, Facebook and Instagram’s ‘Stories’ feature, Patreon, and even Substack. In an interview with The Verge on Tuesday, Twitter’s Head of […]

Joining a growing list of developers who are publicly criticizing Apple over its revenue-sharing policy for in-app purchases, Facebook has said that Apple declined to waive its usual 30% fee for in-app purchases during a global pandemic, which is hurting small businesses (via Bloomberg). Facebook rolled out a paid events feature in 20 countries last week,...

A new study shows that advertising in apps for young children may be far more prevalent than parents and caregivers may realize. According to a new study from the pediatrics department of the University of Michigan Medical School (via Buzzfeed News), apps intended for children are "crammed" with ads, many of them disturbing, inappropriate and effectively impossible to dismiss....

According to a new report from TechCrunch, Instagram quietly launched a new in-app payment feature for some users. The payments feature allows users to add a credit or debit card with the option of an additional pin for additional security. After the initial setup, users will be able to make purchases on Instagram. Some users...

On Friday, Apple rolled out a much requested developer tool that allows app makers to generate and share in-app purchase promo codes. This will allow testers, press outlets, and others to test the apps full features. Announced through Apple's developer webpage, the new iTunes Connect feature lets outside parties try out for-pay app functionality after...

A 7-year-old kid named Faisall Shugaa has recently spent almost $6,000 on the Jurassic World iPad game’s in-app purchases, including $2,200 spent in just one hour, the Daily Mail reports (via CultOfMac). Mohamed Shugaa, the kid’s father, said that Faisall knew the passcode to unlock his iPad, but he didn't realise that his son had also memorised his Apple ID,...

In a series of tweets on Friday, Kanye West reflected how mad he was about the existence of iPad in-app purchases in kids games. "F*** any game company that puts in-app purchases on kids games!!!”, he tweeted. Apparently, Glu Games, the company that produces the very successful Kim Kardashian: Hollywood game, must also take note since their game...

Apple, Google, and Amazon are being investigated by Italian antitrust regulators over their freemium app models in their respective app stores. The Italian regulator is trying to determine whether each companies’ app store and freemium apps offer enough information about in-app purchases. The regulators are also investigating whether these sales practices are tricking users into...

Apple is scrambling to make changes to its in-app purchases (IAPs) system in the App Store, in order to settle a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) complaint that it billed consumers for millions of dollars of charges incurred by kids without their parents’ consent, ZDNet is reporting. The settlement requires Apple to change how it charges...

In an interview with AllThingsD, PopCap’s franchise business director for Plants vs. Zombies Tony Learner has stated that it is not possible to offer a gaming experience like Plants vs. Zombies 2 without in-app purchases. “It’s hard for us, because the Plants vs. Zombies 2 experience is one that we’re going to be expanding and adding content to all the...