Apple News app violates App Store guidelines with Apple News+ ad

Apple is breaking App Store rules with how it offers Apple News+ within the Apple News app. Information such as how to cancel a subscription, a link to the privacy policy and more will not appear in the ad. Those are reasons why Apple rejects third-party apps.

Dave DeLong, iOS developer, raise it on Twitter. According to him, information such as a link to the privacy policy, directions on how to cancel a subscription, specific information about what is offered and a disclaimer about canceling if the renewal would take place within 24 hours is missing. “The App Review department are huge advocates of following the rules to perfection. If a third-party app did this, they would be immediately rejected,” he writes.

Some of the information that DeLong is talking about only shows up in the gray-colored App Store pop-up, which actually handles the payment. However, according to him, this is not sufficient to comply with the regulations; an app must already have this information itself listed before the user gets to the App Store popup. Apple does not write anywhere that it is obliged to adhere to its own rules, which makes this seem allowed.

The Verge notes that Apple has sent three push notifications to iOS devices in the past four months, advertising other Apple products and services. This is also against the guidelines Apple offers iOS developers. “Push messages should not be used for promotion,” writes the tech giant.

The regulations on subscriptions and in-app purchases are in the App Store Review Guidelines in chapter 3.1.2 and the regulations on push notifications are in chapter 4.5.4. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Verge. Apple announced News+ on Monday. Users in the US can take out a subscription for $10 per month that gives unlimited access to articles from hundreds of magazines and some newspapers.

Screenshots: The Verge