Automatic Billing for Higher Priced Subscriptions Hits the App Store at Large

18 MAY 2022 - If you’re subscribed to anything through the App Store, keep an eye on your billing. Early last month we heard word that Apple was piloting tests to let developers “automatically charge users for subscription price increases.” Seems to have gone well for someone. A piece this week from Engadget indicates that the move has gone from pilot to practice. “Under the old policy,” says Engadget:

…[Apple] will ask users to opt in before they're charged for a subscription that has recently raised its price. Going forward, however, it will allow developers to automatically charge higher prices, so long as they meet a set of conditions. Apple will notify users of the price increase in advance via email and push notification, but it's up to them to unsubscribe before they're charged.

When I first heard about this, my immediate thought was, “it stinks.” Reading over the terms though, they’re not as bad as they could be. For example, when news of the pilot hit in early April, there was no mention of Apple letting subscribers know via email and push notification. Additionally, developers can’t raise the rates by too much and they can’t do it too often. If they want the price increases to happen automatically, the most developers can raise the rate is $5 at a time, and they can’t raise it higher than half of the current subscription cost. Also they can only do it once a year - again, if they want it to happen automatically. Variations would still require endusers to opt-in - at least as Engadget understands it.