For some developers outside of the United States, a lingering issue with the Apple Developer Program is preventing them from activating or renewing their subscription.
That subscription is vital for a developer putting together apps set to release on Apple’s App Store, and for many living outside of the U.S. there has been a prolonged issue preventing them from staying an active member of the program. 9to5Mac has the report on Monday, saying that the issue is preventing some developers from activating a new subscription, while others are unable to renew their previously active subscription.
There are posts from developers on the Apple Developer Forum detailing the issues for some international developers. Some of these developers have been experiencing these same issues since last year, in fact. For those experiencing the problems, Apple is reportedly denying international credit cards, which prevents a new account from being activated, or an existing one being renewed.
In some instances, developers have tried different credit cards to bypass the issue. However, that apparently did not lead to a fix, and the transaction was still denied. And in each case Apple’s rejection of the international credit card means the purchase is canceled immediately, preventing the developer from completing the registration process.
This problem seems to be major because it refers to many developers. Faced it myself, I conducted investigation around developer communities and I have read a lot of developer troubleshoot reports from Russia who are unable to enroll Apple Developer Program because of payment impossibility. […] Banks keep answering that they did not receive any payment requests, while Apple Support continue answering about problems from bank side with advice check billing information.
Apple has suggested to some of these developers impacted by the issue to contact their bank. For the developers that followed Apple’s suggestion, the bank informed them that there is nothing wrong with the card(s) they are trying to use, and that Apple is rejecting the purchase and that it’s up to the company to alleviate the problem.
Some developers have said that they haven’t even seen an attempted charge from Apple on the card they tried to use for the program. And many have said that Apple has not come up with a viable solution up to this point. But of course, not every developer outside of the U.S. has run into this problem, so it’s not a blanket issue for all international developers.
If a developer has an existing account, but that subscription is not able to be renewed, then their app, or apps, could be removed from the App Store.
This certainly sounds like an issue that Apple should look into, and fix, as soon as possible.
Are you a developer, or know one, who lives outside of the United States and has experienced this issue?