Apple continues to make tweaks to its policy related to the App Store. Today, it’s another extension for developers.
On Monday, Apple announced an extension to the online group event in-app purchase requirement it rolled out back in September of this year. The company says the extension will give developers until June 30, 2021. Apple cites the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as the reason behind the extension. Apple’s original timeline would have seen developers having to offer in-app purchase for their online events and classes beginning in December of this year.
However, Apple’s still giving some leeway to some instances for users and developers:
Please note that guideline 3.1.3(d) allows apps offering realtime person-to-person experiences between two individuals (for example, tutoring students, medical consultations, real estate tours, or fitness training) to use purchase methods other than in-app purchase.
Now, though, Apple says developers will have several more months to make the necessary changes before the requirements become standard practice:
As the world fights COVID-19, we recognize that adapting experiences from in-person to digital continues to be a top priority. Although apps are required to offer any paid online group event experiences (one-to-few and one-to-many realtime experiences) through in-app purchase in accordance with App Store Review guideline 3.1.1, we temporarily deferred this requirement with an original deadline of December 2020. To allow additional time for developing in-app purchase solutions, this deadline has been extended to June 30, 2021.
This is yet another change for the App Store. As mentioned above, the company has been making some waves in this regard recently. For instance, the company recently enacted a small business/developer initiative that sees the company dropping its commission from 30% to 15%.