Apple updates App Store guidelines to resolve developer concerns. Check details

What’s new in the guidelines 

Most of the changes that have been introduced in the App Store are concerning outside-of-app communications, collecting contact information within an app and in-app events featured in the App Store. The new guidelines allow developers to provide information to the users regarding making payments outside the App Store.

The new guidelines in the settlement will attend to a long-standing concern by Apple developers that called out the tech giant on dominating the payment options made available to the user.  

The developers will be able to share information with their users about how to pay for purchases outside their iOS app and the App Store. Earlier, Apple had claimed that the changes would clarify that developers “can use communications, such as emails, to share information about payment methods outside of their iOS app.”

A previous statement also said, “As always, developers will not pay Apple a commission on any purchases taking place outside of their app or the App Stores.” 

The guidelines also explain that apps may request customer information like name and email, but the request must be optional for the user and shouldn’t prevent them from using the app. 

Apple’s new guidelines also include information about how developers can use a new App Store feature, called in-app events, which rolls out next week.

The guidelines also have some exclusions. The tech giant has deleted a clause from guideline 3.1.3. This guideline earlier claimed that developers were not permitted to use information obtained within their app to target individual users outside of the app to use purchasing methods other than Apple’s own in-app purchases. The old rule had also said this would include sending out emails to the address on file obtained when the customer signed up for the app.