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"Apple must allow other forms of in-app purchases, rules judge in Epic vs Apple"

Link to the news.

Indie Hackers, does this mean what I think it means? Can we use Stripe or other payment methods for in-app purchases?

If so, huge W for app developers.

Apple is going to go through the appeal process for sure, but anyways, this is hard to believe. What do you think about this whole thing?

  1. 2

    Hopefully this will hold. Apple has been really stealing revenue from developers for fucking too long.

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      If this comes through, this could be game changer for many small devs. I wonder how things will change in the next year.

      1. 1

        As @stevenkkim said, apparently it's really a small win, and we've got a long way to go... I simply hate Apple's monopolistic strategies.

  2. 2

    No, I don't think this ruling will allow in-app purchases with Stripe.

    I think the article title is misleading.

    My interpretation of this is ruling (not a lawyer, so I could be wrong) is just that Apple cannot prohibit app developers from telling customers about purchase methods outside the app, including links to direct customers to purchase methods outside the app.

    This is a win, but a very, very small win.

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      I understand what you mean, but seems unclear tbh. Anyways, if you offer that link as the only possible payment, customers will use it. You can even add WebViews for that part of the application.

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        Yeah, it's unclear. But I would bet that apple will prohibit using webviews for alternative payment methods since the ruling doesn't mention this.

        I wouldn't be surprised if apple takes the view that in-app purchases are required, and that alternative payments by themselves are prohibited.

        If you read the ruling verbatim, all it says it that apple cannot prohibit developers from telling users about alternative payment methods "in addition to In-App Purchasing" methods. The key words are "in addition".

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          Good points, anyways I guess that we still have a long way to go, I hope that all this issues can be clarified in the foreseeable future!

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            The reason I believe my interpretation is that Apple is happy with the ruling and Epic is not. If the ruling truly allowed alternative in-app purchases (e.g. stripe payments inside the app) then Apple would be throwing a tantrum and Epic would be doing cartwheels.

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            Just read this here: https://www.vox.com/recode/22666897/apple-epic-trial-verdict

            "The one victory Epic Games did achieve was a limited one: Though Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Apple had to allow developers to show app users links where they can make purchases outside of the App Store (purchases Apple won’t get a cut of), Epic is still not allowed to insert its own payment method in the app itself, nor can it place its own app store on Apple devices.

            ...

            But Apple had already decided (or was strongly pressured) a few weeks ago to end its prohibition on telling users they could purchase subscriptions and in-game items outside of the App Store. So this ruling doesn’t really change anything for Apple now, and companies like Epic and Spotify are already on record saying the ability to tell customers about their alternatives isn’t good enough."

            1. 1

              I see, but if the only option to pay for a product is using that link, devs will benefit from it. Link will open up any payment method in the browser or whatever & users will be able to pay there. When that is done, they can come back to the app.

              1. 2

                https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/10/22667047/apple-epic-ruling-games-app-store-fortnite-revenue-purchases-business

                Looks like Hey (from Basecamp) is implementing a direct payment system. I guess we'll see shortly how it will really play out – whether Hey will just link out or attempt a true in-app alternative purchase, whether they will skip apple's in-app purchase mechanism altogether.

                I predict that Hey will try to implement their own direct payments inside the app while skipping Apple's in-app payments, Apple will reject the new app, and then there will be more Internet brouhaha and maybe more lawsuits.

                Grab your 🍿 and watch the drama!

                1. 1

                  Wow, thanks for sharing! This will be interesting 😎

  3. 2

    Just caught wind of this too. Would be huge of app developers if this is the case.

  4. 1

    Wow didn't see that yet. This is huge indeed.

    Is there any reason developers should stick with Apple's in-app purchases? I guess no.

    1. 2

      If this comes through it could be incredibly positive for developers.

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