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So, forcing me to supply payment information for a free trial, then forcing the developer to make my free trial an auto subscription unless I opt-out is suppose
by grawprog 6y ago
So, forcing me to supply payment information for a free trial, then forcing the developer to make my free trial an auto subscription unless I opt-out is supposed to be user friendly?
In what way is assuming you can take my money unless I say otherwise just because I used a free trial supposed to be user-friendly?
I'm so unbelievabley tired of these anti-consumer practices being labelled as 'user friendly' or 'working as intended'. They are not user friendly and sure they're working as intended, to extract money from you. At least tell it like it is, an accountant realized they made more money this way and told the marketers to sell that shit.
There is zero benefit to me as a user by making me opt out of paying a company money.
- pbreit 6y agoCorrect. Apple is providing a consistent customer experience for enrolling, free trialing, auto-billing and canceling.
- black_puppydog 6y ago* consistently user hostile
- stjohnswarts 6y agoBut it is consistent! I think some people have just drank too much koolaid sometimes. I completely agree with you that it is hostile and terribly anti consumer.
- thoraway1010 6y agoExcept it is very user friendly. Try to cancel your newspaper subscription - you have to call in and jump through hoops. Try to cancel your cable or internet, you didn't realize the rate you got was a "promo" rate that required a two year contract? I guarantee that if apple used the approaches others use, subscription revenue would be a LOT higher. They send you an email saying, here's what will be renewing soon, click here to cancel. I end up canceling about 80% of what would auto renew. And I hate the developers who are not upfront with the subscription price. If there is a free trial, what does it cost after. Even NY Times did this ($1/month in big print - fine print said something like $54/month after 1 month or maybe it was just in a link burried etc).
- BiteCode_dev 6y agoOp state they have a broken leg, you say they should be happy not to have cancer.
- nottorp 6y agoJust because neswpaper companies are utter assholes, it doesn't mean Apple can't do better. Like in subscriptions being opt IN not opt out.
- scarface74 6y agoThe subscription is opt-in. You have to explicitly choose the subscription, you get an alert, and you get an email before the subscription is charged.
- prophesi 6y agoWouldn't it be even better if companies couldn't have those nefarious business practices because they don't have the ability to auto-renew your subscriptions in the first place?
- csunbird 6y agoCouldn't does not mean they will not, even if it is illegal. A lot of shady companies thinks customers will not chase after 5 dollars a month and even if they are right %50 of time, they make a pretty penny.
- freeone3000 6y agoCompliance is pretty good here in Quebec - nearly no one offers a free trial, and those that do don't auto-renew.
- grandmczeb 6y agoIsn't MindGeek one of the Montreal "tech giants"? Their entire business model is free trials and hoping people don't cancel on auto-renew.
- csunbird 6y agoWhat? I am in love with Apple's way of handling subscriptions. I know that whenever I want, I can cancel it, no strings attached. If the app does not deliver what it claims with the subscription, I can trust Apple to dispute it. For example, there are a couple of apps that offer subscription and amazing deals out of in-app purchases, but I simply refuse to subscribe that kind of applications, because there are a lot of shady companies want to take your money.
- wtetzner 6y ago> What? I am in love with Apple's way of handling subscriptions. I know that whenever I want, I can cancel it, no strings attached. Sure, and that's great. But why can't subscriptions be opt-in after a free trial, instead of opt-out? They can still send an email with a "Subscribe" button instead of a "Cancel" button. I would argue that's much more user-friendly.
- zepto 6y agoIt would be, but Apple’s way is also way more user friendly than almost anyone else’s. Also, the opt-in vs opt-out could be configurable.
- gamblor956 6y agoOpt-out is by definition not more user friendly than a default opt-in process. It is in fact quite user-hostile and is used by a number of scam companies.
- zepto 6y agoIt sounds like you haven’t been reading along. Opt-out is only user hostile when it is used as a scam. Whether it is hostile depends on the implementation. Apple’s implementation is a friendly one. Firstly there is an email confirmation with a link to cancel, and secondly there is a single screen with all of the subscriptions aggregated and cancellable. If you are someone who generally purchases subscriptions to things you actually want, then opt-out is clearly more friendly. If you are someone who likes to try a bunch of stuff but isn’t likely to want to keep much of it, then you would likely prefer opt-in. Whether a given implementation of opt-out is a scam or not is orthogonal to whether it matches your personal style.
- t-writescode 6y agoCompare to the competition and historical dark patterns around subscriptions, this is very user friendly. I’m sure you’re familiar with gym membership cancellation? That’s not limited to gyms. This may not be the absolute best, but it’s way, way better than the worst.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- 0xEFF 6y agoI consistently sign up for free trials with Apple and immediately cancel them. This is consistently a great user experience because on Apple’s platform I get to use the service until the trial runs out, it’s easy to cancel, and I know I’ve canceled it and don’t need to remember.
- scarface74 6y agoIt would be consumer unfriendly not to be told up front that an app is a subscription service, you use it for three weeks, put your information in there and then be told you have to pay.
- paul_f 6y agoWhat Apple is forcing is NOT a free trial. It is first-month-free, which is altogether different. Using the phrase free-trial is a lie.