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> Apple’s offerings are quite polished so I don’t think they’ll fall out of favor Any iOS devs care to weigh in? Apple's system could just as easily be a godaw

> Apple’s offerings are quite polished so I don’t think they’ll fall out of favor Any iOS devs care to weigh in? Apple's system could just as easily be a godawful mess. No personal experience but I've seen people online complaining about how StoreKit sucks. They've had in-app purchases since 2009 and no competitive pressure from other SDKs, because they can block them with app store policy instead of needing to offer a better product. That sounds like an easy environment for it to become an afterthought; the people using it have no choice in the matter if they want to be on the App Store.

prepend 5y ago
As a user, Apples is the best and easiest payment system. I’ll frequently not buy from sites that want registration and card info because of the hassle. I’ll probably end up using things I already have accounts with (amazon, Google, steam) but will never buy from apps that require me to sign up with them to buy stuff. I already hate registering with companies to play games.
acdha 5y ago
I'm just speaking from the user experience: I know that there are issues with the App Store's model for upgrades, trials, etc. so those are valid considerations but if you're just using an app it is really convenient to that you can buy something securely with a tap and a double-click and have zero problems getting a refund or canceling a subscription. Basically I'd expect successful competitors with Apple to be companies which do the same. Abusive companies aren't going to be popular but I suspect Stripe, Shopify, Amazon, etc. could convince a fair number of people that they're no worse on that regard and better in some other way.
- wlesieutre 5y ago
  Yeah, I would be perfectly willing to set up subscriptions through Stripe if they gave me a way to manage all those subscriptions in one place. My worry with the "anti-steering" requirement being removed is that every company will redirect me back to their own website with their own payment system, and I'll have to manage all of them individually, or phone up their call center to try and get anything cancelled. Easy to avoid by not subscribing to anything, but every app seems to be trending that way.
jclardy 5y ago
As a dev, StoreKit sucks. StoreKit 2 basically fixes all the development pain points, but is iOS 15+ only so basically unusable for everyone until late next year. Payment models are limited to basically paid, free + IAP, free + subscription. No real trials, no paid upgrades, no configurable subscriptions (IE pay for 1-X seats.) That leads to things like Twitter's setup where every plus account has an individual subscription SKU. On the code side you have to run your own backend purchase server because there is a ton of subscription information that is only relayed to the server (Cancellations, upgrades, downgrades, cross grades, billing problems, etc.), as the app has no way to know directly (Until SK2.) Services like RevenueCat help small devs deal with this, but then you have another cut out of your paycheck. Things like price testing require more backend setup because Apple offers no way for an app to grab product information from themselves (You have to know every identifier, there is no way to just request "all available IAPs" via StoreKit.) So basically, there is a ton of room for improvement on the dev side, and a lot of easy wins for someone like Stripe to capitalize on. As a user, I don't have many complaints, other than not having an easy way to request a refund, other than finding the App Store email address and pleading your case. It should be something you can do via your purchases screen directly. As a dev, not being able to issue customer refunds sucks, as many users will think you are dismissing them by saying, "You've got to ask apple for a refund."

prepend 5y ago

As a user, Apples is the best and easiest payment system. I’ll frequently not buy from sites that want registration and card info because of the hassle. I’ll probably end up using things I already have accounts with (amazon, Google, steam) but will never buy from apps that require me to sign up with them to buy stuff. I already hate registering with companies to play games.

acdha 5y ago

I'm just speaking from the user experience: I know that there are issues with the App Store's model for upgrades, trials, etc. so those are valid considerations but if you're just using an app it is really convenient to that you can buy something securely with a tap and a double-click and have zero problems getting a refund or canceling a subscription. Basically I'd expect successful competitors with Apple to be companies which do the same. Abusive companies aren't going to be popular but I suspect Stripe, Shopify, Amazon, etc. could convince a fair number of people that they're no worse on that regard and better in some other way.

wlesieutre 5y ago
Yeah, I would be perfectly willing to set up subscriptions through Stripe if they gave me a way to manage all those subscriptions in one place. My worry with the "anti-steering" requirement being removed is that every company will redirect me back to their own website with their own payment system, and I'll have to manage all of them individually, or phone up their call center to try and get anything cancelled. Easy to avoid by not subscribing to anything, but every app seems to be trending that way.

jclardy 5y ago

As a dev, StoreKit sucks. StoreKit 2 basically fixes all the development pain points, but is iOS 15+ only so basically unusable for everyone until late next year. Payment models are limited to basically paid, free + IAP, free + subscription. No real trials, no paid upgrades, no configurable subscriptions (IE pay for 1-X seats.) That leads to things like Twitter's setup where every plus account has an individual subscription SKU. On the code side you have to run your own backend purchase server because there is a ton of subscription information that is only relayed to the server (Cancellations, upgrades, downgrades, cross grades, billing problems, etc.), as the app has no way to know directly (Until SK2.) Services like RevenueCat help small devs deal with this, but then you have another cut out of your paycheck. Things like price testing require more backend setup because Apple offers no way for an app to grab product information from themselves (You have to know every identifier, there is no way to just request "all available IAPs" via StoreKit.) So basically, there is a ton of room for improvement on the dev side, and a lot of easy wins for someone like Stripe to capitalize on. As a user, I don't have many complaints, other than not having an easy way to request a refund, other than finding the App Store email address and pleading your case. It should be something you can do via your purchases screen directly. As a dev, not being able to issue customer refunds sucks, as many users will think you are dismissing them by saying, "You've got to ask apple for a refund."