Apple has just given an announcement to developers that will allow them to automatically upcharge customers when their subscription price increases. This means when the subscription price goes up, customers will automatically be deducted by the new price terms.
Subscribers Continue to Describe Despite Price Changes
Apple's announcement is a breakaway from how subscriptions usually work. Usually, when a user subscribes to the service, they will be charged the initial agreed amount and will get a notification if the price increases.
Customers will still get an "Agree to New Price" interface whenever the services they subscribe to decide to increase their prices. What will change, however, is that previously, when consumers do not click on the "Agree to New Price," their subscriptions will automatically be cancelled.
Consumers Will Now Have to Manually Unsubscribe
According to the story by MacRumors, developers will now be able to increase their prices with consumers automatically renewing. This means that the consumers will only be informed of the price increase but will no longer have to agree to it.
Apple details that developers still need to follow specific conditions and give their users advance notice before doing this. With the feature in play, developers can freely increase prices with consumers auto-continuing with the subscription unless they manually decide to unsubscribe.
How Much Can Developers Increase Prices
The good thing is that there are limits as to how much the price can be increased. Apple says that prices can't be increased multiple times per year and that they can't exceed $5 and 50% of the subscription price.
If it is an annual subscription, developers will be limited to just $50 and 50% of the total subscription price for the increase. The Cupertino giant says that users will get an email, push notification, and message regarding price increases in advance.
Apple Says They Will Follow a Different Protocol for Other Places
The company also plans to give instructions regarding how users can unsubscribe, view, or at least manage their subscriptions. Apple says that should there be more than one price increase a year or if the subscription amount surpasses Apple's limits, users need to subscribe before the price increase happens.
Apple says that this option will happen for certain locations where the law limits the auto-subscribe feature for price increases. As of press time, the subscription changes have already been tested out.
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Disney Plus Spotted Increasing Prices
MacRumors notes that certain developers were able to catch Disney+ "increasing its price to $7.99 per month" and only got a notification instead of an option for them to not agree to the new pricing. The price increase was also spotted by CNet.
During this time, the company addressed the situation, saying it was still "piloting a new commerce feature," saying this would help improve the current subscription landscape and called it an "enhancement" for users and developers.
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This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Urian B.
