Apple waives the requirement to purchase in-apps for online applications for groups and events until June

Online applications for groups and events for iOS will not have to say goodbye Enough yet to Apple’s pandemic exemptions from in-app purchasing policy.

In response to the increase in coronavirus cases, Apple has moved the deadline for these apps to continue using alternative payment methods until June 30, allowing them to bypass Apple’s standard 15-30% reduction in in-app purchases.

“In 2020, we decided to support applications and developers who had to adapt services from personal to digital as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Apple said in a statement. post on the company’s blog on Saturday.

“Given the recent resurgence of COVID and its continued impact on personal services, we have extended the deadline to 30 June 2022,” it continues.

Apple subsequently adjusted its guidelines faced with interrogation from federal regulators and developers over the work of their digital market. The company has also come under fire for charging standard platform fees for pandemic events, a move condemned by critics as a profit from the need for companies already struggling to move from personal events to virtual offerings amid widespread closures and a growing number of cases. .

When she originally updated her guidelines in September 2020, Apple has waived a commission requirement for the App Store for apps that offer person-to-person services between two people, such as teaching, medical consulting and fitness training. Apps that offer “one-to-several and one-to-many real-time experiences,” such as virtual lectures or online gatherings, continued to be needed to process in-app purchases through Apple until the company extended the exemption to group event apps. a few months later.

This is not the first time that Apple has extended the delay due to a commission request for the App Store. After due to expire for the first time in December 2020, Apple has released two extensions for six months, moving the deadline to the end of 2021, and now, after another extension, June 2022. And while this is good news for companies whose personal events have been transferred to the internet, it is also another depressing reminder of how long this pandemic.