App Store Reform Coalition Gains 20 New Partners

The Coalition for App Fairness (CAF), a recently established advocacy organization advocating for greater oversight of app stores, has experienced significant growth, announcing 20 additional partners today – only a month following its initial formation. This organization, comprised of leading app developers and those critical of current practices, including Epic Games, Deezer, Basecamp, Tile, Spotify, and others, was launched in late September to address concerns regarding the control exerted by Apple and Google over app stores, specifically concerning in-app purchase regulations and associated fees.

The coalition asserts that both Apple and Google are engaging in practices that stifle competition, requiring developers to utilize the platforms’ proprietary payment systems and imposing a 30% commission on these mandated in-app transactions. In certain instances, these commissions are levied on applications that directly compete with offerings from Apple and Google themselves. As an illustration, the app stores collect fees from Spotify, which is a competitor to Google’s YouTube Music and Apple’s Apple Music.

The group also specifically points to Apple’s restriction of app distribution to solely the App Store, which Apple manages, as a limiting factor for app publishers. Google, conversely, permits the practice of sideloading applications, making it a lesser concern on the Android platform.

The coalition began last month with 13 app publishers as founding members and extended an invitation for other interested parties to join.

Since then, CAF reports that “hundreds” of app developers have expressed interest in the organization. The group has been reviewing applications to assess potential members and is now announcing its latest group of partners.

This latest group of app publishers doesn’t necessarily consist of widely recognized brands like Spotify and Epic Games, but rather represents a diverse range of applications, from independent studios to emerging startups.

These applications span numerous app store categories, including Business, Education, Entertainment, Developer Tools, Finance, Games, Health & Fitness, Lifestyle, Music, Navigation, News, Productivity, Shopping, Sport and Travel.

The new partners include: Beonex, a development studio; Breath Ball, a health application; Challenge by Eristica, a social app; Cladwell, a shopping app; Down Dog Yoga, a fitness app; Gift Card Offerwall, a developer tool; Green Heart Games, a game developer; Imagine BC, an app studio; Passbase, a business application; Qobuz, a music app; QuackQuack and Qustodio, lifestyle applications; Safari Forever, a game; Schibsted, a news app; Snappy Mob, an app studio; SpanishDict, an education app; Sygic, a navigation app; Vertical Motion, an app studio; YARXI, an education app; and the Mobile Marketing Association.

With these additions, CAF’s membership now extends to developers from Austria, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Israel, Malaysia, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The new partners share a variety of grievances concerning the app stores, and particularly Apple.

SpanishDict, for example, experienced frustration due to weeks of application rejections without clear explanation and the inconsistent application of policies. The company also objected to Apple’s requirement to utilize Apple Sign-In, which was mandated for inclusion in the App Store.

Passbase, a competitor to Sign In With Apple, contends that Apple unfairly enforced its rules, rejecting its submission while approving competing applications on the App Store.

While some of these app partners are voicing their concerns about Apple for the first time, others have previously shared their difficulties publicly.

Eristica detailed on its website how Apple discontinued its seven-year-old social app, which facilitated charitable fundraising through user-generated challenges. The company asserts that it proactively moderated content to prevent the publication of dangerous or harmful material, employing human moderators, but was still removed due to concerns about unsafe content.

Eristica points out that TikTok remained available on the App Store despite hosting potentially harmful challenges, such as the pass out challenge, cereal challenge, and salt and ice challenge.

Apple often uses its policies to determine the types of applications it wishes to host on its App Store – and an application centered around user challenges may have been perceived as a potential risk.

However, Eristica maintains that it adhered to all guidelines and implemented all requested changes, yet was unable to regain access to the App Store.

Down Dog Yoga recently drew attention by criticizing Apple for rejecting its app due to its refusal to automatically charge customers after a free trial period.

https://twitter.com/downdogapp/status/1278048862746234883?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1278048862746234883%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3%2Ccontainerclick_0&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftechcrunch.com%2F2020%2F07%2F04%2Fthis-week-in-apps-india-bans-chinese-apps-apple-freezes-game-updates-in-china-ios-developer-backlash-continues%2F

In this instance, the issue extended beyond Apple’s desire for a portion of developers’ revenue; it also involved dictating how those businesses operate.

Qustodio, another new CAF partner, was affected by Apple’s 2018 ban on parental control applications, which occurred shortly after Apple introduced its own parental control features within iOS.

The app developer had previously co-signed a letter requesting Apple to release a Screen Time API instead of prohibiting parental control apps – a suggestion that TechCrunch had previously advocated for as a more appropriate course of action.

Following increased regulatory pressure, Apple eventually reversed its decision and reinstated the apps on the App Store last year.

Not all partners are small developers facing hardship. Some may have violated policies designed to protect consumers, such as Apple’s restrictions on offerwalls. Gift Card Offerwall’s SDK, for example, was used to incentivize app monetization and in-app purchases, which is often unwelcome by consumers.

Despite growing regulatory scrutiny and antitrust investigations into their business practices, both Apple and Google have recently clarified their app store rules to explicitly state their right to collect in-app purchase fees from developers.

Simultaneously, Apple and CAF member Epic Games are currently involved in a legal dispute stemming from the removal of Fortnite, as Epic Games challenged the legality of the app store business model through the court system.

Other CAF members, including Spotify and Tile, have also provided testimony in antitrust investigations concerning Apple’s business practices.

“Apple must be held accountable for its anticompetitive behavior. We’re dedicated to establishing a fair and equitable environment, and we are only beginning,” CAF stated in an announcement regarding the new partners. The organization remains open to accepting new members.