Apple is increasingly moving toward subscription-based Services as a major source of income. However, it’s also doing the right thing by making sure that users actually want the subscriptions they’re purchasing — and aren’t just subscribing by accident.
To help cement this, it has added a new step into the App Store subscription process. Before subscribing to an app, users must now confirm a “Confirm Subscription” popup.
Whoa! Apple added an additional confirmation step for subscriptions. This new alert comes after you confirm with Touch ID/Face ID. I hope they address this in a more elegant way in iOS 13, but I’m thrilled Apple took a definitive step to curb scam subscriptions. ?? @pschiller pic.twitter.com/oktaEVdx0o
— David Barnard (@drbarnard) April 11, 2019
This is just the latest step Apple has taken to avoid accidental subscriptions. Back in February, an iOS update made it easer than ever to manage (and possibly cancel) recurring app subscriptions.
The move toward subscriptions
This comes at a time when Apple is introducing more of its own subscription services. Recently, Apple Music overtook Spotify in the U.S. when it comes to paid subscribers. Apple has also introduced its News+ service, as well as announcing Apple Arcade and TV+.
Personally, this is a great move on Apple’s part to make sure that users genuinely want the subscriptions they’re paying for. One reason for the rise of subscription services is because, in many cases, users will simply forget to cancel and keep paying a monthly rate. That may be good for companies in the short term, but it’s a negative quality longer term.
With so much of Apple’s reputation built on trust (think its views on privacy), it makes sense that Apple wants to think different. Changes like this may be minor interface tweaks, but they’re part of a bigger philosophical approach to subscriptions. It’s something that’s going to pay off in the long run!