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Apple today announced the official availability of fee waivers for its Apple Developer Program for nonprofit organizations, accredited educational institutions, and government entities in the United States who plan to distribute free apps on the App Store.
Qualified organizations are able to apply for the waiver, which will provide a free annual membership to the Developer Program. Apple normally charges developers $99 per year.
Apple's plan to offer free developer memberships to government and nonprofit apps in the United States was first highlighted in late December when its App Store guidelines were updated.
Apple's new Membership Fee Waiver webpage includes details on which organizations are eligible for the discount. Requirements include a EIN/Tax ID number, a D-U-N-S number, and legal entity status. Apple will review each fee waiver request.
Entities that receive the fee waiver may not publish paid apps or apps with in-app purchases, and members of the Apple Developer Enterprise Program are not eligible. The program is also not available to individuals and sole proprietors/single person businesses.
Fee waivers are currently limited to the United States, but Apple says waivers will be added for other countries "as they become available."
Top Rated Comments
Legit developers are just fine paying $99 a year for what they get in return. We make it back in minutes.
Such a move would significantly help App Developer companies with Unique & Innovative apps.
As many know, the iOS App Store is now almost strictly "curated," AND that Apple / Tim Cook has had, and continues to have, a complete Stranglehold on App Discovery.
--> Offering "Independence" from their iOS App Store would be the single-best thing Apple could do for their Developer community. <--
Apple's recent attempts to try to Prop-up the App Store, such as Pre-Orders, which basically ONLY applies to Games, and the expansion of Search Ads, which in general is a very stupid thing, won't save the iOS App Store.
The ONLY way the iOS App Store gets fixed is if the significance of Ratings are directly tied to Usage ... if a User rated the app, but then hasn't used it for 30 days, that rating disappears from the Rankings algorithm.
That would clean-up the Rankings mess in a heart beat, but for whatever reason, Apple either can't, or won't, fix it.