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App Store Developers Form a 'Union' Ahead of WWDC Calling for Free App Trials, Better Rates

Friday May 18, 2018 10:48 am PDT by Juli Clover
A group of App Store developers calling themselves "The Developers Union" today published an open letter to Apple asking the company to commit to allowing free trials for apps and a "more reasonable revenue cut."

The group says that it is first aiming to get Apple to implement free trials for all apps in the iOS and Mac App Stores by July 2019, with plans after that to advocate for other changes.
We believe that people who create great software should be able to make a living doing it. So we created The Developers Union to advocate for sustainability in the App Store.

Today, we are asking Apple to commit to allowing free trials for all apps in the App Stores by the tenth anniversary of the App Store this July. After that, we'll start advocating for a more reasonable revenue cut and other community-driven, developer-friendly changes.
The initiative is led by Brent Simmons (MarsEdit, Vesper, and NetNewsWire creator), Jake Schumacher (App: The Human Story documentary maker), Loren Morris (product designer), and Roger Ogden (software designer).

The Developers Union is not a "trade union" in the traditional sense of the word, but it is aiming to bring developers and supporters together to advocate for App Store changes.

In an interview with WIRED, the team behind The Developers Union said the aim is to gain a thousand members this week and 20,000 by early June, when the Worldwide Developers Conference takes place.
"It's a non-union union in a way," Morris, the product designer, said when reached by phone. "I'm not super interested in creating a traditional union; I'm more interested in bringing the voice of indies back into the spotlight and this is a step in that direction."
Free trials for apps in the Mac and iOS App Stores have been something that developers have wanted implemented for years. Right now, apps that offer subscriptions are able to provide customers with free trials before requiring payment, but for apps that do not have a subscription offering, there is no way for a free trial to be offered.

This is a major downside for apps that are on the more expensive side that people might not want to purchase without trying first, and it has been a major issue for Mac App Store developers in particular.

The Developers Union is hoping to persuade Apple to expand free trials to all apps, not just those that offer a subscription-based service. Free trials also must include an authorization for payment at the end of the trial, something developers would also like to see eliminated.

Revenue sharing, another topic the group hopes to broach with Apple, could be trickier than convincing the company to implement a free trial feature. Apple currently receives a 30 percent cut of all revenue developers earn from the App Store, and the App Store makes up a huge portion of its services business.

Apple has, however, made some tweaks to its revenue split in recent years. For subscription apps where a customer maintains a subscription for more than a year, developers are entitled to an 85/15 split, with Apple taking a 15 percent cut rather than a 30 percent cut.

The Developers Union has not yet outlined specific changes it would like to see to Apple's revenue sharing scheme as the focus right now is on recruiting new members and pushing the free trial agenda.

At the current time, just over 60 apps and 50 people and are supporting The Developers Union, but more developers are likely to join as word spreads. Both developers and non-developers can sign up on the Developers Union website to support the initiative.

Tag: App Store
[ 204 comments ]


Top Rated Comments

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ignatius345
15 months ago
Anything that cuts down on the epidemic of "a cup of coffee a month" subscriptions is a welcome change.
Rating: 47 Votes
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LawJolla
15 months ago
Trials are long, long overdue and would benefit everyone.
Rating: 41 Votes
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BootsWalking
15 months ago
Good idea. Let's form a customer union as well, to persuade Apple to resolve issues without requiring Class Action lawsuits.
Rating: 26 Votes
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cmaier
15 months ago

We believe that people who create great software should be able to make a living doing it.

Strange many devs are living thanks to App Store, I know few


It’s also a weirdly entitled attitude. Software may be great, but that doesn’t mean anyone wants it. Nobody is guaranteed success.
Rating: 21 Votes
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tranceme
15 months ago

Good for them. Apple doesn’t deserve a 30% cut of their revenue for basically doing nothing.


I love it when people think infrastructure is free. Apple is hosting their applications worldwide. I download an app in seconds anytime I want.

So, everyone here complains. Well, then just go to another platform. Then Apple will change. My neighbor does not have a single Apple product and survives just fine. Actually seems to happy about it.
Rating: 17 Votes
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CanadianGuy
15 months ago

50 people ≠ representation of union...With well over 1.5M jobs related to App Store in US.


It's only be up for 3 hours. Might want to give it some time for devs to sign up before mocking the count.
Rating: 13 Votes
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Rogifan
15 months ago

It’s about time the competition authorities investigated Apple for abusing their App Store monopoly.

What monopoly? No one is forced to use an iOS device and iOS does not have a monopoly market share.
Rating: 13 Votes
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itsmilo
15 months ago
It really is time for trials. I am tired of requesting a refund through their „hidden“ page

—-

Also obligatory: I still hate the App Store redesign. Just 5 minutes ago it took me forever to get to the categories. Why is there no longer a navigation point for categories?
Rating: 13 Votes
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BigSky20
15 months ago
I wish consumers sent a message to developers that we don't want Freemium apps. Make a great app and I will pay a premium for them, but I am not going to buy a "bag of jewels" to be able to play the game.
Rating: 11 Votes
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spazzcat
15 months ago

30% does seem absurd. Does Amazon or eBay take a 30% cut from sales? Of course not. It's nowhere close to that because they're not actually creating any of the value.


Retail markup is normally about 40%.
Rating: 10 Votes

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