Apple made ProtonMail add in-app purchases, had been free for years

<i>Yen says it’s strange that Apple’s actual written rules aren’t as clearly defined as what I’m telling him, and that he doesn’t trust the rules in general: Apple originally justified blocking the app because of an obscure rule that apps shouldn’t “include irrelevant information,” he says, and he believes that the results of app review are largely predetermined: “They made a decision, and then it’s just about pointing to the relevant passages of the rules to justify the decision they’ve already made.”</i><p>I totally agree. I&#x27;ve built apps that have been rejected, gone through their review board, etc. and ended up never being allowed because of a rule that didn&#x27;t even apply to us. On a call with the Apple reviewer, they stated, &quot;it is a private store and we choose who will be on it.&quot; Kinda sums it up.

At this point all the large companies have already cut deals with Apple.<p>If you are a small player or a startup, just think that all your purchases will need to go through the IAP and 30% of that belongs to Apple.<p>If you model your business and cash flow with that in mind, they you be in a much better position to continue doing business on Apple devices .<p>If you think that your business will not be profitable giving 30% to Apple , then shut it down now and rethink it - because your customers will be on Apple devices and sooner or later - Apple will force you to include IAP.

This article is misleading. Apple doesn&#x27;t let you make a free app that references a paid service outside the App Store, which is what ProtonMail was doing. If they allowed it, every app would be &quot;free&quot;, they&#x27;d all make you go to their own websites to pay so they could bypass Apple&#x27;s cut, and Apple would make no revenue from the store &#x2F; hosting &#x2F; curation &#x2F; platform they provide.