The Developers Union, a self-described group of developers, has written an open letter to Apple on his page websites demanding better conditions for the App Store.
Since its inception, almost 10 years ago, the App Store has been a scale that moved between a strict control by Apple in all aspects, and the good experience for its customers and developers.
Developers in this group they have written the following letter (translated):
Dear Apple,
We believe that people who create wonderful software should be able to earn a living from it. That's why we created The Developers Union to advocate for sustainability on the App Store.
Today we are asking Apple to publicly commit, on the App Store's 2019th anniversary this July, to allowing a free trial period on all apps in the App Store before XNUMX. After achieving this, we will begin advocating for more reasonable income and other community-driven changes that are suitable for developers.
Needless to say, Apple has not responded., although we can always get a surprise in the WWDC.
Still, The Developers Union's requests are not blatant. For years the App Store has taken a high percentage of the sale price of apps, and this has always bothered developers. I do not think these requests will come to anything because Apple, as the sole manager of the App Store, has the upper hand.
About free trial periods, the truth is that they are already implemented, but I guess not as this group of developers would like. Now, all apps can "unlock" the app with one purchase in-app that allows you to pay after a week or a month of use.
Right now, I am in the trial period of several apps (Castro, YNAB,…). These trial periods have two major drawbacks. On the one hand, it's shopping in-app and this means that you cannot share the purchase in "In Family". On the other hand, you have to accept that, after the trial period, you will be charged. It is true that you can cancel before payment and you will not pay anything - that's why it is a free trial - but there are many people who consider this a line that they will never cross, basically out of laziness.
At this point, being able to use an app "without more" for a week, without purchase in-app, without accepting subscriptions, etc. would be appreciated. But, to this day, there are ways that developers and users alike can have free trials.
All this can change in a few days at WWDC, where operating systems more focused on improvements "invisible" to the user, could bring great news in the App Store, to give something new that is "visible".