Third-party apps on Apple: In June, Apple had updated its App Store Review Guidelines. These guidelines made it mandatory for all developers that offered a way for users to create an account on their apps to also offer the users a way to delete these accounts. Now, giving a date, Apple has announced that this requirement would be applied to all app submissions starting January 31, 2022. The guidelines and the changes had been announced by Cupertino this June at the WWDC 2021 event. Cupertino has said that the change is a part of providing “users with greater control over their personal data”.
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While account deletion in itself seems like an inconvenience, it can be a welcome move for some, because most apps require users to create accounts and then, despite deleting the app, the account goes on and so does the users’ relationship with the developer company.
The Apple guideline states, “ If your app doesn’t include significant account-based features, let people use it without a login. If your app supports account creation, you must also offer account deletion within the app. Apps may not require users to enter personal information to function, except when directly relevant to the core functionality of the app or required by law.” However, it is not clear as to whether developers would only have to provide for initiating the deletion process within the app, or keep the entire process on the app itself. In case the former is the requirement, then it could mean users might have to switch to browser to complete the deletion of the account at some point in the process.
Meanwhile, Cupertino has also confirmed a more prominent app reporting tool. “App Store product pages on iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey display a ‘Report a Problem’ link, so users can more easily report concerns with content they’ve purchased or downloaded,” the tech giant said in an announcement post. The feature, at the moment, is present only in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and would be expanded elsewhere over time as well. Apart from this, users across the world have been given the option to report scam or fraud, or offensive, abusive or illegal content even in free apps having no in-app purchase, and this can be reported on Apple’s ‘report a problem’ website.
