Apple App Store guidelines remove ban on encouraging external payments in US

Summary

Introduction The guiding principle of the App Store is simple—we want to provide a safe experience for users to get apps and a great opportunity for all developers to be successful. We do this by offering a highly curated App Store where every app is reviewed by experts and an editorial team helps users discover new apps every day. We also scan each app for malware and other software that may impact user safety, security, and privacy. These efforts have made Apple’s platforms the safest for consumers around the world. In the European Union, developers can also distribute notarized iOS and iPadOS apps from alternative app marketplaces and directly from their website. Learn more about alternative app marketplaces, Web Distribution, and Notarization for iOS and iPadOS apps. You can see which guidelines apply to Notarization for iOS and iPadOS apps by clicking on “Show Notarization Review Guidelines Only” in the menu to the left. For everything else there is always the open Internet. If the App Store model and guidelines or alternative app marketplaces and Notarization for iOS and iPadOS apps are not best for your app or business idea that’s okay, we provide Safari for a great web experience too. On the following pages you will find our latest guidelines arranged into five clear sections: Safety, Performance, Business, Design, and Legal. The App Store is always changing and improving to keep up with the needs of our customers and our products. Your apps should change and improve as well in order to stay on the App Store. A few other points to keep in mind about distributing your app on our platforms: We have lots of kids downloading lots of apps. Parental controls work great to protect kids, but you have to do your part too. So know that we’re keeping an eye out for the kids. The App Store is a great way to reach hundreds of millions of people around the world. If you build an app that you just want to show to family and friends, the App Store isn’t the best way to do t...