[1] https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/15/sneaky-subscriptions-are-p...
Indicates that the process is clearly there at Apple, they just turn a blind eye.
But wow, I expected a lot more from the billing UI of iOS apps. You can start a billing process just by making the user click a button? IMO everything billing should require a round-trip through a standard billing App Store page just like if you were to pay something online with PayPal.
And I was especially amazed by how hard it is to see your subscriptions. I just checked mine and was subscribed to an app I completely forgot about.
Think of the kind of UI you would design if you wanted to ensure people weren't making money from others unknowingly. You'd give Subscriptions its own tab in the App Store. You'd create notifications like "You just paid $5 to <App> (Recurring: weekly)". Even PayPal's app gets this right.
I mean, each passing month makes it more of a labor of love than a serious development platform. There are so many extremely obvious ways to scam money on the store, and yet you go through the wringer if you spend months or years meticulously crafting a well-designed app for peanuts.
> They can’t just refuse to pay out that $14 mil to the app developer - these are bad user experiences that trick people into agreeing to subscriptions, but they aren’t clearly illegal.
I haven't read the developer agreement but I'd be surprised if it's written in such a way that they don't have any discretion here. Just because it's not illegal doesn't mean it doesn't violate Apple's terms.