The popular Game Boy emulator Delta, which is sold via the App Store, now offers additional functions that can be activated via purchase on the web – something like this was banned by Apple for a long time. The US version of the Delta app integrates a link that leads to the developer's Patreon account in the browser. Anyone who takes out a supporter subscription there receives additional functions in the emulator, including online multiplayer mode for Nintento DS games. Previously, it wasn't even allowed to mention the Patreon account in the app, according to the developer.
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Regulators force external purchase option
Delta uses Apple’s “External Purchases” interface for this purpose. The group had to set these up under pressure from regulators in various regions, who classified the confidentiality requirements for developers and the ban on links to external offers as anti-competitive. In the USA, Apple released these external purchasing options due to the order of a US court in the major card dispute with Epic Games at the beginning of the year.
At the same time, Delta is using the integration to demonstrate Apple's ongoing hurdles: He didn't come up with the strangely generic link description himself, the developer explained on Mastodon. Apple specifies precise language regulations for this. If the user clicks on the link, the app must also display a warning notice required by Apple in full screen. There is a warning before shopping on the web that Apple is not responsible for “the privacy and security of local residents on the web,” it says in the dialogue.
If the external purchase option is offered, it must also be available as an in-app purchase, is another Apple regulation. In order to deter users from making in-app purchases, the Delta developer has now tripled the prices there. This is “a terrible deal. Don’t buy!” he writes.
Apple also provides for web purchases
Apple also charges a commission of up to 27 percent for external purchases on the web. This only applies if customers complete the Patreon subscription within seven days of clicking the link in the app, explains the Delta developer. He doesn't care at all, but the commission can be avoided if users subscribe directly to Patreon without following the link in the app.
Delta is the same developer who brought AltStore PAL, the first alternative app store for iPhones, to the EU in April. The project was primarily intended to make it easier to install the emulator, which Apple had previously banned, on iOS devices. Shortly afterwards, Apple removed the ban on emulators. Delta is sold via AltStore in the EU, but via the App Store in other regions such as the USA.
Apple's in-app purchase requirements and commission have been debated for years. Large app providers have moved to either removing Apple's in-app purchase interface from the app entirely or passing it on to users – purchasing in the app then becomes more expensive.
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