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Comment by meowtimemania | Hacker News Reader

I really like the user experience of the app store as it is. I love that I can cancel any app subscription from 1 place. I understand some of the problems of the app store from the developer side and hope those change, but I like how it is as a user.

I do wish progressive web apps were improved a bit.

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I see the "app subscription in 1 place" point a lot, but what stops you from only ever enforcing that rule by yourself, as you're already doing now ?

I assume that means you currently don't subscribe to anything Amazon provides, nor Netflix, nor game services, nor newsletters, nor coffee subscriptions etc.

A few more subscription mechanisms appearing in the world would not make a difference, do they ? I anything you'd have more option to choose which basket you put all your eggs in.

> I assume that means you currently don't subscribe to anything Amazon provides, nor Netflix, nor game services, nor newsletters, nor coffee subscriptions etc.

I subscribe to all of these through apple and that means I can cancel them in the settings app on my phone instantly.

To my knowledge Amazon doesn't allow Apple Pay, nor do I see stuff like kindle unlimited subscriptions in the Amazon app. How do you do that ?

Same for Nintendo Online, please give me some pointers.

If you subscribe to a service from your phone, it does show up there. My MLB subscription is also usable from my computer, but because I bought it on my phone it’s manageable there.

Presumably if they decided to move that app to a 3rd party store exclusively, that goes away

If they’re like me, they subscribe to those through the various apps from the app store, such that Apple is the processor for them. It means paying more typically, but it’s worth it for me to have as many of my subs as possible in one place, easy to cancel and easy to resubscribe.

Yes it's so hard to cancel Netflix on the Website, and resubscribing is even harder. Lol

I chose examples that I basically don't see in the App Store. I have a NIntendo Online subscription and an Amazon unlimited subscription, and don't expect it will ever be integrated.

Fair enough, I have neither, so it’s been great for me.

If you've ever tried to cancel Amazon Prime through amazon.com, you'll understand the value that Apple provides through its App Store subscriptions.

I take that you are American?

It is super easy to cancel Amazon Prime in the EU (I did it in Portugal).

No it's not. They still let you jump through a bunch of hoops and try to trick you. Have you ever cancelled something on the app store? It's really just a cancel button.

Ahh, I see.

Maybe we should expand it then? Make a rule that all subscription services shall to use Apple's iStore – it is after all the simplest possible way.

I have not cancelled anything on the Apple store, no. I have not yet had the burden of owning an iPhone, but I have cancelled a lot of things elsewhere. And the only situations where it has been anxiety provoking has been for US companies.

That's true! In Germany there's the law that you need to be able to cancel a subscription the same way you created it. So if I click a button, you can't ask me to call you. But it's circumvented, and you're right, internationally it's so much worse. And they call it "customer retention" lol

What's wrong with cancelling Amazon Prime? I did it recently and it took less than a minute. I even had the option to cancel immediately and have them refund my money, even though my yearly subscription was still running for half a year, which AFAIK is not possible for App Store subscriptions. I'm in EU so might be different to US.

The EU have it way better, like one or two clicks and it's done.

I sincerely feel sorry for you and how fucked up it is to cancel subscriptions in places with weaker customer protection.

That means Apple can compete on merits, not through a monopoly.

If they truly have a stellar experience, people would want to pay a premium for that even, and choose this option.

What need is there, for you, that requires Apple to then hold on to their monopoly?

I'm not sure! If I have the same cancel-any-subscription-from-ios-settings experience without the app store, then I would love that! I'd love it if I could cancel other things like spotify/netflix from that same ios settings screen.

What is even better is that I can use prepaid Visa cards to subscribe to things via Apple Pay in the App Store for the very same apps that will not allow me to do it on their website

Nothing is preventing you from using the same app store in the future

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