I don’t get how someone can be duped into paying a monthly subscription fee.
Easy. FaceApp... for example: - daughter wants to test new hairstyles - download free app for her - open app for the first time - “do you want to start a free trial” - sure - 24 hours later an email arrives to say I would roll into a $30 yearly subscription at the end of my 3 day trial (I did not notice this email) - later that week, daughter asked to play with the face thingy again and I was surprised that the app still had full functionality. No notification regarding the end of the trial, no request to confirm suscription... then I found the email!
Sure. I was caught napping, not paying enough attention. I am normally switched on to these sorts of things, but not this time. I’m sure many others have fallen victim the same way. This “opt-out” subscription model needs to be heavily restricted or stopped all together.
Caught napping? I don't think so. This was a deliberate tactic aimed to catch people out. Why did the email take 24 hours to arrive?
Did you attempt to get a refund from Apple?
I'm just curious to know what's Apple's policy on subscription refunds. Can you actually get 'em?
No system should really allow an automatic roll from a trial to a paid subscription.
I recently discovered a simple teaching app on my daughters iPhone. I was just in time to cancel the auto renewal subscription which was something like 7,95 euro a month. This is really bad because you don't want to pay anything to scams like this.
Same here. I have fortunately seen and cancelled 3 subscriptions for $6.99 per WEEK taken out by my grandson as a "free trial" under my family plan. They were game type stuff aimed mostly at kids.
Apple has a procedure available for pre-approving any purchases under their Family sharing plan, but it sucks. You get one chance to reply yea or nay to the Apple notification -- and so it just doesn't work well in real life. The last time I was at the checkout at a grocery store trying to use ApplePay when the notification came through. So later I cancelled the pre-approval thing and let him buy what he wants on the honor system. But these scammy subscriptions are messing things up.
I recently discovered a simple teaching app on my daughters iPhone. I was just in time to cancel the auto renewal subscription which was something like 7,95 euro a month. This is really bad because you don't want to pay anything to scams like this.
Same here. I have fortunately seen and cancelled 3 subscriptions for $6.99 per WEEK taken out by my grandson as a "free trial" under my family plan. They were game type stuff aimed mostly at kids.
Apple has a procedure available for pre-approving any purchases under their Family sharing plan, but it sucks. You get one chance to reply yea or nay to the Apple notification -- and so it just doesn't work well in real life. The last time I was at the checkout at a grocery store trying to use ApplePay when the notification came through. So later I cancelled the pre-approval thing and let him buy what he wants on the honor system. But these scammy subscriptions are messing things up.
Didn't Apple add a feature where kids have to ask BEFORE they buy for anything?
Oops I guess that's what u were talking about.
BUT can't you just disable the App Store? I've seen that on a kids iPhone.
ANY subscription model is a disadvantage to consumers and an abuse by/advantage for sellers.
Well, that’s not true. Consumers just need to be informed of what they’re paying, and be able to easily cancel if they wish.
For instance, newspaper and magazine subscriptions are usually much less expensive than single-copy prices. If you read something on a regular basis, the subscription is the better deal. It’s not abusive to the consumer. It’s more convenient and less expensive. This is the case because the publisher can book subscriptions as less volatile revenue and therefore plan the budget to reliably pay content creators like reporters and editors.
I recently discovered a simple teaching app on my daughters iPhone. I was just in time to cancel the auto renewal subscription which was something like 7,95 euro a month. This is really bad because you don't want to pay anything to scams like this.
Same here. I have fortunately seen and cancelled 3 subscriptions for $6.99 per WEEK taken out by my grandson as a "free trial" under my family plan. They were game type stuff aimed mostly at kids.
Apple has a procedure available for pre-approving any purchases under their Family sharing plan, but it sucks. You get one chance to reply yea or nay to the Apple notification -- and so it just doesn't work well in real life. The last time I was at the checkout at a grocery store trying to use ApplePay when the notification came through. So later I cancelled the pre-approval thing and let him buy what he wants on the honor system. But these scammy subscriptions are messing things up.
Didn't Apple add a feature where kids have to ask BEFORE they buy for anything?
Oops I guess that's what u were talking about.
BUT can't you just disable the App Store? I've seen that on a kids iPhone.
Yes, I can prevent him from downloading all apps (even free ones) in "restrictions" -- but that would create more problems than it solves.
The problem with the subscriptions is the come-on -- "Try this for free". He knows not to buy something that costs more than a couple dollars -- but the subscription scam tends to trip him up (which is likely its intent).
I gotta throw iHeartRadio into this mix. That junk is off my phone now. For years I have used it for free, dealt with the ads, because it has a local radio station on it. Last week when I pulled it up to listen to the station a little popup showed up that looked like it needed to "redownload" with my thumbprint. In my haze I put my thumb on it and as it was authorizing I saw a tiny little blurb at the bottom in red saying that this was upgrading me to premium. I went in and found the subscription page finally in my settings and unsubscribed, then deleted the app. I don't put up with that underhanded garbage, sorry.
P.S. KeyChain needs some serious love from Apple. I've had 1Password on all my devices. Good but expensive and DashLane, Good and less expensive, but still both were a bit clunky even tho they sort of synced.
Keychain as of iOS 12/Mojave can effectively replace 1PW and Dashlane (et al) for most users, IMO. Both companies offer some features that Keychain does not -- like the shareable family vault Agilebits offers -- but for most users Keychain is now all you need, IMO.
Except that 1Password is cross-platform (Mac, iOS, Windows, Android) and works with the Safari, Chrome, Firefox and Opera browsers. But Keychain is limited to Mac, iOS, and Safari. I use MacOS, iOS, and Windows, and all the browsers.
Plus, in addition to website logins/passwords, 1Password can also store other types of private data. I use its categories like credit cards, passports, software licenses, bank accounts, memberships, drivers licenses, non-website-related passwords, and other data types. Also supports user-definable data.
Comments
Did you attempt to get a refund from Apple?
I'm just curious to know what's Apple's policy on subscription refunds. Can you actually get 'em?
No system should really allow an automatic roll from a trial to a paid subscription.
Oops I guess that's what u were talking about.
BUT can't you just disable the App Store? I've seen that on a kids iPhone.
For instance, newspaper and magazine subscriptions are usually much less expensive than single-copy prices. If you read something on a regular basis, the subscription is the better deal. It’s not abusive to the consumer. It’s more convenient and less expensive. This is the case because the publisher can book subscriptions as less volatile revenue and therefore plan the budget to reliably pay content creators like reporters and editors.
Plus, in addition to website logins/passwords, 1Password can also store other types of private data. I use its categories like credit cards, passports, software licenses, bank accounts, memberships, drivers licenses, non-website-related passwords, and other data types. Also supports user-definable data.