Is it cool to get app refunds?

lovadamusic

@EyeOhEss said:

@lovadamusic said:

@EyeOhEss said:

@lovadamusic said:
Unless someone has some facts that show why Apple should encourage or even allow trials or try-before-buy, then all you're saying is what you'd like, not what should be. There are many thousands of apps that can be purchased for very little at the touch of a screen. Apple, apparently, came to the conclusion that trials are not the best way for them to do business for these products. I don't think they've ever made a secret of that, so if you bought an iOS device, you should have been able to make an informed decision as to whether you wanted to play it their way.

If iOS is ever to be able to command similar pricing to desktop then demos/try before you buy needs to be on the table. Look at the FabFilter plugins for example. Try Before You Buy is a given on desktop. The lack of this option in iOS, on top of the lack of ownership (customers can’t sell software they bought...Hell, they don’t even get a convenient ‘rollback to a previous version’ facility), is a huge justification for devs being only able to charge a drastically reduced price in iOS in comparison.

Also legit trial options would also remove the facility for people to ‘abuse the system’. Currently people can apparently choose to keep the refunded app on their device and continue to use it. If an app had a timebomb style trial period and stopped functioning after the trial period, as is the case on many desktop demos, then this wouldn’t be the case.

Maybe you have a point that people know these things before buying an idevice and they should make an informed decision. And perhaps to some extent we ‘are’ talking about what we’d ‘like’, and not what ‘should be’, like you say....But by your same rationale anyone coding for iOS knows the lay of the land too, so it seems you are saying that devs should never complain/expect anything other than low pricing and low sales, or complain about Apple taking 30% of the sale or about Apple’s lack of clarity about AU documentation etc etc etc. Do you feel that way? I’m guessing not, so I find it strange that you feel it’s one rule/judgement for customers, but another for developers?

I stated my preferences for how I'd like the App Store to work years ago here on this forum when it was new to me. All these sorts of issues were covered back then. Ideally, iOS and desktop would be the same as far as trials and returns, and devs could have a lot more control and freedom when it comes to supporting customers directly, etc.. AND we'd still have most of the hundreds of music production apps costing $20 or less---and we'd see some higher cost pro apps ported from desktop as well and with higher prices to support that.

That's really not the point I was making here... that being the App Store is what it is, and while it's easy to ask for more, Apple might actually know what's best for the whole thing. The music apps we use, the higher quality ones, are sold through the same mechanism as thousands of other apps, many relatively trivial and to casual users. Apple's system has to accommodate all that, and it's not being ideal for everyone doesn't necessarily make it a bad Apple decision. I'm not sure why devs aren't making more money, but I suspect it's more complicated than just how the App Store works.

I didn’t say or mean that the App Store’s policies are the sole cause. I was only saying that they certainly don’t help users or devs that are looking for highest level of buying/selling/ownership flexibility & rights etc ....and that those types of policies contribute to the way things are, especially when combined with other factors.

Like I said, customers aren’t the only people that are aware of Apple’s ways yet still complain about the lay of the land in which they choose to inhabit...You said that customers knew the deal before they bought a device, so they make an informed decision and then have to be happy to play by the rules....it’s fair enough to have that opinion, but surely you then feel that this applies to ‘everyone’? I was just curious if you do or don’t extend the same notion/judgement to the iOS developers? But I would guess that you don’t, in which case there’s a lot of inconsistency to your stance on this.

Where did I say anyone has to be happy with anything? If anyone's not happy, customers or devs, go find happiness. I'm saying Apple has the right within whatever laws apply to run their business as they see fit. They didn't set the App Store up for app trials. Make the purchase with the intent to keep it unless it doesn't work as advertised. I think of it like a movie rental. You don't like it after you watch it, asking for money back would not be how the system normally works. That's why we have movie reviews, or you just go blind and take your chances. I see the abuse of a system like eating in a restaurant, trying out dishes before you buy, sending things back, not because anything was prepared wrong, but just because it doesn't taste as good as you thought it would. (My intent is not to offer these analogies as arguments for Apple's policies, which need no such justification.)

Devs who sell on the App Store also have to play by whatever rules Apple sets for them. If they're trying to get around those rules in a way that helps themselves but is to the detriment of users or the system, then they should expect criticism. A dev can complain all they'd like, but it doesn't change the fact that nobody is forcing them to iOS. If a dev has a good argument for why the App Store sucks for them, then they're free to make that argument. Where did I say no one has the right to complain? I'm saying that iOS app trials may not be good for Apple, that how they sell is acceptable to their consumers, and I've seen no argument here that proves Apple wrong or that should oblige them to encourage app trials.

[Deleted User]

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DCJ

Y’all have got to be the most stubborn m’fers on any corner of the internet.

But I still think I’d rather have this nonsense vs the old political nonsense.

[Deleted User]

How long until Apple would change EULA (or do whatever it can), if every single app user adopted this purchasing mentality? Buy 3-4 to pick 1 would mean 66-75% of their resources wasted...

[Deleted User]

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Suboidua

i wish all apps have free lite versions so we can test the app before we actually purchase them or better yet an iap to fully unlock its functions.

slicetwo

Google has a refund policy that basically allows you to buy and try the app for 24 hours. The fact that iOS does not is ridiculous. I miss demos. I don’t see a reason for not making apps free with IAP to unlock it. Desktop VSTs do it all the time.