Coalition for App Fairness unites developers to fight Apple's App Store fees and policies

The Coalition for App Fairness is comprised of many developers currently involved in high-profile disputes with Apple, as well as many who have been critical of the tech giant in the past.

Several big-name app developers have gathered together to form the Coalition for App Fairness, a non-profit organization seeking to highlight issues developers face when developing for Apple's App Store.

The coalition formed at a time when Apple is undergoing multiple antitrust investigation, both in the United States and abroad.

Their website highlights that Apple makes more than $15 billion a year from its 30% app commission fee. They also point out that other "payment providers," though it should be noted that Apple also provides hosting services and monitors apps for malicious code.

"We believe that every app developer is entitled to fair treatment and that every consumer should have complete control over their own device. Our App Store Principles will ensure a level playing field for platforms like Apple and a consistent standard of conduct across the app ecosystem," the website reads. "The 10 principles outlined include that every developer should always have the right to communicate directly with its users through its app for legitimate business purposes and that no app store should charge unreasonable or excessive fees."

The ten principles mentioned include many suggestions heard before — decentralization of app hosting, prevention of self-preferential practices, and lowering Apple's commission cuts. The full list of principles can be viewed on the Coalition for App Fairness' website.

Included in the founding member roster are developers like Epic Games, Spotify, and Tile. All three are development teams that have been leading the rallying cry against Apple's behavior toward developers.

Other members include Basecamp, Blix, Blockchain, Deezer, European Publishers Council, Match, News Media Europe, Prepare, ProtonMail, and SkyDemon. The coalition is currently asking more developers to join its ranks.

37 Comments

tobian 155 comments · 9 Years

About 4 years ago

We the people, who understand Apples reasoning for AppStore policies and fees, we should show these companies what “non-profit” could mean.. by stopping buying their apps.

jdb8167 626 comments · 16 Years

I'd like to boycott the members but outside of Basecamp (HEY) and ProtonMail, I've never heard of the rest of them. I already boycott them by default. Oh well.

foregoneconclusion 2836 comments · 12 Years

Other than Epic Games, how many of these independent developers existed prior to the launch of the App Store?

genovelle 1481 comments · 16 Years

I too will boycott them. Checking the list now. I know what happens when a product or service is unprofitable for Apple. They kill it as they should. If the shift to focusing on Services and and Devices only, they could redirect those resources to something else. Remember Apple had Newton that like now had superior technology and was decades ahead of its time. We Steve Jobs returned he could not find a way to profitability so even though it was loved by many. It was killed. Only to become a cult product.

Without the share that Apple takes none of the companies who got their start and profited massively on IOS would be where they are today, because Apple would not have invested heavily into the platform and it would have died on the vine like Ping and others.

How many partnerships do the company doing the heavy lifting only take 30%. I mean really. They should give them the option to bypass the fee, then charge the true value for each service or API they want to use on a subscription basis that takes into account how many calls per month it is accessed.

Then they will miss the 30% because Apple should charge more since they will have to manage a much more complex system

diz_geek 57 comments · 12 Years

Even though I haven’t used it since Apple Music launched, I finally said “ya know, I should delete my Spotify account...”.

So I did.

And the Tile that I’ve got... yeah, definitely not upgrading to their Premium subscription... when the built in battery dies, I’m done with them.

Getting more than a little tired of the crud from Spotify, Epic and Tile. I get the “we need to stay profitable to stay in business and the 30% cuts into our margins” thing... but these three companies are just coming across as scumbags. There is so much to the App Store beyond just hosting that they pretend doesn’t exist that costs money to develop. There’s the software and hardware development costs, the developer tools (last I checked, Xcode didn’t just magically appear out of thin air...), the hosting, the advertising, the financial transactions... their PR likes to pretend that these things don’t exist and that Apple is just taking 30% of pure profit for themselves....