Apple rejects renewal of Hey calendar app

The new year should start with a brand new calendar app. But roughly 72 hours after premium email service Hey announced its newest feature, integrated calendaring, co-founder David Heinemeier Hansson received some unwelcome news from Apple: It declined to provide a standalone iOS app for Hey Calendar. , because this feature is not available to non-paying users. Does nothing when they open the app.

New users cannot register for Hey Calendar directly on the app – Basecamp for Hey was created to allow users to register through the browser first. Apple’s App Store rules require most paid services to offer users the ability to pay and sign up through apps, ensuring the company gets a cut of up to 30%. The controversial rule has plenty of gray areas and exceptions (except for reader apps like Spotify and Kindle) and is the subject of antitrust battles in several countries.

But as Hansen details on X In a subsequent blog post, he found Apple’s rejection insulting for another reason. About four years ago, the company denied email service to Hey’s original iOS app for the same reason. “Apple just called us to tell us that they are rejecting the HEY Calendar app (in its current form) from the App Store. Same bullying tactic as last time: Subtly reject someone on the phone who only gives their first name, and he’ll whisper It’s your wallet or your knees,” Hansen wrote in a post on X.

The outcome of the 2020 battle actually favored Hey. After several days of back-and-forth discussions between the Apple App Store Review Board and Basecamp, the Hey team agreed to a creative solution proposed by Apple executive Phil Schiller. Hey will offer a free option for the iOS app, allowing new users to sign up directly. But the company has a small twist — users who sign up through the iOS app get a free, temporary random email address that’s valid for 14 days — after which they have to pay to upgrade. Currently, Hey email users can only pay for their accounts through the browser.

Following the Hey incident, Apple stipulated in its App Store rules that free companion apps for certain types of paid online services can be used for free. no An in-app payment mechanism is required. But, as Hansson noted on the X, the Calendar app is not mentioned in the list of services Apple is now exempting, which includes VOIP, cloud storage, website hosting, and, of course, email.

“After spending 19 days reviewing our submission, causing us to miss our long-planned January 2 release date, Apple rejected our standalone free companion app ‘because it didn’t do anything’. This is Because users need to log in with an existing account to use this feature,” Hansen wrote in a blog post.

As Hansson detailed in the X post, Hey plans to fight Apple’s decision – although he didn’t specify what route they would take. edge Hey and Apple have been contacted for comment.