Category: Cell Phone Talk
Hi,
There was a fair degree of traffic on mailing lists today about Apple no longer providing refunds if an app purchased from the Appstore proves to be inaccessible.
iPhone users will no that there's no way to tell from the Appstore whether or not an app is accessible, and obviously Apple doesn't mandate that an app needs to be accessible before being listed.
People may want to contact Apple if this change bothers them.
Yeah...can't say I'm surprised. It's another way to make sure they've got a little more in the bank come day's end. Every dollar or two you spend and can't get refunded is another dollar or two that Apple gets to keep.
Unless I'm sadly mistaken, I bet 95% of developers would be totally okay with a person trying out their app, finding out it doesn't work, and immediately returning it for a full refund. There's no cheating going on, it's not like you can get your money's worth in fifteen minutes, and I figure most people would rather please everyone at whom the app was aimed than get a bunch of people upset because they've bought apps they aren't capable of using.
Wonder if this was Apple's idea, or if it was spawned by outcry from developers? Somehow I really doubt the latter option, but I guess anything is possible.
I agree - I suspect most developers wouldn't mind if the purchase price of their app was refunded. I hope that's not a foretelling of things to come accessibility-wise in iOS7 and Mavericks. I guess time will tell though.
The other silly thing is that it's probably illegal to refuse the refund in some jurisdictions, not necessarily on disability grounds, but on distance selling/cooling off periods, which I believe apply to online purchases here at least. Obviously trying to get a refund under this would be a sledgehammer to crack a nut for something that only costs a few dollars, but ironically it might create more work for Apple in the end if it's what people end up doing.
I didn't even know Apple offered refunds in the first place. I wish I'd known so I could have taken advantage of it while it lasted.
Yeah. As I understood it, if you downloaded an app and it wasn't accessible, you could return it in fifteen minutes or something, and get a refund. I don't know the exact procedure, I've never done it.
Android is the same thing. I think you have 15-30 min (I can't remember) to buy and try an ap... and you can return it for any reason.
Kate
I never knew that existed, either. interesting.
Well, one could argue that is not fair for user that dependents on accessibility. However, one could also argue that it is not Apple responsibility for apps to be accessible or not, since that is not yet on their developer agreements/policies to stated that the apps are accessible or not. Honestly,it is also hard to determine unless the developers willing to spend some extra time to check it out and report it to Apple, or, have some team of accessibility apps tester before the apps are release to the public. Either way, i don;'t think it is anyone fault or such. This also show, cloud source such as applevis.com definitely have it's place on the market, and also, encourage people to post to applevis more
Because it's Apple it's all ok. If it were some other company, no, but because it's Apple you should just accept it. So ... take that "jagged little pill" and swaller it down.
Lol and I like my iPhone also, but I never simply accept things from a manufacturer without question, nor do I defend any company, not even the one I work for in real life. Products defend themselves, and company policies defend themselves.
Actually, if you want my guess as to why, here it is:
Most didn't know about it, but it required infrastructure to do this sort of refund, and all infrastructure costs. Since it was a least-used service, it probably benefitted Apple to do away with the infrastructure needed to do the refunds of these apps. I of course wouldn't know, I am merely guessing but a guess based on some reasonable factors I think.
hmm.. thanks for letting us know this, I will be visiting apple vis quite offten, yes android does have a refun policy Kate, its 15 minutes after you bought the app.
It could be argued that Apple tried to keep this vary thing from happening by keeping developers that were not approved from selling apps.
Even the blind community rebelled against that policy hence jail breaking.
If you are a sighted person, buy an app, and just hate it, you can’t return it.
Next, can the app really be returned? I can delete them, but actually keep them in my library, so I’ve not use this service, and wonder how does Apple insure you’ve actually returned the app?
I am not really in to these things, but I check the website mentioned before I try some of them, and the rest, I try to read as much as possible about it before I buy it.
Maybe we should lobby for testing like Microsoft does?
When I am in the Microsoft store, I can see if an app is rated accessible or not. Again, because I don’t buy many, I can’t say they all are.