External Market Support Code was discovered by 9to5Mac in the beta version of iOS 15.5, released yesterday. The website says that iOS 15.5 “has full support” for the “External Link Account Entitlement” that Apple recently made available to readers. Since last week, Apple has begun allowing app developers to sign up for access to an external link that will allow the app to provide a link to a site so users can create or manage an account outside of PpApp Store. Reading applications include those that provide digital content such as magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music or video as the main functionality of the application, with Spotify, Netflix, Hulu and other applications as examples. Applications that receive external link permissions will be able to provide an in-app link that goes to an external site. For example, the Netflix iOS app will be able to provide a link to the Netflix website where users can sign up or manage a Netflix subscription. Apple has decided to allow reading apps to provide a link to an external website to settle a survey launched by the Japan Fair Trade Commission in early 2021. Apple said it plans to “make sure that users of reading apps continue to have a secure App Store experience “and that it would help developers” protect users when they log in to an external site to shop “, which explains some of the new wording in iOS 15.5. For example, 9to5Mac has detected text warning a user who deletes an application with external purchases that subscriptions and purchases cannot be managed through the App Store, as opposed to applications that offer subscriptions and content through the App Store tools . If, for example, a user subscribes to Netflix through an external link in Netflix for iOS and then deletes Netflix, the subscription cannot be canceled through the App Store subscription interface and should be handled directly by the developer , also known as Netflix in the example example. “External purchases from ExternalPurchase may still exist,” the pop-up message in the beta states. “You can not manage or cancel any external purchases through the App Store. For more information, contact the developer.” For some external purchases, Apple will obviously also notify users of external purchasing options and support restrictions when the app is first released, making it clear to users that purchases outside the App Store should be managed outside the App Store. . Apple guidelines for external links in reading applications are also designed to make a clear distinction between the App Store and an external marketplace. A link should open in a new browser window in the default browser for the device, for example, instead of a web view in the application itself. In terms of protection, links may not have tracking information or redirects, and an application can only link to one site to which it links. We do not yet know when iOS 15.5 will be released, but Apple is accepting requests from readers who are interested in using the external link right. Apple’s login site says the external account account API will be available to create and test reading apps “in an upcoming beta of iOS and iPadOS”, which appears to be iOS 15.5.
