Apple calls a truce with Hey developer ahead of WWDC 2020

Apple has approved Hey’s new iOS update without in-app purchase after rejecting a version last week citing violation of the company’s app store guidelines.

The move comes hours before Apple's annual developer conference, WWDC 2020. Apple had been drawing flak over its controversial app store tax regime where the company charged up to 30% cut from developers.

Basecamp, the makers of Hey email app, had publicly called out Apple for stalling the initial update. CEO Jason Fried in a recent post said that the App Store policy distanced developers from customers. He also said that the fight with Apple was more about customer experience than money.

The controversy erupted around the same time when the European Commission announced a probe into Apple’s antitrust practices through its App Store.

In the latest post, Fried thanked Apple’s App Store Review board for approving the update. He said the move is going to be a win for Apple, developers, and its customers.

He further revealed that the company had implemented the suggestions made by Apple’s marketing chief Phil Schiller.

“One way that HEY could have gone...is to offer a free or paid version of the app with basic email reading features on the App Store, then separately offered an upgraded email service that worked with the Hey app on iOS on its own website,” Shiller is quoted as saying.

“So we got down to it and worked the weekend to get an update on Apple’s desk Monday morning. Our team did a great job implementing the product changes that Schiller asked for, and first thing this morning, right after we shipped 1.0.2 to our customers, we submitted 1.0.3 to the App Store for approval,” Fried further wrote in his post.