Apple says account deactivation in apps is nonsense, makes deletion mandatory from June 30

In a post on its developer support website, Apple has reminded app developers that they will need to give an option to users to initiate deletion of their account in apps submitted to the App Store starting June 30.

Apple is known for imposing stringent rules on app developers. These rules might sound harsh at first, but they translate into more convenience for customers. Apple’s new policy for app developers aims to bring more clarity in terms of what happens to user accounts after they are deactivated or deleted. Under its new Account Deletion rule, Apple requires apps that let you create an account to also allow you to delete it because account deactivation is nonsensical.

In a post on its developer support website, Apple has reminded app developers that they will need to give an option to users to initiate deletion of their account in apps submitted to the App Store starting June 30. The original guidelines were supposed to come into effect in January earlier this year but Apple had to push back the deadline to June. Now, with a little more than a month left, Apple wants developers to speed up the process to avoid facing any action.

According to Apple’s rules, deleting an account not only means the deletion of the profile but also any data associated with the account that “the developer isn’t legally required to maintain.” That includes social media apps, as well as content-sharing platforms, and any posts, photos, videos, or even reviews posted or saved by users.

This is an obligation for developers who will offer the facility of account creation on their App Store apps, and "offering to temporarily deactivate or disable an account is insufficient."

Apple said that if the deletion of an account takes some time, the developer should inform its users about the same. If an app allows transactions, the developers must tell users about how billing and cancellations will be handled. For subscriptions, the developers also need to tell users that they will need to visit the Subscriptions menu on their Apple ID page to cancel recurring subscriptions.

The apps that require “additional customer service flows to confirm and facilitate the account deletion process” will need to belong to the highly regulated industries, as described in the App Store Review Guidelines. If an app does not belong to that category, asking users to make a phone call or send an email for cancellation should not be required.

For apps that need some sort of user verification for cancellation, Apple says developers may add steps to verify the identity, but adding unnecessary steps will make their apps ineligible for a review pass. In other words, Apple will not entertain any developer if they ask users to carry out unnecessary actions for cancellation, possibly to confuse them into not going ahead with the cancellation process.