Two months after agreeing to a class action lawsuit with some developers over how it manages the App Store for iPhone and iPad, Apple has officially changed its rules to allow app developers to highlight alternative purchase options outside of apps, as well as communicate more directly.
Apple’s new rules, which amend three of its guidelines, allow developers to ask users for name and email information, as long as it’s optional and not a mandatory part of using their app. Apple states that these changes do not allow developers to collect information about children.
Apple will now allow developers to direct app users to alternative payment methods.
The move appears to have been made to respond to criticism that Apple controls too tightly what developers can do in the App Store. Since the App Store is the only place Apple allowed iPhone and iPad owners to download apps, the developers claimed that what they were allowed to do on mobile devices was very restricted.
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