Apple's developer agreement adds terms for HomeView widgets, Live Assistance and app replacement
Apple's revised developer agreement covers HomeView widgets, CarPlay apps on HomeView, Live Assistance, group subscriptions and tax reporting.
Apple revised the Apple Developer Program License Agreement on 13 October and asked developers to sign in and accept the new terms.
Apple's notice on its developer news page lists the changes section by section. It says the agreement was revised to support new features and updated policies and to clarify existing terms. Translations will follow within a month.
What changed in the agreement?
Section | Change |
|---|---|
3.2 | Updated security and related requirements for using Apple's software and services |
Definitions, 3.3.8(j) | Terms for the Live Assistance API |
Definitions, 3.3.8(k) | Terms for the App Replacement Entitlement |
Definitions, 6.4 to 6.4.2 | iOS app widgets on HomeView, and iOS CarPlay apps on HomeView |
Schedule 2 | Offering multiple seats on a subscription through Group Purchases |
Schedule 3 | Selling subscriptions to Apple Business and Apple School Manager organisations through Volume Purchasing |
Schedules 2 and 3, 3.3(a) | Apple reports legally required tax, sales and contact details to tax authorities |
Schedules 2 and 3, 3.3(b) | Customer tax information Apple shares may be used only where the law requires |
What does it mean for HomeView?
The HomeView terms are the clearest sign of how Apple's new display will work for developers. HomeView has no App Store; third-party apps run on a nearby iPhone and appear on the display. The agreement now covers both routes onto it: iOS widgets, and iOS apps already built for CarPlay.
What are Live Assistance and the App Replacement Entitlement?
Apple's notice names both but does not describe them, and we found no public documentation for either at the time of writing. We are not going to guess at what they do. The names suggest a support or help feature and a permission to stand in for another app, but until Apple publishes the API reference, that is all they are: names.
Our take
Most of this agreement formalises things Apple has already announced. Group Purchases puts in contract the multiseat subscriptions Apple switched on by default in September, and the Volume Purchasing terms let developers sell subscriptions, not only one-off licences, to schools and businesses through Apple's managers.
The tax clauses matter to anyone selling through the App Store in many countries: Apple will report sales and contact details to tax authorities where the law requires, and developers may use customer tax data only for legally mandated purposes. That is a restriction worth reading before anyone builds analytics on top of it.
APPDOOK's advice to app makers is to accept the agreement now: an outstanding agreement can hold up App Store Connect work, and with iPhone Duo apps being accepted for the 23 October launch, this is the wrong week to be locked out. Then watch for the Live Assistance and App Replacement documentation, which the contract now anticipates.
Sources
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