Apple is giving app developers a new way to combat subscription cancellations. Starting this week, developers can integrate custom retention messages directly into the standard App Store cancellation screen.
As mentioned in the official announcement, when users on Apple iPhones tap to cancel their app service, they can now be greeted with developer-crafted messages. Designed to remind them of the app's value, developers can also provide a last-minute perk to keep users tied to the subscription.
This will also force users to give it another thought before going ahead with the cancellation. The basic setup process is handled within App Store Connect, where teams can configure exactly which subscribers are eligible to see the prompt.
For a more granular approach, Apple is also introducing a dedicated Retention Messaging API. Available strictly by request, this API allows developers to dynamically swap out messages based on a specific user's subscription history and current tier.
For everyday users, this means attempting to cancel an application's subscription can yield a lucrative discount code before finalising the decision, making it harder to cancel the subscription.
While Apple hasn't detailed a rollout plan for the API and the feature, retention messages are expected to start appearing by the end of this year. Since the integration depends largely on developers, wider adoption could take a considerable amount of time, so stay tuned.
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