Apple Inc. has stood by its controversial decision to reject an update to the Hey email app, citing App Store rules around in-app purchases.

Hey is a new email service launched earlier this week on iOS by Basecamp Development Ltd. The firm attempted to release bug fixes shortly after the initial release but was informed by Apple that the update wasn’t allowed to roll out because the Hey app violated the App Store guidelines. The decision proved highly controversial, drawing criticism from tech industry figures and media observers on Twitter and beyond.

Apple said in a Thursday email to Basecamp shared with the press that the app violates the App Store guidelines. The issue is that Hey requires buying a paid subscription on an external website and doesn’t provide a way to buy it directly in the app interface, which Apple generally prohibits. The iPhone maker makes exceptions for business software and so-called Reader apps that provide access to certain content such as music, but Hey doesn’t fall into these categories.

“The HEY Email app is marketed as an email app on the App Store, but when users download your app, it does not work,” Apple’s app review team wrote to Basecamp. “Users cannot use the app to access email or perform any useful function until after they go to the Basecamp website for Hey Email and purchase a license to use the HEY Email app. This violates the following App Store Review Guidelines.”

Phil Schiller, Apple’s head of global marketing, echoed that point in a Thursday interview with TechCrunch. “You download the app and it doesn’t work, that’s not what we want on the store,” Schiller (pictured) was quoted as saying. 

In the email to Basecamp, Apple suggested to the firm that it could bring Hey into compliance by creating a free version of the app with limited features and continuing to sell the subscription separately. 

The fact that the rejection of the Hey update focuses on in-app purchases, or more precisely the lack thereof in the app, is an important element of the controversy. Apple recently became the subject of an antitrust probe in the European Union because it allows developers to use only its own payment processing system for in-app purchases and takes a 30% commission. That commission was the reason cited by Basecamp for not providing an in-app subscription option inside the Hey app interface.    

Apple’s stance sparked a discussion about App Store guidelines and their impact on developers. Congressman David Cicilline, the chair of the House Antitrust Subcommittee, likened Apple’s in-app purchase fee to “highway robbery.” Others have criticized the tone of the letter in which Apple informed Basecamp of its decision. 

Photo: Apple