Apple is preparing users and developers for a disruptive interruption of payment processes in apps and the app store. From the 31. December 2020 certain purchases in EU countries require a separate authentication of the credit or debit card, as the group announced. This disrupts the otherwise very seamless payment process: To authenticate the payment, the user is “pulled out” of the payment process and redirected to an app or to the website of his bank or payment service provider, according to Apple. The process must first be confirmed there before a purchase or conclusion of a subscription is possible.

PSD2 in front of the door As a reason for the change, Apple refers to the ‘Strong Customer Authentication’ (SCA) required under the EU Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) to avoid Amounted to. This requirement also applies to other online retailers. Last year, Apple estimated that this would increase the number of purchases in European online shops from 10 to 20 percent, because customers may abort the payment process because of the additional confirmation – the group hopes that because of this, merchants will switch to payment systems like Apple Pay, their own service is already PSD2-compliant.

The interruption in apps and the app store only takes place if the user has deposited his credit or debit card directly with Apple. For auto-renewing subscriptions, authentication is only required the first time the subscription is signed, notes Apple. Even purchases with a price below 20 Euro may be processed without additional authentication.

Developers should definitely design their apps or in-app purchase offers to handle these “interrupted transactions”, explains Apple – this works in a similar way to the purchase requests from children in the context of family sharing. Apps that offer Apple Pay as a payment method do not need to take any special precautions, according to Apple – additional authentication is not required there. However, app providers should ensure that the correct country code (ISO 2020) of the merchant is stored for Apple Pay.

No interruption in credit and Apple Pay Users can avoid additional authentication if they use a different means of payment for their Apple Use ID: App store credit and payment to your mobile phone bill eliminate the need for the additional step. For a year now, Apple has also allowed Apple Pay to be set up as a means of payment for digital content, which should also save the intermediate step.

(lbe)