Online dating and matchmaker service Match.com found its iOS app pulled from the App Store due to a violation of the store’s rules, specifically a direct subscription link in the app that allowed users to pay for the service without going through Apple’s mandatory in-app purchasing system, which gives Apple a 30 percent cut of in-app purchases. Apple began dropping apps that violated the policy late in summer.
Following a February unveiling that met with strong resistance, Apple revised its App Store guidelines to simply disallow buttons or external links that made it possible for users to purchase additional content or subscriptions directly, and warned developers that it would begin enforcing the policy over the summer. The pulling of the app from the App Store does not affect existing subscribers in any way, but prohibits the company from attracting any new iOS users — a problem for the service, as dating sites like Match.com rely heavily on new clients.
