Hello, this is a rather serious question about the way Apple handles payments on their App Store, as well as subscriptions.
Because this post is about privacy, I will politely ask anyone who’s tempted to say that there’s not such thing as 100% privacy, to refrain from replying because that’s something I already know. But we all tolerate different degrees of privacy. Now, to the question:
When we perform a payment on the AppStore, or inside an app, using Apple Pay (I think it is the default payment platform) for an in-app purchase, or a subscription, are our personal details shared with the developer? Details such as our real name, the billing address… or just the Apple ID email?
I’ve been regularly using an app, on my iPhone, from a company I won’t mention, for years. On this app, I’ve shared years worth of thoughts and ideas, as well as personal information with friends such as health issues. I’ve always used a nickname and an anonymous email address, and of course never linked my phone number to this service/app.
However, recently I purchased an item, a subscription, inside this app. The pop-up appeared, and I was asked for a confirmation of this in-app payment. I used FaceID/TouchID to authorize it, and cling, I made my purchase.
But then, I started to realize that this company, if they have access to my billing info (the info I put on my Apple Pay account, such as my credit card number, my name and address) they can actually link all my conversations, all the anonymously shared info about myself, to a real life identity.
That’s why I’m asking if it’s true that App Store payments and Apple Pay protect the identity and privacy of the end user, and doesn’t share with the devs/companies the billing info.
I’ve found a couple of articles from Apple official sources, about this topic:
support.apple.com
“Apple Pay is also designed to protect your personal information. Apple doesn’t store or have access to the original credit, debit, or prepaid card numbers that you use with Apple Pay.”
When performing purchases with Apple Pay from within an app or a website:
“To securely transmit your payment information when you pay in apps or on the web, Apple Pay receives your encrypted transaction and re-encrypts it with a developer-specific key before the transaction information is sent to the developer or payment processor. This key helps ensure that only the app or the website that you’re purchasing from can access your encrypted payment information”
So, according this, the developer has access to my encrypted info? Such as my name, credit card number and billing address?
About subscriptions, I’ve found this link where it says that Apple only shares an encrypted/anonymized subscription ID with the company, but I think it’s just for statistics:
support.apple.com
What I purchased is a subscription and, at this point, I’m not sure if all my years worth of anonymous conversations are linked to my personal identity after making this in-app purchase.
Please if anyone has the knowledge to explain me how this works, or any developer here can corroborate if devs have access to the billing info (or then get paid by the App Store through the Apple Pay platform) I’d like to know the answer, thank you very much.
Because this post is about privacy, I will politely ask anyone who’s tempted to say that there’s not such thing as 100% privacy, to refrain from replying because that’s something I already know. But we all tolerate different degrees of privacy. Now, to the question:
When we perform a payment on the AppStore, or inside an app, using Apple Pay (I think it is the default payment platform) for an in-app purchase, or a subscription, are our personal details shared with the developer? Details such as our real name, the billing address… or just the Apple ID email?
I’ve been regularly using an app, on my iPhone, from a company I won’t mention, for years. On this app, I’ve shared years worth of thoughts and ideas, as well as personal information with friends such as health issues. I’ve always used a nickname and an anonymous email address, and of course never linked my phone number to this service/app.
However, recently I purchased an item, a subscription, inside this app. The pop-up appeared, and I was asked for a confirmation of this in-app payment. I used FaceID/TouchID to authorize it, and cling, I made my purchase.
But then, I started to realize that this company, if they have access to my billing info (the info I put on my Apple Pay account, such as my credit card number, my name and address) they can actually link all my conversations, all the anonymously shared info about myself, to a real life identity.
That’s why I’m asking if it’s true that App Store payments and Apple Pay protect the identity and privacy of the end user, and doesn’t share with the devs/companies the billing info.
I’ve found a couple of articles from Apple official sources, about this topic:
Apple Pay security and privacy overview - Apple Support
See how your Apple Pay personal and payment information and transaction data is protected.
“Apple Pay is also designed to protect your personal information. Apple doesn’t store or have access to the original credit, debit, or prepaid card numbers that you use with Apple Pay.”
When performing purchases with Apple Pay from within an app or a website:
“To securely transmit your payment information when you pay in apps or on the web, Apple Pay receives your encrypted transaction and re-encrypts it with a developer-specific key before the transaction information is sent to the developer or payment processor. This key helps ensure that only the app or the website that you’re purchasing from can access your encrypted payment information”
So, according this, the developer has access to my encrypted info? Such as my name, credit card number and billing address?
About subscriptions, I’ve found this link where it says that Apple only shares an encrypted/anonymized subscription ID with the company, but I think it’s just for statistics:
About Subscriptions and Privacy - Apple Support
What I purchased is a subscription and, at this point, I’m not sure if all my years worth of anonymous conversations are linked to my personal identity after making this in-app purchase.
Please if anyone has the knowledge to explain me how this works, or any developer here can corroborate if devs have access to the billing info (or then get paid by the App Store through the Apple Pay platform) I’d like to know the answer, thank you very much.
