Apple: NFTs Can't Gate Access on iOS

Apple has updated its App Store guidelines for NFTs prohibiting developers from creating mechanisms to circumvent in-app purchases.

The updated rules are likely a response to reports that Apple would charge a 30 percent commission on all in-app purchases. Some projects have said there will be attempts to work around the fee, pushing users to usual web3 marketplaces for transfers.

The new guidelines also prohibit Apps from allowing users to "unlock features or functionality within the app."

Here is the added language to the guidelines:

"Added to 3.1.1: “Apps may use in-app purchase to sell and sell services related to non-fungible tokens (NFTs), such as minting, listing, and transferring. Apps may allow users to view their own NFTs, provided that NFT ownership does not unlock features or functionality within the app. Apps may allow users to browse NFT collections owned by others, provided that the apps may not include buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms other than in-app purchase.”

Some founders, such as Limit Break's Gabriel Leydon, have been bullish on the App Store rules, despite the fees.

Web 3 will be adopted by the gaming masses NEXT YEAR. There’s a huge wave of web3 games coming to the App Store / PC and most new games will have some sort of NFT functionality built in. ITS TIME! 🫡 @limitbreak
— Gabriel Leydon (FREE,OWN) (@gabrielleydon) October 13, 2022

Author Bio

TD Marquis

A veteran journalist and editor with more than a decade's worth of experience, TD helped a small community newspaper in Vermont win a New England Newspaper Association Right to Know Award in 2014. TD helped compile five years' worth of invoices to uncover a long-established practice of small-town government officials paying themselves six figures to do small jobs around town. TD discovered NFTs with Top Shot in 2021 and his first NFTs on ETH were saving two Mooncats. He is now the proud owner of Rowhome #61 and 1,300 other NFTs of questionable value. He also sent 4 ETH to a fake Mekaverse site and wants Lucky Trader readers to avoid the same fate.

Disclaimer: The author or members of the Lucky Trader staff may own NFTs discussed in this post. Furthermore, the information contained on this website or the Lucky Trader mobile application is not intended as, and shall not be understood or construed as financial advice. AI may have assisted in the creation of this content.