Hey is feuding with Apple again — this time over a calendar app

Basecamp founders’ electronic mail service Hey is combating with Apple once more — this time over the rejection of its new calendar app from the App Retailer. Apple’s reasoning is similar to when Cupertino-based tech giant rejected Hey’s email app 4 years in the past — non-paying customers can’t use the app after downloading it. Plus, new customers can’t join by way of Hey’s calendar app.

Final week, Basecamp launched an integrated calendar service with Hey, together with a brand new standalone app for it. On Saturday, Hey’s co-founder David Heinemeier Hansson posted on X that Apple has rejected Hey’s standalone calendar app.

Apple requires apps to permit customers to enroll in the service and presumably pay for the subscription if wanted. If customers pay by way of in-app purchases Apple will get a 30% (or much less in some circumstances) reduce. These guidelines enable some apps similar to Netflix, Kindle, and Spotify to let customers create accounts exterior the app.

In 2020, Apple first rejected Hey’s electronic mail app because users couldn’t sign up for the service on the app. So each firms got here to a compromise the place customers might download and start using Hey with a randomized email ID. To improve, they needed to pay for the service by way of the browser.

In a blog post, Hansson argues that a number of apps like Google Calendar and Netflix are logins gated with individuals paying for the service exterior Apple’s ecosystem. Moreover, he says that Apple makes use of one iCloud ID to supply a subscription to a collection of apps. So Hey’s calendar app must be allowed on the App Retailer.

“So what’s going to occur? I don’t know, however I do know that we’ll maintain combating. We’re by no means going to roll over and pay Apple 30% in safety cash to be left alone. Final time we discovered a approach, and we are going to once more,” he stated.

Apple didn’t instantly touch upon the story.