HEY opens its email service to everyone and says Apple has approved its update with proposed changes to meet App Store guidelines
the new email service from Basecamp that's been the subject of the latest fight over Apple's App Store policies — has announced that starting today, it'll be open for anyone to join, no invite code required” ✌️https://www.theverge.com / ... Sean Heber / @bigzaphod : So I guess Apple's pushback here resulted in a better enduser experience after all? https://twitter.com/... Zach Waugh / @zachwaugh : Phew, what a ride. Happy to just get back to work on making the app better now. HEY is really only just launching *today*, we have so much we want to do. https://twitter.com/... Casey Newton / @caseynewton : To be clear, Basecamp made a surrealist art project version of Hey to satirize the App Store guidelines, and it ... got them into the App Store https://twitter.com/... Martin Sfp Bryant / @martinsfp : Hey invites are no longer geek social currency. https://www.theverge.com/... Sarah Perez / @sarahintampa : Sorry, I can't pay $99 for email @dhh : Hopefully this paves an illuminated path for approval for other multi-platform SAAS applications as well. There are still a litany of antitrust questions to answer, but things legitimately got a little better. New policies, new precedence. Apple took a great step forward 🙏 Nilay Patel / @reckless : Big news on the Hey front: the service no longer requires an invite, and Apple has approved the new version of its app with free 14-day burner accounts https://www.theverge.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
The standoff that began when Apple rejected HEY's iOS update over its missing in-app purchase has ended in compromise. After a rejected appeal and then a temporary approval meant to buy time, Basecamp's $99/year service — which debuted on June 16 blocking tracking pixels and rethinking inbox workflow — is now fully approved.
The price of approval was product change, not revenue share: HEY added free 14-day burner accounts so the app works without a paid subscription, satisfying Apple's rule that email apps function standalone. Today HEY also drops its invite code entirely, converting a gated launch into an open one.
First-order effects
- HEY is open to anyone starting today, no invite required, and Basecamp keeps steering subscriptions to its own checkout — the temporary approval has hardened into a permanent one without Apple collecting its cut.
- Basecap's developers signal relief and a return to shipping: the team says the fight is over and HEY is 'only just launching today', meaning the dispute cost momentum during what should have been launch week.
Second-order effects
- Other subscription app developers now have a template: public pressure plus a functional free tier extracted an exception from Apple's IAP rules, so expect similar standoffs where apps offer web signup and push Apple on the same grounds.
- Apple's concession narrows the rule it defended — 'email apps must work without paid subscription' became satisfiable via burner accounts rather than in-app purchases — lowering the bar other email and productivity clients will aim for.
Third-order effects
- If carve-outs for loud, high-profile developers become the norm, App Store enforcement drifts toward negotiated outcomes rather than uniform rules — the kind of discretionary gatekeeping that draws antitrust and regulatory scrutiny of platform commissions.
- The episode establishes that Apple's 30% take is negotiable for consumer-facing subscription services with credible alternatives, structurally weakening the commission as a default for software distributed through iOS.
The trend: App Store gatekeeping is shifting from rigid commission enforcement toward publicly contested, case-by-case compromises — a pattern that invites formal regulatory challenge to platform payment rules.