Apple says that starting on June 30, 2022, all App Store apps that offer account creation must also offer an in-app option to let users delete their account
Apple last year announced a change in the App Store guidelines that would require all apps that support account creation to offer …
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple had already established account deletion as an App Store requirement in its earlier developer notice, after requiring privacy-policy links in App Store metadata in 2018. The June 30 deadline turns that prior policy into an enforcement point for apps that create user accounts.
The rule makes account lifecycle controls part of Apple’s store governance rather than a developer-by-developer privacy choice. Google’s later similar Play Store deletion requirement shows the approach extending across major mobile distribution channels.
First-order effects
- App Store developers that support account creation must add an in-app deletion path by June 30 or bring their account flows into line with Apple’s requirement.
- Users of those apps gain a platform-mandated way to begin ending an account without leaving the app.
Second-order effects
- Developers must treat retention and deletion flows as store-compliance work alongside the App Store’s earlier privacy-policy metadata requirement, increasing the importance of consistent account-management design.
- Google’s subsequent Play Store policy reduces the value of building different deletion experiences for the two leading mobile storefronts, pushing multi-platform apps toward a common baseline.
Third-order effects
- Mobile app stores are becoming enforcement layers for consumer privacy controls, with account creation increasingly paired with a required exit path.
- If the parallel Apple and Google rules persist, account portability of user choice—not merely app functionality—will become a standard condition of mobile distribution.
The trend: Major mobile app stores are embedding account and privacy controls into marketplace rules, standardizing how apps manage the full user lifecycle.