Apple has measures in place to prevent App Store refund abuse

Right at the end of last year Apple announced that it was introducing a two week refund policy on digital purchases in accordance with EU policy. There was some worry that the new system could easily be abused, so to ease concerns Apple has revealed one of the measures put in place to prevent that.

Back when the original policy change was announced people feared that it could lead to serious abuse because applying for a refund wouldn’t delete content from your devices. A refund could effectively give people access to premium content free of charge.

That apparently won’t happen, because according to Apple it will be monitoring how many refunds people request and anybody making an excessive number will be barred from applying for more.

Users will be warned of this if it appears they are requesting too many refunds which is deemed acceptable by EU law, as it means users are informed that they will not be eligible for a refund before they commit to the purchase.

It might not be a foolproof option, it will ensure people can’t abuse the refund system indefinitely. Sadly we don’t know how Apple will determine what classifies as excessive at this point in time.