Apple has removed a sales metric that pushed U.S. retail employees to sign customers up for subscription trials, after allegations that some staff enrolled people without their informed consent.
The metric was the "services attach rate", meaning the share of device buyers who also start a subscription. At least at some U.S. stores, the target was 40% per employee: about four of every 10 customers helped with a device purchase should leave with at least one subscription. Electronics technician and consumer rights advocate Louis Rossman raised the issue in a series of YouTube videos, citing tipsters who contacted him.
The process starts when an employee asks a customer to scan a QR code for a "Connect and Personalize" shopping experience. The employee can then see, on a company-issued device, which Apple products the customer owns, which services they already pay for, and which subscription offers they qualify for. Offers appear with "Agree" and "Decline" buttons on the employee's screen, and the default payment method on the customer's Apple Account is available for sign-ups as long as it has not expired.
The tipsters allege that some employees rushed through this, or were told to pitch trials as "gifts". Some allegedly tapped "Agree" themselves. Apple does email customers when a trial starts, but that email is easy to read as a receipt rather than a warning that billing will follow.
Apple removed the metric days after the videos appeared, and said the reason was that it matters less during the holiday season, when many purchases are gifts. It later sent retail staff an internal memo on respecting privacy and obtaining consent. The memo covered subscription trials, "Connect and Personalize", Apple Upgrade sign-ups and Genius Bar work authorizations. Whether the videos played a role is unclear.
The two steps address different things. A memo asks staff to behave better, while dropping the quota removes the reward for not doing so. Free trials that convert to paid plans depend on the customer noticing the terms, and here the person holding the device and the target was also the person holding the "Agree" button. Nothing reported suggests the sign-up screen itself changed, so it is an open question whether the employee-side buttons stay as they are once the holidays end.
Customers can check for stray trials in Settings by tapping their name, then Subscriptions, where active plans and trials can be canceled.