Apple is introducing App Store retention messaging that lets developers show text, images or a special offer when a subscriber starts to cancel an auto-renewing subscription.

A new real-time server alert can notify a developer when an active subscriber views a subscription-details page with a Cancel button, rather than waiting for the subscriber to tap Cancel.

The alert can include the page’s location and the subscription’s original transaction ID, giving developers information to tailor messages by language, currency, subscription tier and subscriber tenure.

Developers can configure offer eligibility, minimum subscription length and how long a subscriber must wait to redeem the same offer again; a separate API can select messages for individual subscribers, but access is available only by request.

Through the API, developers can serve text, images, promotional offers or another subscription plan, but they must pass a server performance test, and Apple provides fallbacks for missing or malformed responses.

Each app can have up to 10 retention messages, with one assigned to a subscription at a time, and developers can create up to 10 offers per subscription billing plan type; all messages require App Review.

Message copy must stay general because subscribers who are ineligible for an offer may see it too, and Apple bars mentions of prices, discounts or specific offers, as well as coercive claims, excessive emphasis and unsupported superlatives or statistics.

Offers can take the form of discounts or free periods and be structured as pay-as-you-go, prepaid or free arrangements with set prices and durations; Apple’s yoga-app example—a mock-up—shows three months at $2.99 followed by $4.99 monthly.

Apple says the cancellation flow may include a reminder or offer, but developers cannot use the feature to block cancellation or require subscribers to accept an offer.

Discounts may help subscribers who would stay at a lower price, but clear exit buttons, a short cancellation flow and honest wording are key to keeping offers from becoming manipulative dark patterns.

A lower monthly bill does not necessarily mean a shorter or more flexible commitment, since an alternative plan could require a 12-month commitment paid monthly.

Apple reported an average 1.4-percentage-point increase in save rates among subscriptions using retention messaging, with promotional-offer messages showing a larger lift; it cautioned that results vary, and the figure does not prove long-term retention or revenue gains.