Apple has pulled an internal sales goal for its US store staff and sent them a memo about consent, days after a YouTuber published claims that some employees enrolled shoppers in auto-renewing subscription trials without a clear yes. Anyone who bought an Apple device in a US store lately should look at their account for trials they did not ask for.
Louis Rossmann, a repair advocate with a big YouTube following, has spent two weeks gathering stories from customers and from people who say they work in Apple Stores. He alleges that trials of Apple One, Music, Fitness+ and Creator Studio were switched on at checkout, sometimes pitched as gifts, with the first charge landing months later. Nothing is proven. Rossmann says he recreated some of the internal documents in his videos to shield his sources.
The goal in question was the “services attach rate”: at some stores each employee was expected to get 40% of device buyers to take a subscription. One account says a store promised a $100 Apple gift card to the person who activated the most. MacRumors confirmed that Apple dropped the figure early last week. Apple’s stated reason is that it matters less at holiday time, when much of what people buy is for gifts.
The checkout flow shows how the problem could arise. A staff member invites the customer to scan a QR code for “Connect and Personalize”, which lets the employee see the customer’s devices, current subscriptions and eligible offers. Choosing an offer takes one tap on a staff-side screen, and the card already attached to the shopper’s Apple Account can pay for it. Some of Rossmann’s sources say staff tapped the Agree button themselves, without the customer.
A few days on, Apple told store employees in an internal note to ask permission before starting trials, using Connect and Personalize, enrolling people in Apple Upgrade or approving Genius Bar work. It landed just before Friday’s start of the holiday season, when Apple hires extra staff. Apple has not linked the memo or the dropped target to Rossmann’s videos, and he has described the changes as a win for those who wrote to him.
The picture is mixed. Some employees say they always asked first. Nothing published shows head office telling anyone to enrol people without permission. Apple does send an email when a trial starts, but it is easy to overlook.
To check, open Settings on an iPhone, tap your name and choose Subscriptions: active plans and trials are listed, and each can be cancelled on its own page. A charge you did not expect can be disputed at reportaproblem.apple.com. The allegations concern Apple’s own stores in the United States.
