It's a whole new battle for the hardware giant, Apple has once again found itself in trouble. The Cupertino-based company is currently under fire from app developers from Korea due to its app refund policy for the iOS App Store.

Apple has been criticized in South Korea for its mobile app refund policy for the iOS App Store, according to a report from The Korean Times. The Korean game developers have slammed Apple for their app refund policy. Developers claim the app buyers are abusing the refund policy.

Currently, Apple provides refunds to customers at its own discretion, with the game/app developer being kept completely in the dark. The tech giant said that it does this to protect consumer privacy and rights. The problem is that many these users are abusing the loopholes in the Apple refund policy.

As mentioned earlier by MacRumors, the American behemoth doesn't provide information regarding who has been given a refund. Game developers have no choice but to come up with an effective way of tracking app users, which means that developers have to track users manually just to find out if those users are still using the mobile app for which they have already received their refunds. The worst part is that these abusers will continue to consume the mobile content or apps without actually paying for it. Some of the users have even managed to run a highly profitable business by taking advantage of the loopholes in-app refund policy.

Game developers are reportedly taking things into their own hands to counteract Apple, which has remained tight-lipped about the said issue. Korean game development studio Flint said it had independently tracked down 300 users who they suspected of abusing the App Store's refund policy.

The developers have pledged to root out the Apple abusers by requesting authorities for an investigation of the refund policy and the abusing parties.

According to The Korean Times, some developers have asked Apple for a list of users who requested for refunds, but the US-based tech giant has declined their requests.

In contrast, Apple archrival Google, which currently has the largest app store in Korea, only allows users to claim a refund for purchased mobile apps or games within about two hours of purchasing it from the Google app store.

Topics Apple, Google, Developers