HN Explorer

Ask HN: Why can't you unsubscribe from Apple promotional emails?

18 points by bcherny ↗ HN
Every week I get promotional emails from Apple: 3 months of free Apple TV, or a month of free Apple Arcade, or a month of Apple Music, etc.

My impression was GDPR says you have to give people a way to unsubscribe from your emails. But it seems like Apple doesn't give this option (I don't see an "unsubscribe" link anywhere on the email).

Is this legal?

20 comments

[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 59.1 ms ] thread
someonehere
I believe you have to log into your AppleID account and click to remove yourself. If not, your AppleID in System Settings should have a way to uncheck the box.

System Settings > Click your AppleID > Name, Phone, Email

You should see buttons to turn off emails from Announcements, Apple Music etc., and Apple News Newsletter.

jkaplowitz
Unsubscribing from promotional emails should never depend on access to an account, since one can forget the Apple ID password and lose access to 2FA for resetting it. In the US, such an account access requirement is illegal, so although OP is in Europe I suspect Apple does provide an unsubscription method that doesn’t depend on the account.
gandalfgreybeer
In theory, the Apple ID is usually an email, iCloud or otherwise, isn’t this something that can be reset from that end should you forget the account password? Not 100% sure but just guessing based on how I understand apple accounts are set up.
jkaplowitz
Not when 2FA is enabled for the Apple ID, no.
bhaney
I have all of these off, and I still occasionally receive promotional emails from Apple with no "unsubscribe" link anywhere. I've had the same concern as the OP, but I've come to the conclusion that I probably can't do anything about it without risking my Apple account.
bcherny
The settings are all unchecked, but I receive promotional emails anyway. :(
jkaplowitz
In the US that wouldn’t be legal due to the CAN-SPAM Act. I don’t know whether that’s legal in Europe (you mentioned GDPR).
iamdamian
I am not a lawyer, but I think the CAN-SPAM Act can help with this.

The CAN-SPAM Act makes it illegal to send spam email, which is roughly defined as non-transactional email that doesn't allow opt-out. (In fact, I think it's a little more stringent than that.) The penalty for violating the act is something like $50,000 per email.

While you can't bring a lawsuit against any company for violating this act, you can complain to the FTC, who is tasked with enforcing this. At the very least, threatening the company can go a long way.

If enough people know about this and use it, it could meaningfully make a dent in large companies abusing the 'transactional email' system for promotional ads.

silisili
I don't know the law well enough, but I had this issue with Delta airlines, and when I called them on it, they replied that since I signed up as a member it doesn't apply to them.

I then reported it to the FTC, but as expected, never heard a thing.

iamdamian
The FTC won't necessarily let you know when they take action, but my understanding is that with enough complaints, they will issue a fine. (So it's good to spread the word about this.)

I've seen the issue you mention with Delta and other companies. I make it clear to them that my interpretation of this law is that membership does not magically make promotional emails transactional.

Similarly, making a purchase on Amazon doesn't magically let you repeatedly send me ads (in the form of "limited time Prime Music discounts that come with your digital purchase").

nathanaldensr
Experian was just fined for doing this, in case anyone didn't know.
gandalfgreybeer
Just checked recent ones I got (I don’t really mind them) and I see an unsubscribe button at the bottom of the email. I’m in SEA region so not sure if that’s a factor.
soraminazuki
I unsubscribed from Apple's promotional emails so many years ago. I haven't received a single promotional email since.
jeroenhd
GDPR says consent should be as easy to withdraw as provide when it comes to processing personal information for these types of data processing.

Arguably, logging into your account is as easy as signing up (by making an account and entering your username and password).

If you believe otherwise, you could consider filing a complaint with your local DPA if you live within the EU and want to make a GDPR complaint.

Also check your local laws; some countries mandate unsubscribe links, others just imply them, but there's no EU-wide law about unsubscribe links specifically. It'd be foolish for a company to not include such links, unless they're using different email templates on a per-country level to comply with the law.

Regardless of legal obligations, this is a horrible business practice I would expect from desperate drop shippers, not an ultra wealthy megacorp like Apple.

If you use commercial services like Gmail, you can report emails like these as spam. The only way to make Apple care about this stuff is to affect their deliverability and that's exactly what the Report Spam button does.

Leftium
I set up some (Gmail) filters that cleaned up my inbox nicely:

1. First: if an email contains "unsubscribe" it is very likely automated/promotional.

2. Then: I found common replyto addresses following the same line of thought. (Like "noreply," "info," and even "hello.")

All these mails are tagged with "sub" or "fyi" and automatically moved out of the inbox. (Tip: you can also apply filters to mail you have already received.)

I don't get notification when these mails arrive, but I can check them and mark them all as read in batch with a few keystrokes.