Short answer
Yes, and through a route that most consumers and many traders overlook.
The usual assumption is that once you click "I agree to start now and I lose my right of withdrawal", you have no remedy. That is wrong. It confuses two separate rights:
- The right of withdrawal — changing your mind, under the Consumer Rights Directive. This can be lost for digital content under Article 16(m) where the consumer consented to immediate performance, acknowledged losing the right, and received the trader's confirmation.
- Conformity rights — the product does not work as it should, under the Digital Content Directive 2019/770. These are not lost by consenting to immediate performance and cannot be waived.
A broken app is a conformity problem. The remedy ladder is: have it brought into conformity, then a price reduction or termination with a refund.
For the first year the trader has to prove the product was in conformity, not the consumer.
What "does not work" means legally
The Directive uses two conformity standards that operate together.
Subjective conformity — Article 7. The digital content must match the description, quantity and quality, and possess the functionality, compatibility, interoperability and other features required by the contract; be fit for any particular purpose made known to the trader and accepted by them; come with accessories, instructions and customer assistance as required; and be updated as stipulated.
Objective conformity — Article 8. Independently of what the contract says, it must:
"(a) be fit for the purposes for which digital content or digital services of the same type would normally be used ... (b) be of the quantity and possess the qualities and performance features, including in relation to functionality, compatibility, accessibility, continuity and security, normal for digital content or digital services of the same type and which the consumer may reasonably expect, given the nature of the digital content or digital service and taking into account any public statement made by or on behalf of the trader" —
Note continuity and security in that list. A game that crashes repeatedly, a service with unacceptable downtime, or an app with a known security defect can fail objective conformity even if it technically launches.
Article 8(1)(d) adds that the content must comply with any trial version or preview made available before the contract. Marketing material and store listings are therefore part of the standard — subject to Article 8(2)'s carve-outs where the trader was unaware of the statement, corrected it comparably, or it could not have influenced the decision.
Article 8(5) allows deviation from the objective standard only where the consumer was specifically informed of the particular deviation and expressly and separately accepted it at conclusion. A general disclaimer in standard terms does not meet that test.
Article 9 adds that incorrect integration into the consumer's digital environment counts as a lack of conformity where the trader did the integration, or where the consumer did it and the fault lay in the trader's instructions.
The burden of proof favours the consumer
This is the provision that changes outcomes in practice:
"In cases referred to in Article 11(2), the burden of proof with regard to whether the supplied digital content or digital service was in conformity at the time of supply shall be on the trader for a lack of conformity which becomes apparent within a period of one year from the time when the digital content or digital service was supplied." —
For continuous supply — subscriptions, live-service games, SaaS — Article 12(3) is stronger still: the trader bears the burden for any lack of conformity becoming apparent throughout the supply period.
There are two limits. Article 12(4) disapplies the presumption where the trader shows the consumer's digital environment is incompatible with the technical requirements and the trader informed the consumer of those requirements clearly before conclusion. Article 12(5) requires the consumer to cooperate reasonably in diagnosing whether the cause lay in their own environment, using the least intrusive available means — and failing to cooperate, where that requirement was clearly communicated in advance, shifts the burden back.
So "it works on our systems" is not an answer unless the trader published clear technical requirements and the consumer's setup falls outside them.
How long the trader is liable
Single supply — Article 11(2): the trader is liable for a lack of conformity existing at the time of supply. Where national law sets a period for defects becoming apparent, it may not be less than two years.
Continuous supply — Article 11(3): the trader is liable for a lack of conformity occurring or becoming apparent during the period the content is to be supplied under the contract. A three-year subscription carries three years of liability.
Failure to supply at all — Article 13: the consumer calls on the trader to supply; if the trader then fails without undue delay, the consumer may terminate. Termination is immediate where the trader has declared it will not supply, or where a specific time was essential and was missed. Article 12(1) puts the burden of proving supply on the trader.
The remedy ladder
Article 14(1) gives three remedies: bringing into conformity, a proportionate price reduction, or termination.
Step one: bring into conformity. Article 14(2) entitles the consumer to this unless it would be impossible or impose disproportionate costs on the trader. Article 14(3) requires it to be done within a reasonable time from notification, free of charge and without significant inconvenience.
Step two: price reduction or termination. Article 14(4) allows the consumer to go straight to these where:
- bringing into conformity is impossible or disproportionate;
- the trader has not done so within a reasonable time;
- a lack of conformity appears despite the trader's attempt;
- the lack of conformity is so serious as to justify immediate price reduction or termination; or
- the trader has declared, or it is clear, that it will not remedy within a reasonable time or without significant inconvenience.
Point (d) matters for a game that is unplayable at launch: the consumer does not have to wait for a patch.
The termination threshold. Article 14(6): where the content was supplied for a price, termination is available only if the lack of conformity is not minor — and "the burden of proof with regard to whether the lack of conformity is minor shall be on the trader."
The refund itself
Article 16(1) requires reimbursement of all sums paid under the contract. For contracts supplying content over a period in exchange for a price, where it was in conformity for part of that period, the trader reimburses the proportionate part corresponding to the non-conforming period, plus any amount paid in advance for the period that would have remained.
Article 18(1) sets the deadline: without undue delay and within 14 days of being informed of the decision to seek a price reduction or terminate. Article 18(2) requires the same means of payment unless the consumer expressly agrees otherwise and incurs no fee, and Article 18(3) prohibits any fee for the reimbursement.
Article 17(3) is worth knowing: the consumer is not liable to pay for any use made during the period the content was not in conformity.
The consumer must stop using the content after termination (Article 17(1)) and return any tangible medium at the trader's request and expense, requested within 14 days (Article 17(2)).
Your data comes with you
Article 16(3) restricts the trader from using content other than personal data that the consumer provided or created, subject to four exceptions — content with no utility outside the service, content relating only to the consumer's activity, content aggregated and not reasonably separable, and content generated jointly with others still using it.
Article 16(4) gives the consumer a right, on request, to retrieve that content free of charge, without hindrance, within a reasonable time and in a commonly used and machine-readable format. Personal data remains governed by the GDPR under Article 16(2).
So terminating a subscription does not mean abandoning your files or creations.
Where these rights do not reach
Article 3(5) excludes certain contracts, including gambling services, healthcare, financial services, electronic communications services other than number-independent interpersonal communications, and free and open-source software where no price is paid and personal data is used only to improve that software's security, compatibility or interoperability.
Article 3(4) excludes digital content incorporated in or inter-connected with goods and supplied with them under a sales contract — that falls under the Sale of Goods Directive 2019/771 instead, with a presumption in the event of doubt that it forms part of the sales contract.
Practical steps for consumers
- Report the problem to the trader in writing and keep the record.
- Describe what does not work by reference to the description, the store listing or a trial version.
- Ask first for it to be fixed, with a reasonable deadline.
- If the defect is serious, say so and ask directly for a refund under Article 14(4)(d).
- Do not accept a store-credit-only refund; Article 18(2) requires the original payment method absent your express agreement.
- Request your data under Article 16(4) before losing access.
- Remember the trader carries the burden of proof for the first year, and throughout a subscription.
Conclusion
A paid app or game that does not work engages conformity rights that no consent to immediate performance can waive. Withdrawal and conformity are different rights with different triggers, and the store's "no refunds once downloaded" message speaks only to the first.
The structure favours the consumer where the product genuinely fails: the trader proves conformity for the first year, must fix free of charge and without significant inconvenience, cannot insist on repeated attempts where the defect is serious, must prove any lack of conformity is minor before resisting termination, and must refund within 14 days to the original payment method.
Sources
This article provides general legal information, not advice for a specific matter. Laws, facts and procedural deadlines may change the result. Follow the linked primary sources and obtain local advice before acting.