How exactly does Apple's payment system work for companies that are cross platform? If I have a Dropcam subscription and am using the ios app, is Dropcam paying Apple 15% of my subscription cost? That seems nuts.
Yes - and it's 30%. Previously, Spotify would charge $9.99/month for a subscription through their website, or $12.99 for a subscription purchased through the iOS app, to cover this cost. In the most recent version of the iOS app, they decided to disallow in-app subscriptions entirely and push all subscriptions to the web app. IIUC this is the app update that has been blocked by Apple...
>> "In the most recent version of the iOS app, they decided to disallow in-app subscriptions entirely and push all subscriptions to the web app."
We should be clear about this though as doing that is not against the rules. Take the Kindle app for example. You can buy books through the Amazon website and use them in the app. Apple doesn't get a cut. Spotify can do the same thing. The issue is that there are very specific rules around it - for example I don't believe you can include a 'sign up' button that throws the user out of the app to your payment page. It sounds like Spotify was trying to get around this by sending the user an email when they signed up through the app, and telling them to look in the email for a link to the payment page. At least this is what I've read over the last couple of days.
Thanks, this is an important point. I'm not sure exactly what Apple allows/disallows in terms of informing users about other payment options, or what Spotify is doing that would be in violation of these rules, but this is the crux of the disagreement.
My understanding is that you're allowed to sell things however you want, but inside the app you have to use Apple's purchase methods. You can't use your own, and you can't put directions in the app to go to a website or something else to purchase content. So in the app you have to do what Amazon does and never show it by button or a "how to buy" button.
And just for extra clarity, Apples policies only apply to digital goods. If you buy a real world service or physical item through an app Apple does not take a cut, but they also don't handle the payment. That's why Amazon doesn't have to pay Apple 30% when you buy a new TV from them.
The answer is no. Not every user who uses some subscription thing on iOS has to pay Apple 30% cut.
The deciding factor is whether or not Apple handles the subscription and billing. If you sign up through the app (and therefore the iTunes Store), and Apple does the billing, you have to pay the cut.
If you sign up for a dropcam subscription OUTSIDE the App Store and then log into the app there is no cut.
Example: I subscribe to both Hulu, Netflix, Comcast, and a few other things. I pay all of them directly. They all have free apps. Apple gets exactly 0% of my bills to them because I didn't sign up in the app.
I get that in-app sign-up is INCREDIBLY convenient. But the fee does not apply regardless of where the subscription was purchased, which is what I read OP's question to be.
> You also can't advertise signing up for the subscription outside of the app.
IN THE APP.
This is why you can't buy kindle books in the Amazon app, because then they would have to pay the 30% tax. This is also why Amazon doesn't have links in that app to take you to a web browser where you can buy the books.
But if you don't want to pay the 30% tax and you have a subscription service, you are free to charge whatever you want on your own website. You just don't have to have people sign up inside the app or links to where to sign up inside the app.
This has ALWAYS been the rule. It's not new. Some companies charge extra to cover the fee, some company seem to eat the fee because they're happy to get that many extra sign ups.
I imagine if you open the Spotify app and it said that it's a subscription service and you must have a Spotify account to login and listen to music, and nothing else, the vast majority of people would figure out to check their website to sign up.
I'll ignore the question of whether not what Apple is doing is right. There's nothing new here, so why is Spotify making noise now? Could it be because they're losing members and losing money and need someone to blame?
> I imagine if you open the Spotify app and it said that it's a subscription service and you must have a Spotify account to login and listen to music, and nothing else, the vast majority of people would figure out to check their website to sign up.
I'm not so optimistic. I'd presume a nontrivial number of people would be confused and leave a 1-star review. I can't imagine how many people are confused about how the Kindle iOS experience works.
That's possible too. I guess you'd have to weigh the loss of the 30% to Apple (now 15% if they keep the scription over a year) to the lost 100% from the people who don't sign up at all.
I remember hearing somewhere that some apps have fantastic subscription conversion inside the app because payment to so convenient compared to doing it outside. I don't know if that was a dating app, or Netflix, or what. But Apple's payment system is so simple and frictionless that user seem to be very willing to spend money.
In-App Purchase: If you want to unlock features or functionality within your app, (by way of example: subscriptions, in-game currencies, game levels, access to premium content, or unlocking a full version), you must use in-app purchase. Apps may not include buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms other than IAP.
This practice is common in digital marketplaces. For instance, Amazon doesn't allow Marketplace Sellers (people who aren't Amazon but sell goods on Amazon.com) to:
- link to a non-Amazon webpage
- provide buyers with a phone number or email address to reach them at
- or any other thing that could funnel sales outside of Amazon
Not quite sure what you mean by hardware folks? Any physical good sold in an app from the Apple App Store has to be processed by the vendors payment processor not by Apple.
IIRC any subscriptions and/or purchases driven by apps downloaded from the App Store are subject to a fee paid to Apple. That's according to their (garbage) App Store rules.
I paid the developer for a license and don't need a special "app store" to use it. What is all this talk about "rules" that specify which binary files I can run on a general purpose machine? Can you sideload apps in iOS?
Oh right. It is the current year again and everyone loves the iPhone because it is shiny, forgot you can install apps on your own, and prefer to have a gatekeeper do it for them. Carry on.
If you were paying attention, you would see that it's completely acceptable for people to sign up for Spotify and pay directly at the Spotify website, and then use the app with that subscription.
Apple is doing nothing to interfere with the scenario that you outline and will happily distribute millions of Spotify binaries in support of that.
