Some Developers Say Apple Letting Apps Like Netflix and Spotify Share a Link to Web for Account Sign-Up Isn't Enough

Apple on Wednesday evening announced that, starting in early 2022, it will allow developers of "reader" apps to include an in-app link to their website for users to set up or manage an account. "Reader" apps allow a user to access previously purchased content or subscription-based content for digital magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, and video, according to Apple, such as Netflix, Spotify, and the Amazon Kindle app.

app store blue banner
Following the announcement, some developers have said Apple's decision is not good enough.

For starters, some have criticized Apple's plan to let developers share only "a single link" to their website to help users set up and manage their account. Apple is still considering the types of wording it will let developers use for these links, according to The Irish Independent's Adrian Weckler, but some developers doubt that Apple will let them mention that customers can save money by signing up outside of the app.



Tweetbot co-creator Paul Haddad expressed disappointment that smaller developers "now have to subsidize all these big publishers" given that Apple's in-app link allowance will be limited to "reader" apps, many of which are owned by large companies.


Other developers and critics have expressed that Apple is doing the "minimum" possible to address longstanding App Store antitrust concerns. At the center of the concerns is Apple's 15% to 30% commission on in-app purchases of digital goods and the inability for developers to offer their own payment methods through the App Store.



Apple said its decision to allow "reader" apps to include an in-app link to their website for account management closes an investigation by the Japan Fair Trade Commission over suspected violation of Japan's Antimonopoly Act, although Apple said the change will apply globally.

Apple's announcement about "reader" apps came less than a week after the company reached a $100 million settlement that, pending court approval, will resolve a class action lawsuit from U.S. developers who alleged that Apple has a monopoly on the distribution of iOS apps and in-app purchases. Apple said it will be making a few App Store changes as part of that settlement, such as letting developers email customers about payment options outside of their iOS app, but some developers were likewise not impressed with the concessions.

Popular Stories

election results 2024 live activities

Track 2024 U.S. Election Results Live on Your iPhone Lock Screen

Tuesday November 5, 2024 5:02 am PST by
Apple News is providing Live Activities support for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, allowing iPhone and iPad users to track electoral results in real time directly from their Lock Screen. The feature is rolling out for U.S. users over the course of Election Day, November 5, providing continuous updates of the electoral count. So if you're interested, you don't need to repeatedly check...
ios 18 2 chatgpt plus

iOS 18.2 Beta 2 Shows Siri ChatGPT Limit, Offers 'Plus' Upgrade Option

Monday November 4, 2024 10:54 am PST by
With the second beta of iOS 18.2 that's available for developers today, Apple has further fleshed out the ChatGPT integration that's available with Siri. In the Settings app, there's now a section that shows the ChatGPT daily limit, and offers an option to upgrade to the paid ChatGPT Plus plan. The beta includes an Advanced Capabilities section with a "Daily Limit" reading that shows up as...
New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

10 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Thursday October 31, 2024 9:42 am PDT by
Apple is set to release iOS 18.2 in December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. There are a handful of new non-AI related feature controls incoming as well. ...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.2 Beta 2

Monday November 4, 2024 12:34 pm PST by
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2 updates to developers, and Apple is continuing to refine the Apple Intelligence capabilities. There are also a handful of smaller features that are worth knowing about. Find My Find My has a new option to Share Item Location with an "airline or trusted person" that can help you locate something that you've misplaced....
best early black friday deals

The Best Early Black Friday Apple Deals

Friday November 1, 2024 8:21 am PDT by
We're officially in the month of Black Friday, which will take place on Friday, November 29 in 2024. As always, this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment,...
M4 M4 Pro vs M4 Max Feature

When to Expect New M4 MacBook Air, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro Models

Monday November 4, 2024 2:36 am PST by
Apple's fall 2024 Mac announcements have included new iMac, Mac mini, and MacBook Pro models, all of which debuted with variants of Apple's M4 chip. Apple intends to update the rest of its Mac lineup with M4 series processors over the next 12 months, which will make it the first time that Apple has used the same chip generation across all of its Macs. This means we can expect new M4...
M4 Pro on Blue

M4 Pro Chip Benchmark Results Reveal an Extremely Impressive Performance Feat

Thursday October 31, 2024 7:06 pm PDT by
The first Geekbench 6 benchmark results for the M4 Pro chip surfaced today. Impressively, the results that are available so far show that the highest-end M4 Pro chip is faster than the highest-end M2 Ultra chip in terms of peak multi-core CPU performance. Here is a comparison of the results: Mac mini with M4 Pro (14-core CPU): 22,094 multi-core score (average of 11 results) Mac Studio...

Top Rated Comments

iSRS Avatar
42 months ago
Not trying to be sympathetic to one of the most valued companies ever, but, Apple can not win here no matter what it does.

To summarize:

* Treat every developer the same, they get grief
* Treat subscriptions differently after the first year, they get grief
* Treat small developers differently (better rate), they get grief
* Allow reader apps to have one link to bypass the IAP, they get grief
* Apple has a purposely low annual fee to encourage more developers, they get grief that this fee should cover everything

Newsflash - Apple is not a charity.

Think about it this way - every one of us wants to get paid the most possible for doing our jobs. There are millions of free apps littered with ads that benefit from the App Store, and aside from the $99/year or whatever it is, Apple sees $0 from. They pay people to review apps, they store the apps, they pay the bandwidth for those apps to be downloaded, etc. But, yeah, a free app with ads that submits a new app update 6 times a year is clearly making Apple a profit.

”But they can afford it!” - only for so long. They start operating as a charity and then what?
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)
turbineseaplane Avatar
42 months ago
It's not enough and it's infuriating that they are determined to do endless tiny little breadcrumb sized baby steps to avoid legal problems.

Apple should be leading on this and making big sweeping changes and fixing the issues and the narrative here.

I'm so totally disappointed in Apple leadership of late.

The magic is gone from this company.
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
4jasontv Avatar
42 months ago
Are these the same developers that nickel and dime their customers with microtransactions and subscriptions for a sophomore comp sci project?
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Cinimod1000 Avatar
42 months ago
Sorry Developers, but as an Apple customer I DO want one App Store, and one simple fast method of payment. This will become a hot mess if I have to click a link and set up an account & pay with each Dev. Not gonna happen. I. Just. Won't. Buy.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
brett_x Avatar
42 months ago
Cheerleader: "What do we want?"
Developers: "Everything our way, for Free"
Cheerleader: "Where do we want it?"
Developers: "On your platform that you've made us successful on for nearly a decade"
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
vagos Avatar
42 months ago
Apple is the new Microsoft. Sad but true.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)