Spotify Subscribers No Longer Allowed to Pay Through App Store

Spotify will no longer allow customers who previously subscribed to the Spotify streaming music service through the App Store to continue to pay using Apple's platform, reports Variety. Spotify has started sending emails to subscribers who pay using an ‌App Store‌ subscription to let them know that they'll need to make changes.

General Spotify Feature
Spotify has not allowed customers to sign up for a Spotify Premium subscription through the ‌App Store‌ for the last seven years. ‌App Store‌ Spotify subscriptions were in fact only available for a two-year period between 2014 and 2016, but some longtime subscribers have continued to pay for Spotify through the ‌App Store‌ since that time.

In emails to customers, Spotify says that it is no longer accepting Apple's billing service as a payment method.

"We're contacting you because when you joined Spotify Premium you used Apple's billing service to subscribe. Unfortunately, we no longer accept that billing method as a form of payment."

At the end of the final billing period, Spotify customers who have a subscription through the ‌App Store‌ will have their accounts transitioned to the free ad-supported service. Customers will then need to resubscribe to Premium using the Spotify website.

There is no mechanism for subscribing to Spotify through the Spotify app, as Spotify has restricted signups to its website in order to avoid paying Apple's fees. "You can't upgrade to Premium in the app," reads Spotify's "Premium" section in its iOS app. "We know, it's not ideal." For customers who have been continuing to pay through the ‌App Store‌, Apple has been taking a 15 percent cut, which Spotify no longer wants to pay.

Given that Spotify has not allowed signups through the ‌App Store‌ for multiple years, this change is not likely to impact many Spotify customers.

Tag: Spotify

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Top Rated Comments

lkrupp Avatar
23 months ago

I do feel that it's time for Apple to reduce the rates. Yes, they need to cover credit card fees that they pay, but do they need an extra 10-25% on top of that? No. 5% would be reasonable given their transaction volume. That's how the market works, but in the case of digital goods, there are no supply constraints. The supply is virtually unlimited.
Really? You think digital goods don't have supply constraints? It’s just a couple of servers in a back room that, once turned loose, just work without expenses or management. Tell me, now much does Apple pay Akamai for the App Store bandwidth? How many Apple employees are dedicated to the operation of the App Store? I guess you also would like the government to regulate profit margins.

Oh never mind, ignorance is bliss.
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)
coolfactor Avatar
23 months ago
I'm not sure how taking choice away from customers is the right message. Isn't that the issue that they are battling... lack of choice?
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
LeeW Avatar
23 months ago
Not going to impact them. Spotify has a very, very strong following.
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
LeeW Avatar
23 months ago

So, Spotify wants to stay relevant to the Apple's App store but do not want to pay 15%.
Remember that Spotify has not accepted payments through the App Store for many years. This only affects those who paid through the store years ago and kept paying that way.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sw1tcher Avatar
23 months ago

developers who cry about Apple's 30% cut are being stupidly unreasonable.
Apple's refusal to allow developers from mentioning within their own app a 3rd party payment option is stupidly unreasonable. Is Apple so afraid of competition and the loss of their 15% or 30% cut?


I'm not sure how taking choice away from customers is the right message. Isn't that the issue that they are battling... lack of choice?
Lack of choice is Apple's doing.

Now Apple is being forced to give users a choice.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-appeals-court-upholds-lower-court-order-forcing-apple-allow-third-party-app-2023-04-24/

https://www.macrumors.com/2022/01/15/apple-third-party-payment-options-netherlands/

https://www.macrumors.com/2022/03/25/eu-provisionally-agrees-dma-law-apple-app-store/

https://www.macrumors.com/2022/08/09/apple-app-store-investigated-again-south-korea/
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tripsync Avatar
23 months ago
you mean you could just get people to sign up via web instead of doing IAP? who knew.

developers who cry about Apple's 30% cut are being stupidly unreasonable.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)