Spotify shoots down big rumor; it still will not allow in-app purchases via the App Store،
A few years ago, Spotify became one of the leading voices rallying against the Apple tax. The latter represents the 15-30% reduction in in-app revenue that Apple takes from developers by processing in-app purchases. In order not to have to pay Apple its pound of flesh, Spotify stopped offering its potential customers the possibility of making in-app purchases on the
App Store in 2016. On Thursday, rumors swirled that Spotify was going to
start accepting subscriptions again through the App Store.
The rumor was based on some code strings discovered in the Spotify app that mentioned in-app purchases. But Spotify today denied plans to allow iOS users to subscribe to the music streamer directly from the App Store. Farshad Shadloo, Spotify's global head of corporate and policy communications, said
The edge, “We have no plans to enable IAP (integrated payments) at this time.” And that means iPhone/iPad users who want to subscribe to Spotify's Premium service need to go to the music streamer's website to subscribe.
From June 2014 to May 2016, subscribers to Spotify's Premium tier were allowed to decide whether they would make their subscription payments through the App Store. Just this summer, Spotify put the kibosh on these grandfathered subscribers. These subscribers received an email stating: “We are contacting you because when you joined Spotify Premium, you used Apple's billing service to subscribe. Unfortunately, we no longer accept this billing method as a payment method. »
Spotify is offering new subscribers a three-month free trial to its Premium service
Grandfathered subscribers have had their accounts automatically switched to Spotify's ad-supported free tier unless they sign up for the Premium tier using a Spotify-approved payment service using a credit card and PayPal. After Spotify complained to the EU about the Apple tax in 2019, Apple said it was planning a 15% cut on just 680,000 of Spotify's premium subscribers worldwide. These subscribers were those grandfathered into Spotify after converting from a free, ad-supported subscription to the premium service using Apple's in-app payment (iAP) system between 2014 and 2016.
The same year, Spotify CEO Daniel Elk complained that Apple had not sent important emails to Spotify members who had subscribed through Spotify's website instead of 'App Store, and also complained that these Spotify members were not allowed to update their Spotify app. Apple has denied both claims. And here we are four years later and nothing has changed.
So, despite speculation, it appears Spotify will continue to lure subscribers away from Apple's in-app platform so it can keep 100% of every dollar it receives from iPhone and iPad users.
