Substack, the newsletter subscription platform, will begin taking advantage of the US app store options that allow users to purchase outside of Apple’s in-app purchase system. This feature is permitted by a change to the App Store rules in May as a result of an anti-trust lawsuit against the tech giant by Epic Games.
Since then, many top apps have been moving to provide in-app purchase links pointing to their own websites, such as Spotify, Patreon, and Amazon Kindle apps.
In the case of Subscack, external payment support benefits both of the company. This means that there is no need to pay commissions to the App Store for these web sales, and there are consumers who have access to price reductions. Meanwhile, Substack creators can provide readers with web payment options that can be accessed without leaving the app, whether they need the convenience of Apple’s In-App Payment System (IAP) convenience (IAP) or without leaving the app.
Subrack explains that it automatically adjusts customer’s iOS app prices to take Apple’s fees into account, allowing creators to take home the same amount as their web subscription. However, Substack Writer can disable this feature if selected. (Subrack will continue to receive a 10% fee based on the web subscription price, as before.)
In a blog post, the company said it also offers writers “migration tools.” Initially, they reported that these would help users move from one payment platform to another, but Substack reached out to fix this. Instead, he said the tool is intended to allow creators to access billing information for Apple-controlled subscriptions if they leave the platform.
Currently, over 30,000 publications on the platform are making in-app purchases possible. Subrack says early testing of an expanded set of payment options has helped pay sign-ups. However, they did not share any specific numbers related to this.
Exposing external payment options affects only new subsack subscriptions. Substack Writers don’t have to take action unless you want to lower the price of people using Apple’s payment system.
Each Apple App Store rule does not allow you to opt out of IAP completely.
The change will affect U.S. Substack apps, but the company says it is assessing whether it makes sense for developers who want to abandon IAP to switch to the more complex rules Apple offers in the EU and the UK.
Updated after publication to modify and clarify how the migration tool works.
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