Netflix Is Canceling App Store Billing for Everyone
I’m one of those longtime Netflix subscribers who pays for the streaming service through the Apple App Store. This is too bad for me: Netflix announced that it was eliminating this billing option, and the company began informing people that they would have to start paying the streaming giant directly. As first reported by The Streamable , the move affects people in the US and Canada, as well as other territories. Even though I haven’t received this email from Netflix yet, it’s probably only a matter of time before I do and I’m forced to switch.
Why Netflix is ​​disabling App Store billing
For years, large companies have had trouble selling in-app purchases and subscriptions through the Apple App Store. This is because Apple charges a 30% commission on every in-app purchase you make through the App Store. If you’ve been subscribed for more than a year, Apple cuts the discount to 15%, but companies like Netflix and Spotify aren’t willing to pay even that amount.
A few years ago , Netflix removed the ability for subscribers to sign up and pay through the App Store. However, if you were paying through the App Store when you made this change, you can still continue to do so without interruption. Quite a lot of people continued to pay Netflix through Apple, and some even got the old price of $9.99 per month. Now all of this will disappear because Netflix has decided to stop billing the App Store altogether. If you want to continue using Netflix, you’ll have to pay them directly and you’ll be charged full price .
I’m not happy about the changes. I’ve never been a big fan of storing my payment information across multiple sites, especially for recurring payments. If all my subscriptions are in the App Store, it’s much easier to cancel them. Not only is it convenient to see all my subscriptions in one place, but cancellation happens in three steps . It’s a lot better than some of the confusing online cancellation processes that cause all sorts of guilty feelings: “Are you sure?” screens before you can actually unsubscribe.
I’ve remained subscribed to Netflix through all these years and many changes, in part because I didn’t want to lose access to App Store billing. Now that he’s gone, I’ll probably finish watching the film adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender and then cancel my subscription.