Spotify is letting users know that it will no longer support in-app purchases made through Apple's platform if they have a Premium subscription. As a reminder, Spotify hasn't permitted in-app purchases through Apple since 2016. However, those who had already subscribed using that manner in the past might do so even now.
According to Variety, the business is sending emails to affected subscribers informing them of the impending change. The subject line of the email states, "We're contacting you because you joined Spotify Premium via Apple's billing service. Unfortunately, we no longer accept payment using that billing method. At the end of the current subscription cycle, those customers, according to Spotify, will be automatically downgraded to the service's Free, ad-supported tier. "After your last billing period has ended and your account has been switched to the Free account, you must re-subscribe if you want to keep your Premium subscription," the message reads.
But it's probably best that way. Due to Apple taking 30% of in-app purchases, Spotify subscribers who subscribed through in-app purchases paid an additional $3 per month compared to those who subscribed straight through Spotify. Even though Apple now cuts its fee rate on subscriptions after the first year to 15%, this is still the case. According to a 2019 regulatory filing by Apple, 680,000 Spotify subscribers were subject to the 15% fee. Users who want to switch away from Apple's payments can purchase a Premium subscription using a credit card or PayPal.
No matter if a customer buys apps or subscribes via in-app purchase, both Apple and Google impose a "tax" on their individual app stores. User Choice Billing (UCB), a program that would allow third-party billing systems for Android and start with Spotify, was one of the initiatives Google unveiled at the beginning of last year. Late last year, Google started distributing UCB to Spotify subscribers. It's not obvious how many more people are subscribing through UCB than through Google's usual in-app purchase system, though. Although third-party app shops on iOS have been said to be possible, neither their acceptance nor any official intentions for them exist.