Netflix has began directing users on iPhone and iPad to an external webpage the place they’ll join the service, as first reported by 9to5Mac. The change comes simply months after Apple began letting “reader” apps that present entry to digital content material, like Netflix and Spotify, hyperlink out to account sign-up pages on their very own web sites.
For way back to 2018, Netflix didn’t present an external signup hyperlink — and even inform users the place they may join — in its iPhone and iPad apps. Users had to as an alternative navigate to Netflix’s web site from their internet or cell browser to join the service earlier than accessing the app. This was executed to adjust to Apple’s guidelines, which made it troublesome for apps to get round its up to 30 % fee on in-app purchases and barred builders from providing a hyperlink to an external sign-up page. The setup made it complicated for brand new users who would (logically) suppose they’d find a way to join to Netflix utilizing the app.
But now, it seems to be like that’s altering — 9to5Mac reviews that iPhone and iPad users at the moment are seeing an external hyperlink throughout the Netflix app that they’ll use to join the service, and The Verge’s Richard Lawler observed the identical. Users who faucet on the hyperlink see a message that warns they’re “about to depart the app” and go to an external web site. It additionally notes any transactions on the external page aren’t affiliated with Apple:
Any accounts or purchases made outdoors of this app can be managed by the developer “Netflix.” Your App Store account, saved cost strategies, and associated options, equivalent to subscription administration and refund requests, is not going to be accessible. Apple isn’t accountable for the privateness or safety of transactions made with this developer.
Tapping by means of the warning redirects users to an account sign-up page on Netflix’s web site the place they’ll enter cost info and select a subscription plan. It’s not clear when Netflix began introducing this new possibility, and the corporate didn’t instantly reply to The Verge’s request for remark. Currently, Netflix’s assist page nonetheless states that users can’t entry Netflix’s signup page from its iPhone or iPad app.
Although Apple has begun to loosen up its insurance policies for reader apps, it nonetheless has a strict set of tips that builders should observe, equivalent to not together with any pricing info with a hyperlink to external sign-up pages. Developers should additionally submit an “entitlement” to get permission to add the external hyperlink to their app.
Apple has confronted criticism over its insurance policies that power most builders to use the App Store billing system, which Apple fees a fee to use. In response to a brand new regulation handed in South Korea, Apple began permitting builders to use third-party cost processors in apps launched within the nation. It has additionally made some modifications for relationship apps launched within the Netherlands following a prolonged battle with the nation’s regulator.
But Apple may have much more adjusting to do when the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) laws passes, as it will power Apple to permit using third-party cost programs, side-loading, and third-party app shops. Google has already began getting ready for the brand new legal guidelines by giving builders the choice to use an different billing system for apps distributed in Europe.
Update July twenty third, 12:42PM ET: Added affirmation that the external hyperlink is current within the Netflix app.
https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/23/23275298/netflix-apple-external-sign-up-link-iphone-ipad-app-store
