If you subscribe to anything via the App Store, Apple automatically takes 30% of the first year’s worth of fees, dropping down to 15% for every payment after that. Naturally, this displeases the companies that lose that substantial cut.
An email discovered by MacRumors has found that Google is the latest company to be kicking back against the Cupertino firm’s system, with the announcement that it will cease any YouTube TV subscriptions made through the App Store from March 13.
This means that new customers won’t be able to pay via their Apple device’s storefront from that date onwards, and any existing customers will have their subscription automatically cancelled on the first billing date after March 13.
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Although the reason for the cancellation isn’t specifically mentioned in the email, the aforementioned fee that Google would be paying to Apple is very likely the motivator.
YouTube TV is not alone in this rebellion: Netflix no longer allows you to pay for your subscription via the App Store, and Spotify has famously complained that Apple’s practices are anti-competitive, with its competing Apple Music platform getting a substantial leg-up for iOS and macOS device users.
Naturally, not being able to subscribe to a service via Apple’s storefront will lose that service some exposure (the trade-off that Apple claims justifies its high fees), and as a condition of being available on the App Store, the YouTube TV app must now remove any reference of subscribing via a separate platform.
Users will still be able to use the YouTube TV app on any Apple device as they previously did, but going forward, subscriptions and payments will have to be made elsewhere – specifically, from YouTube’s website.
