Apple Allows Spotify Users to Sign Up Directly

Spotify fans will be able to enter the app directly through the app on iOS devices. Apple is planning to enable the features next year. A selected group of apps, including Spotify, Kindle, and Netflix, will be able to include the links in the app to the websites for the account management and outside sign-ups without Apple’s interference.

On September 2, Apple made the official announcement about letting its “readers,” a group of apps, contact their users directly. This is a part of the Japan Fair Trade Commission agreement. After five years of investigation, Apple agreed with this settlement. 

Reader Apps

The “reader” apps are those that provide content that was previously bought by users. It can be a subscription for app services, books, audio, magazines, newspapers, videos. They are available on the App Store for users. The new agreement allows such apps to offer their users to sign up through their platforms using their paying methods. The trick is that these apps did not bring any money to Apple anyway since they declined the possibility to pay for their services through the App Store many years ago.

Only last week, Apple was accused by many app developers of announcing a settlement that does not change anything. While Apple says that they want to provide more freedom to developers that work with them, all the so-called “readers” connect their customers directly through their websites without Apple’s assistance for a long time. The company says that this decision will close the JFTC investigation. For now, Apple is ready to provide such conditions only to the “reader” apps. 

Investigators from JFTC also released their statement where they agreed that the new move from Apple can cut the violation of the Antimonopoly Act that was suspected. The Japan Fair Trade Commission started the investigation in 2016. They checked the status of the Apple Store transparency for three years. After the last report, Apple proposed to change the situation with “readers.”