iOS 15.5 Beta Adds Support for External Links Amid Upcoming Changes for Reader Apps

[ams1117]

Let's be honest, the 30% cut isn't making the App Store better or safer for us customers, and this won't make it any better. But, this can definitely help scam apps scam more people, with less recourse to recover.

What lawmakers should do, is allowing customers to run arbitrary code on the devices they buy. Apple can make it that if you unlock the boot loader of your iPhone, you can no longer install iOS on it. But you are free to choose whatever other OS to load on to it, say some hypothetical Facebook OS or Fortnite OS. For anyone who likes the walled garden, nothing changes; for anyone else, you're free to do whatever you want. This also makes repurposing an "end of life" device easier, giving it a new life as something else.

 

[FyrStrike]

Making it clear to users that purchases outside of the App Store will need to be managed outside of the App Store.

And this is what will probably eventually lead to consumer annoyance and complaints. And all of a sudden we are back to the 90’s where we started. Many external sites and payment services are going to convolute the unsubscribe or cancellation of subscriptions and make it extremely annoying to cancel a service.

Apple’s way was, is so simple and elegant. Probably one of the reasons some businesses are screaming for change and boasting unrealistic monoplistic views. Either way give us the choice. I for one won’t be subscribing to an external payment service, especially if the app doesn’t provide Apple’s way as an option. Otherwise … it’s getting deleted.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Nice condescension, dude. Prove it.

From the article:
“If, for example, a user subscribes to Netflix through an external link in the Netflix iOS app and then deletes Netflix, the subscription cannot be canceled through the App Store subscription interface and will need to be handled directly by the developer, aka Netflix in the example instance.”
Currently, you cannot subscribe to Netflix through the app *specifically* so Netflix doesn’t have to pay Apple a percentage on subscriptions.
This does not change that. All this does is force Apple to let developers include a link, showing where a subscription can be set up outside of the App Store, therefore not through Apple.
Currently if you open Netflix, you only have one option, “sign in.”
You cannot create an account via the iOS application, you cannot start a new subscription via the iOS application, all of that is done via the website so that way Netflix can get around Apple‘s cut.
The only thing that’s changing is now Netflix can put a link to their website on first launch to where you can create an account or manage a subscription.
Apple still earns nothing from this

 

[I7guy]

From the article:
“If, for example, a user subscribes to Netflix through an external link in the Netflix iOS app and then deletes Netflix, the subscription cannot be canceled through the App Store subscription interface and will need to be handled directly by the developer, aka Netflix in the example instance.”
Currently, you cannot subscribe to Netflix through the app *specifically* so Netflix doesn’t have to pay Apple a percentage on subscriptions.
This does not change that. All this does is force Apple to let developers include a link, showing where a subscription can be set up outside of the App Store, therefore not through Apple.
Currently if you open Netflix, you only have one option, “sign in.”
You cannot create an account via the iOS application, you cannot start a new subscription via the iOS application, all of that is done via the website so that way Netflix can get around Apple‘s cut.
The only thing that’s changing is now Netflix can put a link to their website on first launch to where you can create an account or manage a subscription.
Apple still earns nothing from this

And how does this work for IAP, from an outside processor, initiated from within the app? Apple is still entitled to it's fees, whether they can collect it is another matter.

 

[svish]

Nice to see the changes being implemented.

 

[lenard]

Bottom line, now your payment info will be all over the place. We all should know by now that
when a company is hacked with your data you won't find out until next year. The App Store is the
safest place for getting apps and making payments on them in one place. Let those developers
do their own advertising and marketing. The App Store was the vehicle that got those developers going
and brought profits to them. My advice, is to be careful about your payment data and suspect apps from
the outside.