“Reader” type applications will very soon be able to present a link to their website so that a user can create and manage their account. Be aware, until now Apple expressly forbade developers to give their users this information yet so basic.
In essence, in Apple Newspeak, “reader” viewing apps are those apps that provide content, either by subscription or following purchasing content. We can think of Netflix and Spotify, but also Kindle, Audible, in short, all the apps whose primary function is to distribute video, music, audio in the broad sense, books, daily newspapers and magazines , lists the Apple.
Users of these apps cannot subscribe directly in the app through Apple’s in-app purchases. Publishers often do not have the means to pay the 15 to 30% commission to Apple: the margins on the music streaming market are, for example, very low.
To access their content, users must have subscribed on the publisher’s or developer’s website and then log into their account in the app. Apple’s decision was announced last September, following an agreement with the Japanese competition authority (JFTC) which applies worldwide.
Apple is still dropping ballast: some apps will be able to display a link to their stores on the web
Apple has posted the necessary explanations when creating an external link, which requires a privilege (entitlement) to ask the manufacturer via a form. To benefit from it, the developer must demonstrate that the main function of the application is the distribution of content, allow the user to connect to his account in the application and to access the app in the content previously purchased from the site.
Applications that will benefit from this privilege will not be able to offer in-app purchases sold with the payment system of the App Store. The external link must not facilitate real-time person-to-person services, such as medical consultations, fitness classes, real estate visits, etc.
Once the green light from Apple is in hand, the developer will have to implement the external link in the application by following a specific procedure in Xcode, and respecting very precise instructions to inform the user of what will happen when he will want to create or manage his account on the web from the app.
