Spotify caves to Apple’s demands for audiobook purchases
Earlier this week, Spotify ran to the press to complain that Apple had rejected the latest version of its iOS app for skirting in-app purchase rules as it worked on adding audiobooks as a new feature. As we all expected, Spotify has now given in to Apple’s demands, but it couldn’t resist taking one more jab along the way…
Spotify today rolled out an update to its iOS app that does indeed add updated support for audiobooks. Unsurprisingly, Spotify was not able to break the App Store guidelines and instead is blocking users from purchasing audiobooks directly in the app. Rather, users are sent out to the Spotify website to complete their purchase of an audiobook.
When Spotify first added audiobooks last month, users couldn’t make purchases in the app. Instead, the company sent users a link via email to purchase the book via the web. This flow, as pointed out by The Verge, wasn’t in full compliance with Apple’s App Store guidelines. As such, Apple rejected the update (and two other supposed fixes) during the app review process.
This new solution, however, is in compliance with App Store guidelines and was approved by Apple today. This marks the first update to the Spotify app for iOS in over a month, despite the fact that the app is usually updated on a weekly basis. This signals how the battle over the audiobook purchase flow hindered the company from rolling out updates.
The Verge points out that while Apple has loosened some of its rules around in-app purchases, Spotify’s support for audiobook purchases doesn’t fall into the new guidelines:
Apple has very gently loosened its rules, allowing select apps to link to the web in certain circumstances. Spotify, for instance, could use an external link to direct users to sign up for a premium account subscription. That exception, apparently, does not extend to buying audiobooks. The Verge has reached out to Apple for comment.
Apple’s latest App Store guidelines allow so-called “reader” apps to link to external sources for in-app purchases. This isn’t the case for Spotify, which apparently is not allowed to add a button that takes users to its website to complete the purchase. Instead, users will have to manually exit the Spotify app and go to the web to make their purchases.
Spotify teases Apple on a pop-up message: “You can’t buy audiobooks in the app. We know, it’s not ideal.”
9to5Mac’s Take
This is a tricky situation. Apple’s guidelines around “reader” apps and linking to an external website read as follows:
App Store Review guideline 3.1.3(a): Developers of reader apps can now request access to the External Link Account Entitlement. This entitlement lets reader apps link to a website that is owned or maintained by the developer, so that users can create or manage their account outside of the app. Reader apps are apps that provide one or more of the following digital content types — magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, or video — as the primary functionality of the app.
We’d think that this includes Spotify, at least in some capacity, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. We’ll see if the company provides more detailed reasoning soon.
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Earlier this week, Spotify ran to the press to complain that Apple had rejected the latest version of its iOS app for skirting in-app purchase rules as it worked on adding audiobooks as a new feature. As we all expected, Spotify has now given in to Apple’s demands, but it couldn’t resist taking one more jab along the way…
Spotify today rolled out an update to its iOS app that does indeed add updated support for audiobooks. Unsurprisingly, Spotify was not able to break the App Store guidelines and instead is blocking users from purchasing audiobooks directly in the app. Rather, users are sent out to the Spotify website to complete their purchase of an audiobook.
When Spotify first added audiobooks last month, users couldn’t make purchases in the app. Instead, the company sent users a link via email to purchase the book via the web. This flow, as pointed out by The Verge, wasn’t in full compliance with Apple’s App Store guidelines. As such, Apple rejected the update (and two other supposed fixes) during the app review process.
This new solution, however, is in compliance with App Store guidelines and was approved by Apple today. This marks the first update to the Spotify app for iOS in over a month, despite the fact that the app is usually updated on a weekly basis. This signals how the battle over the audiobook purchase flow hindered the company from rolling out updates.
The Verge points out that while Apple has loosened some of its rules around in-app purchases, Spotify’s support for audiobook purchases doesn’t fall into the new guidelines:
Apple has very gently loosened its rules, allowing select apps to link to the web in certain circumstances. Spotify, for instance, could use an external link to direct users to sign up for a premium account subscription. That exception, apparently, does not extend to buying audiobooks. The Verge has reached out to Apple for comment.
Apple’s latest App Store guidelines allow so-called “reader” apps to link to external sources for in-app purchases. This isn’t the case for Spotify, which apparently is not allowed to add a button that takes users to its website to complete the purchase. Instead, users will have to manually exit the Spotify app and go to the web to make their purchases.
Spotify teases Apple on a pop-up message: “You can’t buy audiobooks in the app. We know, it’s not ideal.”
9to5Mac’s Take
This is a tricky situation. Apple’s guidelines around “reader” apps and linking to an external website read as follows:
App Store Review guideline 3.1.3(a): Developers of reader apps can now request access to the External Link Account Entitlement. This entitlement lets reader apps link to a website that is owned or maintained by the developer, so that users can create or manage their account outside of the app. Reader apps are apps that provide one or more of the following digital content types — magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, or video — as the primary functionality of the app.
We’d think that this includes Spotify, at least in some capacity, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. We’ll see if the company provides more detailed reasoning soon.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
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