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Whenever you subscribe to anything through the App Store, Apple automatically takes 30% of the first year’s worth of fees, decreasing to 15 percent for every payment after that. This displeases the companies that lose that enormous cut.
An email discovered by MacRumors finds Google to be the latest company to kick back against the Cupertino firm’s system, declaring that any YouTube TV payments made through the App Store from March 13 will cease.
It means that new customers will not be able to pay via the storefront of their Apple device from that date onwards, and any existing customers will have their subscription automatically cancelled on the first billing date after 13th March 2020. Although the reason for the cancellation is not specifically mentioned in the email, it is very likely that the aforementioned fee Google will pay Apple is very likely the motivator.
YouTube TV isn’t alone in this rebellion: Netflix no longer allows you to pay for your subscription through the App Store, and Spotify has recently complained that Apple’s policies are anti-competitive, with its rival Apple Music platform having a major leg-up for users of iOS and macOS device users.
Of course, 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 delete any reference of subscription via a separate platform. Consumers 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 the website of YouTube.
