In 2018, Netflix stopped accepting payments for new subscriptions through the App Store, forcing new subscribers and those returning after a brief hiatus to pay Netflix through its website. It has been six years since Netflix allowed such subscribers to pay for their service through the App Store. This way, Netflix could avoid paying Apple its 15% to 30% cut on in-app transactions that go through Apple’s in-app payment processing platform.
Netflix representative Momo Zhao told The Verge that all “members on the basic plan who were using an iTunes method of payment” now must pay Netflix directly for service using a credit card or a debit card. Those who signed up for Netflix before the video streamer stopped allowing users to subscribe through the App Store were able to hold on to a good deal for years and continued to pay each renewal period through Apple.
Netflix has allowed grandfathered subscribers to continue to pay each month through the App Store, but that is about to change. As one “X” subscriber wrote in a tweet, “Netflix stopped working with Apple Pay and didn’t inform me. Now I’m locked out of my $9.99 a month price I had paid for years and I had to get charged $31 until I get a refund through Apple.”
If you’re in the same shoes as the person who posted the above tweet, you’ll have to pay $5.50 more a month for the same plan you were paying $9.99 a month for or pay $3 less per month for the privilege of having your streaming interrupted by ads. No matter which plan you choose, you’ll be paying Netflix directly.
To reiterate, if you are a long-time Netflix subscriber and have been paying through the App Store to maintain your Netflix subscription, be on the lookout for an email from the video streamer that says that if you want to remain a Netflix subscriber, you will have to stop paying your bill through Apple. And you might be paying a little more or a little less each month for Netflix service depending on whether you can live with ads running on the videos you’re watching.