To avoid paying Apple a cut of its revenue, Spotify removed in-app purchases from the Spotify for iOS app several years ago.
A report on Thursday claimed that Spotify was working to reverse that decision, but the company has now confirmed that it has no plans to do that, and in-app purchase support is not coming back.
Thursday’s report was based on code strings found within the Spotify app that referenced in-app purchases. In a statement to The Verge, however, Spotify denied that this is something on its roadmap. “We have no plans to switch IAP [in-app payments] on at the moment,” said Farshad Shadloo, Spotify’s global head of corporate and policy communications.
Spotify removed the ability to subscribe via Apple’s in-app purchase system back in 2016. This summer, Spotify even went as far as to kick off legacy subscribers who were still grandfathered into App Store billing. That certainly doesn’t seem like something you’d do if bringing in-app purchase support back was something on your roadmap.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has repeatedly criticized Apple and the App Store, accusing the company of having “instance” control over the internet. Most recently, Spotify revealed its plans to layoff 1,500 employees – roughly 17% of its workforce – as part of a “strategic reorientation.”
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