Netflix subscribers who pay their monthly bill through Apple's App Store will now be required to pay Netflix directly, or their account will be booted.
In recent weeks, Apple reportedly began to notify grandfathered customers that it will no longer be accepting Apple Pay through iTunes Subscriptions. The update impacts customers in the U.S. and Canada with the streaming service's basic plan. According to CNN, a Netflix spokesperson said “if a new payment isn’t added by the monthly subscription renewal date, the member will not be able to use their Netflix account until a new payment method is added.”
Apple has faced years of pushback from varying apps in its App Store for taking up to a 30% cut from in-app purchases. In 2020, Apple said it planned to reduce that charge to 15%.
The move comes after Netflix stopped accepting new subscriptions through Apple's App store payment system in 2018. However, customers could still download the Netflix app in the Apple App store, and log-in with their account sign-in. Subscribers with accounts before the change was made were allowed to continue to pay their monthly bill through Apple's App Store, flying under the radar and avoiding Netflix’s subscriber price hikes.
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Some years-long members with grandfathered accounts have taken to social media to complain, saying they've already been booted from their accounts with apparently no warning.
Those subscribers, who paid $9.99 a month for their subscription won't be able to keep that rate, and are now subject to a nearly $6 increase if they want to continue their subscription without ads after the company ended it's $10 basic plan option last year. According to Netflix’s pricing page, the standard plan without ads is $15.49 and the premium plan is $22.99 a month. There's also a $7-a-month plan for the ad-supported option.
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“Apple billing for Netflix is not available to new or rejoining Netflix customers,” the streaming giant's support page says. “If you are trying to sign up on your Apple mobile device, you can go to Netflix.com on a mobile browser and use a different payment method.”
The support page advises subscribers to check if their subscription is billed through Apple by clicking the “Membership and Billing” section of their account page. The page also lays out steps to update Apple billing information for another form of payment.
In addition to the change in billing, Netflix said no promotional offers can be redeemed on Apple-billed accounts.
“If you are billed through Apple, you will be prompted to accept the new price and/or currency change in order to continue your membership,” their support page said.
