Apple to Allow Spotify to Directly Sign Up Users Through iOS App Next Year

“Reader apps” like Spotify and Netflix will be able to link out to their own websites to avoid Apple’s payment system

Apple will allow a select group of apps it calls “readers” that includes music streamers like Spotify to include in-app links to their websites for external sign-ups and account management, the company announced Thursday (Sept. 2). The move is part of an agreement with the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC), which closed a five-year investigation into Apple upon the new settlement.

“Reader” apps in the App Store are apps that “provide previously purchased content or content subscriptions for digital magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, and video,” according to Apple. This move will allow apps like Spotify and Netflix — which have both removed the ability to sign up for paid subscriptions through their iOS apps over the years — to sign-up iOS users on their own platforms at their standard rates.