Netflix adds controversial ‘reader’ button to app

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Netflix has added a controversial new “subscribe” button to its app on iPhones and iPads.

Allowing people to subscribe to Netflix on Apple devices has proven controversial for years. Apple says that all such purchases must go through its payment systems, from which it takes a 30 per cent cut, and so Netflix has chosen not to allow people to subscribe through its app at all.

Instead, users must already subscribe to Netflix and download the app. There is no way to get a subscription – or even find out how to get one – from within the Netflix app itself.

Now, however, it is offering the option for people to press a button and be taken to Netflix’s website, where they can subscribe.

Netflix is able to do so because of a new option, added by Apple, that allows “reader” apps where people consume content to be directed to sign up on a company’s own website.

That change came amid increasing regulatory concern about how Apple was using the power it has over its devices, which culminated in a high-profile legal battle with Fortnite developer Epic.

Apple rolled out the option for reader apps to direct people elsewhere earlier this year. Netflix appears to be rolling it out to users recently.

Those who click the subscribe button will see a large button warning that they are leaving the app and going to an “external website”.

“Any accounts or purchases made outside of this app will be managed by the developer ‘Netflix’,” it warns. “Your App Store account, stored payment methods, and related features, such as subscription management and refund requests, will not be available. Apple is not responsible for the privacy or security of transactions made with this developer.”

Netflix has long had a strange and strained relationship with Apple. It pulled the option to subscribe through Apple’s systems in 2018, and has not offered a way to subscribe from within the app since.