Netflix confirms it’s chopping off Apple billing for grandfathered subscribers

Netflix confirms to The Verge that it has begun booting longtime subscribers off their Apple iTunes billing plans, and would require them to pay Netflix straight utilizing a bank card or debit card as a substitute. Earlier in the present day, The Streamable reported that Netflix had begun telling prospects in “some territories,” however Netflix consultant Momo Zhao confirms to us that each one “members on the essential plan who had been utilizing an iTunes methodology of cost” might want to join straight.

It’s been a very good run for anybody who signed up earlier than Netflix stopped accepting subscriptions by Apple’s funds system. One particular person indicated in the present day on X that they’d saved the streaming service’s outdated $9.99 worth for years.

Alas, when you’re like that particular person, you’ll now have to hitch the remainder of us and both settle for a more-than-$5 worth hike for basically the identical plan you’ve had for years or pay $3 lower than you’ve been and let the advertisements wash over you. Or you might take the time to replicate in your relationship with streaming providers, which appear to get pricier on a regular basis.

The change is the tip of an extended saga — regardless of Apple including in-app subscription choices to iPhones in 2010, Netflix didn’t add them to its iOS app till 2015 as a result of it was against Apple’s 30 p.c minimize. In late 2018, Netflix determined it didn’t wish to pay Apple in any respect, dropping in-app subscriptions fully, and it by no means seemed again.