Google Play Books for iOS now lets users complete their e-book or audiobook purchase on the Google Play website, under Apple's “reader apps” exception
I'd love to see an Apple Books app that syncs progress and keeps track of reading streaks in the Google Play Store. Can't think of any reason why not. [embedded post] X: Lance Adams / @thelanceadams : great news. Google Play Books is the superior of Kindle and Apple books apps. plus it's an easy backup storage for PDFs and ePubs on desktop and phones https://blog.google/... Tim Sweeney / @timsweeneyepic : Abject corruption. Apple allows Google to do this but denies the right to all game developers. Forums: Msmash / Slashdot : Google Play Books Purchases on iOS Now Skirt the App Store's Commission See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple had already opened a narrow path for reader apps to link out for account setup through its External Link Account Entitlement, while Spotify later removed audiobook purchasing from iOS to comply with the surrounding rules. Google Play Books shows that the reader-app carve-out can also support a purchase journey completed on the web.
The distinction matters because books and audiobooks are a meaningful test case for how much commercial activity can move outside an iOS app without abandoning the app as the reading and listening interface. It also foreshadowed the later Kindle web-purchase button on iOS and Spotify’s approved display of audiobook prices and purchase links.
First-order effects
- Google Play Books users on iOS can finish e-book and audiobook transactions on Google Play’s website, rather than treating the iOS app as a purchase dead end.
- Google gains a direct web checkout path for its book catalog on iOS while Apple continues to define the eligibility and boundaries of the reader-app exception.
Second-order effects
- Other reader-app providers have a clearer implementation precedent for linking iOS users to web commerce; Amazon’s subsequent Kindle update indicates that the pattern was portable beyond Google.
- Publishers and audiobook sellers can place more emphasis on their own web storefront and account relationship, though the iOS app’s permitted prompts and purchase flow remain constrained by Apple’s policies.
Third-order effects
- The episode points toward a more segmented App Store commerce model: regulated or category-specific exceptions can move transactions off-platform without removing Apple’s control over app distribution and interface rules.
- If such carve-outs broaden, platform competition will increasingly turn on who controls discovery, identity and checkout across app and web—not simply on the in-app payment system.
The trend: Reader apps are becoming an early proving ground for reduced mobile-platform control over digital-content checkout, with web purchasing integrated alongside native consumption apps.