Netflix is testing bypassing iTunes payment method in 33 countries, redirecting users to the mobile web version to log payment details directly with Netflix
Netflix is one of the highest-grossing apps on the iOS App Store, but it looks like the video streaming giant is contemplating …
Context & Ripple Effects
This test is the opening move in a six-year campaign by Netflix to escape Apple's App Store cut. The company had embraced the platform in 2015, launching in-app subscriptions at the same monthly rate as the web, but as one of the highest-grossing iOS apps it was paying Apple's commission on a massive subscription base.
The 33-country redirect experiment proved decisive: within months Netflix stopped offering in-app signup entirely for new and returning users (confirmed that December), later added an outbound signup button under Apple's reader-app rules in 2022, and finally began stripping iTunes billing even from longtime subscribers in 2024. What reads here as a small A/B test is the first step of that full migration.
First-order effects
- Users in the 33 test countries who open the iOS app are pushed out of the native purchase flow and must enter card details on Netflix's mobile web page, adding friction at exactly the moment of signup.
Second-order effects
- Every subscription signed up this way bypasses Apple's commission entirely, so if conversion holds, Netflix keeps the margin on all new iOS subscribers — and Apple loses revenue on one of its top-grossing apps without any policy change.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, high-subscription apps stop treating App Store billing as the default and treat it as one channel among several, forcing Apple to either enforce its rules against its biggest content partners or watch the commission base erode app category by app category.
The trend: Subscription app economics are shifting from platform-controlled in-app billing toward direct-to-consumer web checkout, with Netflix running the template other large publishers would follow.