Apple says it won't require IAP in WordPress app “since the developer removed the display of their service payment options”, apologizes for confusion caused

The Verge 2020-08-24 Sean Hollister

Context & Ripple Effects

This is a fast reversal in a two-day standoff. After Apple froze WordPress app updates and demanded IAP for WordPress.com plans, Matt Mullenweg publicly complied by saying Automattic would add in-app purchases — and then removed the display of external payment options from the app instead. That deletion was enough: Apple now says it won't require IAP at all and apologizes for the confusion its own messages caused.

The episode matters because it exposes how Apple's IAP enforcement is triggered: not by whether a service like WordPress.com sells subscriptions off-platform, but by whether the iOS app visibly advertises that fact. The same ambiguity resurfaces later in the corpus, where Apple's settlement "clarifications" are judged insufficient to change how the App Store works and its Dutch IAP proposal draws compliance criticism.

First-order effects

Automattic gets WordPress app updates unfrozen without adding IAP, having paid nothing to Apple — the immediate winner of the exchange, with Mullenweg's public documentation of Apple's demands doing the leverage work.

Second-order effects

Other developers selling services outside iOS now have a tested playbook: strip external-payment mentions from the app binary to avoid the IAP mandate, which shifts Apple's enforcement burden onto auditing what apps say rather than what they sell.

Third-order effects

If enforcement keeps hinging on display of payment options rather than the transactions themselves, App Store rules drift toward regulator adjudication — a pattern the later Dutch IAP confrontation and the widely panned settlement clarifications in this corpus already trace.

The trend: App Store payment rules are converging on a contested middle ground where visibility of external payment options, not the existence of off-platform sales, determines Apple's cut — pulling regulators into defining the line.

Discussion

@photomatt Matt Mullenweg on x
I am very grateful that folks at Apple re-reviewed @WordPressiOS and have let us know we do not need to implement in-app purchases to be able to continue to update the app. Bad news travels faster than good, usually, so please consider sharing that they reversed course.
@brian_armstrong Brian Armstrong on x
@paulg @tolmasky Apple has been very restrictive and hostile to cryptocurrency over the years. They're still blocking some functionality right now, including the ability to earn money with cryptocurrency by completing tasks, and unrestricted dapp browsers.
@whitmer Brian Whitmer on x
This exact thing happened with CoughDrop, but it's small enough that nobody cares. Free app for 4 years (they knew we had an external subscription), suddenly our bug fixes were held hostage until I scrambled to add iap. https://www.theverge.com/...
@photomatt Matt Mullenweg on x
I did not expect the previous tweet to get attention outside the WP community. My understanding was the previous decision was final, and we had already made many of the arguments people suggested privately over the several weeks the app was locked.
@photomatt Matt Mullenweg on x
@iA I see how hard that line to walk is with content moderation. I imagine with the number of apps and economic interest in the app store it is even harder. I wonder how many reviewers there are?
@binarybits Timothy B. Lee on x
I don't know if this behavior by Apple violates antitrust laws but it's noxious. And yes they backed down after an outcry but they shouldn't be shaking developers down like this in the first place. https://twitter.com/...
@tha_rami Rami Ismail on x
I guess it's time to never recommend any @Apple products ever again. Holding @wordpress -an open-source platform- hostage and forcing them to add functionality to their app to sell unrelated features so that Apple can take a 30% cut is just a huge step too far.
@blader Siqi Chen on x
As a guy who has owned just about every Apple device since the iPod, honestly, fuck Apple. https://twitter.com/...
@gartenberg Michael Gartenberg on x
Mullenweg only went public with Apple's rejection because Apple had, weeks before, told WordPress that Apple's decision was final and that they'd need to alter their app to add in-app purchases in order to stay in the App Store. https://sixcolors.com/...
@digitaldutta Srinivas Kodali on x
Platform politics. Ban some, force some and profit. https://www.theverge.com/...
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x
Apple regularly requests information about the business model of apps on submisssion to the App Store and will block you if you have a subscription service that you aren't making available in iOS so they get their 30% cut. Wordpress just 1st big company to complain. https://twitt…
@ia @ia on x
From time to time you will get one of these hairsplitting reviewers that technically might have a point but don't understand that rules have a purpose that, read with common sense, can nix the by the letter interpretation.
@robleathern Rob Leathern on x
Great to hear that commonsense prevailed! https://twitter.com/...
@topjohnwu John Wu on x
BS like this happen all the time, including on Play Store (check horror stories on r/androiddev). It might be worse on Play as your account can get insta-banned and appeals are sent straight to AI bots. Thanks to the “Epic” move, the media loves to just immediate shit on Apple. h…
@jdevalk Joost de Valk on x
Ok, so this was fixed. I do agree with @photomatt's follow up tweets, the web deserves more openness. https://twitter.com/...
@ia @ia on x
It closes with “We have informed the developer and apologize for any confusion that we have caused.” You need to read to the end to understand that they realized it was a mistake. The Verge explains it better: https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
You can believe that the sandbox App Store model is a very very good thing, and that Apple's payment policies are unsustainable, and that Apple's curation of the App Store is far too often arbitrary, inconsistent and dysfunctional. https://www.theverge.com/...
@timbray Tim Bray on x
Pay attention to this; the outcome will matter: https://www.theverge.com/...
@benthompson Ben Thompson on x
“If you run to the press, it never helps” will always be the biggest Apple mistruth. https://twitter.com/...
@backlon Dieter Bohn on x
Don't miss the attempt to redefine the clear and common meanings of words in this Apple statement. WordPress was ALWAYS a “free standalone app” regardless of whether it happened to mention the mere existence of commerce outside the App Store or not. https://www.theverge.com/... h…
@tiffany Tiffany Bridge on x
This whole thing was such an unforced error by Apple. https://twitter.com/...
@martinsfp Martin Sfp Bryant on x
Good. That was a baffling situation and it sounds like it was perhaps an overzealous App Store employee? https://twitter.com/...
@markgurman Mark Gurman on x
To clarify: Apple says WordPress did submit an app update that did let customers buy upgrade plans via the app, but not through in-app-purchase. It doesn't appear this was ever on the App Store though.
@starfire2258 Sean Hollister on x
Huge, huge update: Apple is apologizing. WordPress won't have to add IAP. https://twitter.com/...
@metasynthie @metasynthie on x
I know you've heard of forcefem, but do you know about forcemon? It's where Apple forces you to monetize a free open-source app, or be booted from the app store. What? No, it's not a fetish. Well, I mean it could be, but I don't recommend https://www.theverge.com/...
@aallan Alasdair Allan on x
The damage that Apple are doing to their developer community will depend on how many developers working on Macs are Mac and iOS developers, and how many are developers that own Macs because it's UNIX. I used to be in the first group, but I've been in the second for a decade now. …
@gruber John Gruber on x
How is WordPress's app different from Hey other than that WordPress's app already includes very useful free functionality? I really don't get how this free app that doesn't sell anything or require a paid account for a service violates any App Store guidelines. https://twitter.co…
@jandavidhassel David on x
Nice free app you got there. Would be shame if anything happened to it. https://twitter.com/...
@thetacticalbrit Lachlan on x
I really hope epic games clatter apple. https://twitter.com/...
@aral Aral Balkan on x
Wow, Apple reportedly blocked updates to the Wordpress app - which wasn't selling anything - to force @photomatt to monetise it so Apple could take a 30% cut. A $2 trillion monopoly is as a $2 trillion monopoly does. You proud of yourself, @tim_cook? https://www.theverge.com/...
@randhindi Rand Hindi on x
No comment: “In other words, Apple won: the richest company in the world just successfully forced an app developer to monetize an app so it could make more money.” https://www.theverge.com/...

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