Spotify for iPhone no longer specifies how to buy an audiobook online for in-app access due to Apple and its unfair App Store rules.
- What is happening? An update to the Spotify app for iOS, released on October 27 in the App Store, killed the button that could be clicked to receive an email link to purchase the audiobook.
- Why care? Spotify has accused Apple of hurting competition with its rules. The company recently said that Apple’s rules for buying audiobooks are “stifling competition.”
- What to do? Buy audiobooks from Spotify through your web browser or desktop app and they will automatically appear on the mobile app for you to listen to.
Can I buy Spotify audiobooks on the iPhone app?
Apple told the press that it recently rejected an update to the Spotify app because it violated an App Store rule about explicit in-app communications directing users outside of the app to make digital purchases. Spotify has made the requested change by removing the aforementioned button to bring the app in line.
From Apple’s statement to The Verge:
We have no problem with reader apps adding audiobooks to their apps, linking users to websites to subscribe to services, or talking to outside customers about alternative purchase options.
So what is the reason you declined the Spotify update?
The Spotify app was rejected for failing to comply with guidelines regarding enabling in-app explicit messaging to guide users outside of the app to make digital purchases.
Apple will always find an excuse for its behavior.
How it was before
Spotify for iPhone used to happily email you the link to the audiobook you wanted to buy. You go to your inbox, open the email, click on the main link and go to the Spotify website to complete the purchase. The purchased audiobook will instantly become available for viewing in the mobile application.
This is a model similar to the Kindle app and others.
But Spotify has now removed that button. Instead, attempting to purchase an audiobook results in a message: “Would you like to listen? You can’t buy audiobooks in the app. We know it’s not perfect.”As The Verge reported today, the cryptic message does not even mention that the user can freely buy the book online.
Our opinion: Greedy Apple is back in business
Greedy Apple takes up to 30% commission on apps like Spotify. With such an unfair business model, there is little incentive for Spotify to use Apple’s In-App Purchase system to purchase audiobooks in the app.
This change will inevitably cause inconvenience to Spotify listeners on iOS who would like to purchase audiobooks on the app. So what exactly is going on here?
Is Apple doing this out of spite because Spotify took it to court and accused it of acting like Big Brother with its App Store? Apple also sells audiobooks in the book store, which is available directly from the Books app. So why doesn’t Apple let me buy audiobooks on the Spotify app the same way?
Regardless of how you look at it, Spotify seems to have made this change due to Apple’s rules on audiobooks, which Spotify claims are anti-competitive.
Apps serving audiobooks are not reading apps?
Wait, doesn’t Apple allow reader apps to provide a button to go to their website? The Netflix app even prompts the user to “click on the link below to sign up”!
It’s true, Apple caved in to government pressure to allow reader apps to connect to the internet to sign up and buy content. Apple’s definition of apps for reading includes software that provides access to previously purchased content or content subscriptions for digital magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, and video.
But no audiobooks.
“Essentially, Apple’s policies mandate an onerous audiobook purchase process that makes it harder for you to find your next favorite author or book,”Spotify wrote on a webpage the company created to support the fight against Apple.