While Apple is facing a dispute with Epic Games over its In-App Purchasing system, the company yesterday asked WordPress to include native payment options in its app. However, Apple and WordPress have now reached an agreement to allow the app in the iOS App Store without in-app purchases.
If you are not familiar with WordPress, it is a free, open source platform used by many website creators all over the world. However, WordPress allows users to pay for more storage, technical support, and additional features, which causes conflict with the App Store team.
WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg said on Twitter yesterday that Apple has decided to block the WordPress app for iOS until developers include Apple’s In-App Purchasing System, even though the WordPress app is technically not for sale.
While the WordPress app for iOS never offered paid features, developers included a direct link that allowed users to request a plan upgrade through the WordPress website, which was considered by Apple as an attempt to circumvent their In-App Purchasing system.
According to section 3.1.3 (b) of the App Store review guidelines, even multi-platform apps may not encourage users to pay for content or subscriptions by any method other than Apple’s in-app purchases.
Apps that operate across multiple platforms allow users to access content, subscriptions, or features they have acquired in your app on platforms other than your website, including consumables in multiplatform games, if these items are also available as in-app purchases within the app. You should not direct or indirectly target iOS users to any method of purchase other than in-app purchases, and your general communication about other in-app purchase methods should not discourage in-app purchases.
As reported by Mark Gurman, Apple said today in a statement that WordPress has agreed to update its iOS app to remove any mention of its paid services. As a result, the WordPress app for iOS has been re-enabled in the App Store without in-app purchases.
We believe that the issue with WordPress app has been resolved. Since the developer removed their payment service options from the app, it is now a free stand-alone app and does not offer in-app purchases. We have informed the developer and apologize for any confusion we may have caused.
The latest update of the WordPress app in accordance with Apple’s guidelines is now available in the App Store.
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