Apple apologizes WordPress, will not force the free app to add purchases

On Friday, the Internet emerged in a small way to learn that Apple successfully forced WordPress to monetize its free app – forces it to sell premium plans and custom domain names, apparently just so Apple could get its traditional 30 percent cut.

But one afternoon and evening of surprise and annoyance later, Apple is back. The company puts out a rare on-the-record apology, and it says WordPress should no longer add in-app purchases now that everything is said and done.

Here is Apple’s full statement:

We believe the issue with the 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.

You will notice that Apple is positioning this as the developer – WordPress – has done the right thing and “removed its display payment options from the app,” and to my knowledge that is technically true. But as far as I am aware, that did not happen today: it happened weeks or months ago.

While yesterday the WordPress app did not sell a single thing and also did not mention as much as a paid “WordPress.com” plan, unless you are following an unlikely solution, I was able to track down another journalist this weekend who had a much older version of the app, one with a dedicated “Plans” tab that lists some of the different plans for premium customers:

That said, my source told me there was no capacity purchase one of those plans – and they were already removed by the time WordPress developer Matt Mullenwag told us that Apple had successfully forced itself to add Apple’s in-app purchases (IAP). (Originally, he had said that Apple excluded him from updating the app unless he added Apple IAP within 30 days.)

What’s more, Mullenwag said he had previously offered to exclude other paid payment plans from the app (even solutions such as when a user views a preview of their own WordPress website and then navigates to WordPress.com ), only to have those suggestions rejected by Apple.

So, to the best of my knowledge, this is not WordPress caving again. Apple just seems to have decided that trying to cut back on a free app – by forcing in-app purchases – is not worth a hill today.