While the company continues to make significant improvements to its subscription offerings, Netflix is discontinuing its Apple iTunes pricing options.
The massive streaming service will soon request that users pay their monthly subscription cost with a credit or debit card directly, as opposed to utilizing their iTunes account.
This is the most recent step in Netflix’s campaign to end its £6.99 ad-free Basic plan, which it first announced in January. The offer was previously discontinued for both new and existing users in 2023.
Customers now have the option of its £4.99 a month Standard with Ads plan, or paying £10.99 a month to watch ad-free.
The update was confirmed to The Verge, with Netflix representative Momo Zhao stating that members on the Basic plan who were using an iTunes method of payment will now need to sign up directly.
At this point, it seems customers will be forced to choose between the two new options.
Netflix stopped working with Apple Pay and didn’t inform me. Now I’m locked out of my $9.99 a month price I had paid for years and I had to get charged $31 until I get a refund through Apple. 🙃🫠 Love this!
— 𝑀𝑒𝑔𝒶𝓃 (@meganNwalsh) February 25, 2024
Apple and Netflix have long had a tense relationship. When Apple added an in-app subscription option in 2010, Netflix took five years to utilise it, taking issue with Apple’s 30% cut.
Three years later, Netflix dropped its in-app subscription entirely and never looked back.
And last year, the firm also clamped down on password sharing.
This move meant there was a surge of an extra 13.1 million subscribers by the end of 2023, meaning the total number of subscribers by the streaming giant is now 260 million – with 23 million monthly active users.
