Apple offers a cheaper option for App Store subscriptions

Apple is offering App Store developers a new way to attract subscribers with lower-priced plans tied to a one-year commitment. The company announced Monday that it will offer a new subscription option that allows customers to pay for their automatically-renewing subscriptions on a monthly basis, sticking to a 12-month plan. This model would allow developers to offer discounted prices to customers in exchange for more predictable long-term revenue.

This also caters to the number of developers who already market their annual subscriptions to their apps. Often, app developers will display the lower monthly price to highlight the discount a customer will receive if they purchase the annual subscription instead of the monthly option. If a user is on the fence about a long-term commitment, the idea of ​​getting a better deal can help nudge them toward the annuity option.

Now, Apple is essentially formalizing what those developers were actually doing, which also allows it to craft a set of policies around how these subscription offers are displayed so as not to mislead customers about the true cost of the deals.

However, the option will not be available to developers in the US or Singapore at launch. Although Apple has not provided an explanation, it is still in a lawsuit over the App Store in the US over the details of the court ruling in its case with Epic Games over how Apple charges subscriptions. Apple probably doesn’t want to complicate the matter further until this matter is resolved.

Meanwhile, Singapore also has a well-developed payments market with strong consumer bases, which is why it may have been left out of the initial rollout.

Customers will be able to view additional information about the subscription before committing, including how to structure their payments and how cancellations work. Since customers agree to a 12-month commitment, they can cancel the subscription at any time, but monthly payments will be deducted from their Apple account until the subscription term ends.

Additionally, Apple notes in its announcement that customers will easily be able to view the number of completed and remaining payments they have left on a given subscription by looking at this information within their Apple account. Apple will also send email reminders and, upon subscription, push notifications to remind customers before renewal dates of their upcoming purchases.

While this option will make it easier for customers to get a better deal on subscriptions, it could also limit them to long-term plans if they are vigilant about cancellations. Since these subscriptions renew automatically, a customer may end up accidentally agreeing to another 12-month commitment if they forget to cancel before the renewal date.

Developers will be able to configure this new subscription type in App Store Connect and test it in Xcode. The new monthly subscriptions with a 12-month commitment will be available worldwide to customers on iOS 26.4, iPadOS 26.4, macOS Tahoe 26.4, tvOS 26.4, and visionOS 26.4 or later, with iOS 26.5, iPadOS 26.5, macOS Tahoe 26.5, tvOS 26.5, and visionOS 26.5 released in May.