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Apple Introduces App Store Monthly Subscriptions With 12-Month Commitment

Apple today announced the launch of a new subscription option for App Store developers: monthly subscriptions with a 12-month commitment. The new option allows developers to offer subscribers discounted pricing typically associated with an annual subscription but paid on a monthly basis to keep payments more affordable.

app store monthly sub commitment

This new payment option allows you to offer subscribers more affordable options. People can cancel their subscription at any time, which will prevent the subscription from renewing after they've completed their agreed-to payments to fulfill their commitment.

Apple says that the new feature provides transparency to users by allowing them to easily view the number of completed and remaining payments they've made toward their annual commitment. Apple will also send email and optional push notifications ahead of renewals.

Developers can begin creating these new subscription types in ‌App Store‌ Connect and testing them in Xcode starting today, and they will go live to users on iOS 26.4 and equivalent versions for other platforms next month alongside the launch of iOS 26.5 and related updates.

Notably, it appears the United States and Singapore will be excluded from these subscriptions for the time being, and there's no word on when they might roll out in these markets.

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Top Rated Comments

Basic75 Avatar
20 weeks ago
Just what we need. More subscriptions. Not.
Score: 53 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SanderEvers Avatar
20 weeks ago
So the same system Adobe uses. Yeah, not going to use this.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tkermit Avatar
20 weeks ago
Guess I'm becoming a luddite, but I've basically stopped using the App Store at all. I'd be fine with just the default apps at this point. Chances are, you're paying for some vibe coded slop that actually provides negative value instead of enriching your life.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Populus Avatar
20 weeks ago
Thank you but no, thank you.

While this is an interesting option to improve the affordability of subscriptions, most will inevitably end up rising their prices.

The best options Apple could implement, to benefit the end user, are two:

1) Hybrid Subscriptions (already present in some of the apps, although unofficially implemented on the dev side): you keep perpetually the benefits that are being added while your subscription is active, even if you unsubscribe afterwards.

2) monthly payment of a lifetime subscription, until the license is completely paid.

Regular subscriptions are software renting where the end user has NOTHING once the subscription has ended. I will always be against this perverse model, as long as it’s not a streaming service that offers new content continually.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mblm85 Avatar
20 weeks ago
Surely this is just going to lead to devs increasing prices, hiding it behind a lower monthly fee.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
20 weeks ago
When clear and up-front this option isn't evil or anything but I suspect developers who use these will have to deal with upset customers who can't read past "monthly."
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)