Apple has announced a new feature for the App Store, known as contingent pricing for subscriptions, aimed at helping developers attract and retain subscribers by offering discounted subscription prices.
The company told developers on Friday this feature allows customers to receive a discounted subscription rate as long as they maintain an active subscription to another service. It applies to subscriptions from either a single developer or two different developers.
Currently in its pilot phase, Apple plans to onboard more developers for this feature in the coming months. Developers interested in incorporating contingent pricing into their apps are encouraged to start planning now and sign up for further details, which will be released in January.
“We’re excited to announce Contingent Pricing support on the App Store today! This is the kind of feature that really provides value to App Store developers,” said Pete Hare, Senior Engineering Manager at Apple, on Friday on LinkedIn.
Hare emphasized the ease of integration, noting, “We handle all the eligibility checks and commerce work to allow for seamless in-app purchases in your own apps, and also Apple-provided flows to subscribe and download in one step directly from email links or the App Store – to allow you to discount your services based on other apps in the App Store.”
He also acknowledged the efforts of the team behind this innovation, particularly Yash Satyavarpu, highlighting the potential it holds for businesses of all sizes. “Congrats to everyone who worked so hard to build this feature, it’s really going to open up many new opportunities for businesses small and large,” added Hare.
New contingent pricing means customers get discounts on subscriptions when they have another subscription from the same developer. This incentive means customers will likely stay locked into the App Store instead of switching over to Android, for example.
Apple already has auto-renewable subscriptions that offer a discounted price for a specific duration for existing and previously subscribed customers on iOS, macOS, and tvOS.
These are for developers to win back subscribers who cancelled their subscriptions, or to promote an upgrade to a more expensive subscription at a special price. Apple allows customers to accept these offers even if they’ve already accepted an introductory offer.
