In another installment of news involving Twitter and the sum you might have to pay for its services, Twitter Blue subscribers using iPhones are set to pay more than others for the premium service.
Rapid, unpredictable changes at Twitter have become the norm since the platform’s acquisition by Elon Musk in October of this year. This is just the latest installment.
Apple iPhone users may have to pay R190 ($11) per month for a Twitter Blue subscription while those on web and Android pay just R120 ($7) per month. The higher price is to accommodate the 30% cut that Apple takes from Twitter’s in-app purchases.
“Existing Twitter Blue subscribers who initially subscribed on iOS will need to upgrade to the higher price on iOS to receive a blue checkmark. They will receive a pro-rated refund for the remaining days in their previous subscription,” notes Twitter.
Did you know Apple puts a secret 30% tax on everything you buy through their App Store? https://t.co/LGkPZ4EYcz
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022
Read More: Elon Musk’s Twitter Blue fiasco: Governments need to better regulate how companies use trademarks
This isn’t a completely new phenomenon. Spotify has charged a higher price for the app on iPhones in the past to accommodate Apple’s fee. This approach seems to work on the platform since paying more for apps is almost expected by Apple users.
The price expectation comes after a dispute between Musk and Apple CEO Tim Cook. Last week, Musk claimed Apple had “threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store”. Following a meeting with Cook at Apple Park, Musk took his statement back, saying they had a “good conversation” and there had been a misunderstanding over Twitter’s potential removal from the App Store.
Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022
Good conversation. Among other things, we resolved the misunderstanding about Twitter potentially being removed from the App Store. Tim was clear that Apple never considered doing so.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 30, 2022
Twitter Blue is expected to relaunch this Friday following a pause on subscriptions on 11 November due to multiple issues including the spike in fake accounts and confusion on verification badges. It’s expected to relaunch with multiple badges that will hopefully make everyone different but equal on the evolving social media platform.
“Now the blue checkmark may mean two different things: either that an account was verified under the previous verification criteria (active and authentic), or that the account has an active subscription to Twitter Blue,” says Twitter.
Twitter says accounts on Twitter Blue that buy the blue checkmark as part of the subscription don’t have to go through the review process “to confirm that they meet the active, notable and authentic criteria that was used in the previous process”. That’s because they pay for that privilege.