WordPress’s founder tweeted out a stunning accusation earlier on the new time: Apple blocked WordPress iOS apps because it wants a prick of WordPress.com arena gross sales. Currently, the WordPress app doesn’t include any in-app purchases at all, so it’s no longer something anybody noticed coming.
Replace, 8/22/2020: In a assertion to The Verge, WordPress Founder Matt Mullenweg explains that he has already acquiesced to Apple’s demands. The WordPress App will add in-app purchases for Automattic’s paid tiers sometime in the subsequent 30 days. With that promise, Apple unblocked updates for the WordPress app. To make sure, the WordPress app contained no in-app purchases sooner than, nor had been they important to make exercise of the app. But now this would possibly—-Apple won, and strongarmed a free app into gathering revenue.
The distinctive document is left intact below.
As Matt Mullenweg, the founder of WordPress explains it, Apple blocked WordPress iOS updates until it commits to enhance in-app purchases of WordPress.com plans. But right here’s the aspect, the WordPress app and WordPress.com are two assorted issues.
Heads up on why @WordPressiOS updates had been absent… we had been locked by App Retailer. So that you just can ship updates and malicious program fixes again we needed to determine to enhance in-app purchases for .com plans. I do know why right here is problematic, originate to strategies. Allow others IAP? Recent name?
— Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) August 21, 2020
The WordPress app doesn’t include any in-app purchases at all factual now, nor does it wish to include any. The whole cause of the app is to fabricate and retain your WordPress position. You would possibly perhaps exercise it without ever handing a cent over to anybody affiliated with WordPress.
WordPress.com, on the opposite hand, is a position that factual so happens to promote arena names. It’s an completely non-important aspect, and a range of folks with WordPress powered sites never exercise it. The WordPress app doesn’t purchase honest correct thing about that. As a replacement, for folks that recall to hope to fabricate a position from scratch, it assigns you a free WordPress arena with 3 GBs of storage.
So from the watch of issues, Apple looks to be to be seeking to accumulate money out of Automattic, the proprietor of WordPress, for its fully separate arena gross sales. This would perhaps also be a giant misunderstanding, nevertheless given the protracted fight, Apple is for the time being going through with Story over in-app payments, it’s no longer a factual watch.
For its portion, WordPress is having a stare into replacement alternatives, like renaming the app or enhance in-app purchases through third-parties that kind WordPress plugins. Then Apple would accumulate a prick of gross sales, and Automattic would pass the the rest of the revenue to plugin builders.
We’ll recall an undercover agent on the quandary and update this put up if Apple feedback on the subject.
Supply: Matt Mullenweg