Many Apple users are not aware that when they subscribe to online music streaming services from an iPhone or iPad app, they pay up to 30% more than users on other platforms. Existing subscribers can also easily save that same 30%, once they know why they pay more.
Most streaming services do not state on their website that they charge more when users purchase a subscription through their iOS apps. Also, many Apple users are not aware that they pay more for a subscription to a service like Amazon Music, Deezer or Youtube Music from an iOS app, than when would have subscribed using a browser.
The culprit is a 30% cut that Apple takes on subscriptions sold through its App Store.
Because most streaming services pass on Apple's fee to their customers, many Apple device owners think other streaming music offerings are more expensive than Apple Music. In reality, most music services sell a monthly single user subscription for $9.99 / €9.99 and only on iOS their subscriptions are more expensive.
The price difference is considerable, in case of a family subscription to Youtube Music or Youtube Premium, users pay up to $5 /€5 more each month simply because they subscribed through an iOS app. Annually that's $60 / €60 that disappears in Apple's pockets.
Spotify is the only service that handles it differently, the company no longer allows users to subscribe to its service from within its iPhone and iPad apps, users will need to use their browser to subscribe.
Existing subscribers, who subscribed through Spotify's iOS app when that was still possible, can save about $3 / €3 each month when they cancel their existing subscription and subscribe again through their browser. This might also be possible for other services.
