According to a recent article from The Information, Twitter Blue may relaunch at 2 separate price tiers depending on where you subscribe. The premium subscription might cost $11 if purchased through Twitter’s iOS app, or $7 if purchased through Twitter‘s website. The price difference is most likely an attempt to avoid the 30% fee Apple charges on many in-app transactions.
The premium subscription first became available in early November for $7.99 per month on iOS (with no option to subscribe via other platforms like Android or the web). However, its rollout was temporarily halted after a large number of people used one of its trademark features — access to Twitter’s coveted blue verified checkmark — to fake a wide range of companies and celebrities.
The announcement of the two-tiered pricing structure comes after new Twitter CEO Elon Musk publicly chastised Apple for its “hidden 30% tax,” as well as claims that Apple had largely stopped advertising on Twitter and was threatening Twitter’s presence in the app store or otherwise making moderation demands. Musk later retracted portions of his remarks after meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook, citing a “misunderstanding.”
Twitter will continue to adhere to Apple’s anti-steering restrictions, which limit how developers can direct users to their own website to enroll for services. In recent years, Apple has lifted some of its anti-steering restrictions, but its policies have continued to cause problems for developers who do not want to pay the iPhone maker’s commission.
The story from The Information does not specify how much Twitter may charge for Twitter Blue on Android, where Google also receives a 30 percent commission on in-app sales.
