Millions of iPhone users could save on app subscription costs under plans from the competition watchdog to make it easier to bypass Apple’s fees.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is proposing to force Apple and Google to allow developers to promote cheaper subscriptions and in-app purchases on their own websites.
Google said it had already made changes to address the concerns.
The two companies charge developers up to 30pc when consumers buy a subscription, such as a streaming or news service, through apps downloaded from their respective stores.
Although companies can sell subscriptions more cheaply on their own sites, without paying the tech companies’ fees, app store rules have banned them from advertising this fact under so-called “anti-steering provisions”.
They have also been prevented from providing links to their own sites, meaning users may not know they are paying higher prices to cover Apple’s and Google’s fees.
The CMA is considering forcing the technology giants to allow steering by developers, such as displaying alternative prices within their apps.
Although the tech companies would still be able to charge app developers fees for directing users elsewhere, the CMA said these would be lower than the companies’ existing levies.
It said its expected savings would be passed on to consumers or invested back into developers’ businesses, boosting innovation.
Google said it had already made changes, allowing apps downloaded through its Android Play Store to point users in the direction of alternative places to make purchases.
However, Apple said the move risked making users vulnerable to scams.
“Through the App Store, we strive to ensure that apps are safe, transactions are secure, and users are protected. Steering requirements undermine that foundation, opening the door to scams, bait-and-switch tactics, and the circumvention of parental controls,” it said.
Will Hayter, the CMA’s executive director for digital markets, said in a speech on Tuesday that the changes were the “best way to introduce some competitive pressure in a vital part of the mobile ecosystem that is otherwise sorely lacking such pressure”.
Apple and Google have both faced repeated interventions from the CMA since they were classed as having “strategic market status” under the UK’s new digital markets laws. The designation allows the regulator to make significant interventions under powers that came into force last year.
The CMA said it would make a decision later this year on whether to introduce the proposed changes.
