NETFLIX STOPPED PAYING APPLE FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS, THEN MADE USERS SIGN UP ON THE WEB
Netflix was one of the biggest apps on the App Store. Then it decided the iPhone shouldn't be where customers signed up.
For years, Netflix could be downloaded from the App Store and used on an iPhone or iPad.
But there was a problem.
If a customer subscribed through Apple's billing system, Apple was involved in the payment relationship.
Netflix eventually decided it didn't want that arrangement for most new customers.
So it did something unusual:
It removed the easy in-app signup.
Instead, users had to go to Netflix.com.
THE APP WAS STILL THERE
Netflix didn't leave the App Store.
You could still download the Netflix app and watch Netflix.
The change was about something much more valuable:
where the customer actually became a paying subscriber.
Apple's App Store supported subscriptions for apps such as Netflix, meaning customers could discover and subscribe to services directly through Apple's ecosystem.
Netflix wanted the subscription relationship to happen somewhere else.
THE CUSTOMER HAD TO LEAVE THE APP
On iPhone and iPad, Netflix eventually moved signup to the web.
Today, Netflix's own instructions tell iPhone and iPad users to visit:
Netflix.com/signup
through a mobile browser.
The user chooses a plan, creates an account and enters a payment method on Netflix's website.
Only afterward do they return to the Netflix app to watch.
That sounds like a small change.
From a business perspective, it is not.
WHY WOULD NETFLIX MAKE SIGNING UP HARDER?
Because the payment relationship matters.
If Netflix sells the subscription directly:
Customer
↓
Netflix
↓
Payment
Netflix controls the customer relationship and the billing process.
If the subscription goes through Apple's billing system:
Customer
↓
Apple
↓
Netflix
The platform becomes part of the transaction.
For a subscription business with millions of customers, controlling that relationship can be extremely valuable.
NETFLIX DIDN'T NEED APPLE TO FIND ITS CUSTOMERS
This is what made the decision particularly interesting.
A small app might desperately need the App Store to:
Get discovered
Build trust
Process payments
Manage subscriptions
Reach users
Netflix was different.
By the time it changed its signup strategy, Netflix was already a global entertainment brand.
People weren't downloading Netflix because they had randomly discovered it in the App Store.
They already knew what Netflix was.
That gave Netflix more freedom to tell customers:
"Go to our website."
AND NETFLIX DIDN'T COMPLETELY ERASE APPLE BILLING
This is an important detail.
Netflix did not simply switch off every Apple-billed account overnight.
Its current help center says Apple billing is no longer available to most new or rejoining members, while some existing Apple-billed members in certain countries may still be asked to add another payment method.
So the strategy was not:
"Apple is gone."
It was closer to:
"Don't create new customer relationships through Apple if we can avoid it."
THE WEBSITE BECAME PART OF THE PRODUCT
Think about what Netflix gained by moving signup to its own website.
Netflix can control:
The signup experience
Pricing presentation
Payment methods
Promotions
Account management
Billing relationship
Customer communication
The website becomes more than a marketing page.
It becomes part of the company's distribution infrastructure.
THE INTERESTING BUSINESS LESSON
Most companies try to remove friction.
Netflix deliberately added a little.
Instead of:
Download app → subscribe
the process became:
Open browser → visit Netflix.com → create account → pay → return to app
That's technically more steps.
But Netflix was trading a little convenience for greater control over the commercial relationship.
And that is an important business principle:
The easiest customer journey isn't always the most valuable one for the company.
Sometimes a company will accept extra friction if it means keeping more control over the transaction.
APP STORES AREN'T JUST APP STORES
This story also reveals something people often overlook.
An app store isn't merely a place where you download software.
It can also sit between:
The customer
The developer
The payment
The subscription
The account
That gives the platform enormous economic importance.
For a subscription company, the question isn't only:
"Can people download our app?"
It is also:
"Who owns the commercial relationship once they do?"
Netflix's answer was increasingly:
Netflix.
TODAY, THE STRATEGY IS EVEN CLEARER
Netflix's current iPhone and iPad signup instructions don't even provide an in-app subscription flow.
They explicitly tell users to sign up through Netflix.com instead.
The Netflix app is still the place where you consume the product.
But the browser is where Netflix wants many customers to become customers.
That distinction is subtle.
And extremely important.
MAACAT PERSPECTIVE
Netflix didn't need to defeat Apple.
It didn't need to remove its app from the App Store.
It simply separated two things:
Where customers watch Netflix
from
Where customers buy Netflix.
The iPhone remains a distribution channel.
But Netflix wants the subscription relationship to happen on its own terms.
That is a powerful business idea:
Sometimes the most valuable part of a platform isn't where the customer uses the product.
It's where the customer pays for it.
