Disney Plus and Hulu just got worse to avoid the Apple tax

In an attempt to boost its revenue, Disney has been making some significant changes to its streaming services. Just recently, Disney Plus started cracking down on password sharing and increased its subscription prices. Now, Disney Plus and Hulu are dropping support for App Store billing from their iOS and iPadOS clients to avoid paying Apple a cut. This makes it harder for mobile users to subscribe to the services and could impact the apps’ feature sets.

As noted by multiple Reddit users (via MacRumors), the Disney Plus and Hulu apps on iOS and iPadOS will no longer support paying through Apple. This impacts new and returning subscribers only, prompting them to pay using the web app instead. For now, this change won’t affect those with active subscriptions handled by Apple — as long as they don’t cancel.

Apple charges developers using its App Store billing system 15-30% commission. By ditching Apple’s in-app purchasing (IAP) method, Disney pushes viewers to pay on its website and keeps all the profit. Like Netflix, once you subscribe to Disney Plus or Hulu on the web, you can watch listed movies and TV shows using the iPhone and iPad apps.

Ditching Apple’s IAP system comes with consequences, however. Beyond complicating the subscription process, Disney may no longer be eligible for Apple’s Video Partner Program. At the time of writing, Disney Plus is listed as a participant on the website, which supposedly gets it featured in the Apple TV app and throughout tvOS. It also makes its content discoverable through Apple’s Universal Search and Siri. Consequently, Apple may revoke these privileges, which could impact its visibility.