Internet users were in for a shock on Friday when they learned that Apple had banned the WordPress app for selling premium plans and domain names without paying the company 30%.
But yesterday afternoon we had another surprise as Apple did something very rare: Apologize to WordPress.
The following is Apple's statement:
We believe that the issue with the WordPress application has been resolved. Since the developer removed the service payment options page from the app, it is now one free standalone application. We have notified the developer and apologize for any confusion we may have caused.
You will notice that Apple reports that the developer - WordPress did the right thing and removed the "service payment options page from the application" and from what I know is technically true. But as far as I know, this did not happen today: it happened weeks or months ago.
So yesterday the WordPress application did not sell any of everything that exists in the domain "WordPress.com", unless you can do magic. Yes, an older version of the app contained a "Plans" tab that displayed some of the different hosting packages for premium customers:
But even with an older version of the app there was no way to buy anything. WordPress developer Matt Mullenwag told TheVerge that he had previously offered to remove all references to paid packages from the app (even a feature that allowed a user to preview their by clicking heres on WordPress.com), but these proposals were rejected by Apple.
Why
Epic Games vs Apple and Google
Apple wanted to force in-app purchases to gain 30%.
Matt Mullenwag reported that Apple previously forced him to add Apple in-app purchases (IAP). He said that Apple locked them updates of the app, and gave it 30 days to add the Apple IAP.
I am very grateful that folks at Apple re-reviewed @WordPressiOS and have let us know we do not need to implement in-app purchases to be able to continue to Update the app. Bad news travels faster than good, usually, so please consider sharing that they reversed course.
- Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) August 23
