Spotify’s latest update on the App Store in the United States brings the ability to purchase audiobooks and top up your listening hours without leaving the app.
“Spotify users in the United States can now see pricing, buy individual audiobooks and purchase additional Top Up hours for audiobook listening beyond the fifteen hours included in Premium each month,” reads Spotify’s press release.
This change is only available in the version of the Spotify app offered on the US App Store. You must have the most recent version of the app to take advantage of audiobook purchasing. To get the latest version, hit “Update” on Spotify’s App Store page. If you don’t see this option, your copy of Spotify is up to date.
Spotify for iPhone now lets you purchase audiobooks
Spotify removed audiobooks from its iPhone and iPad app back in 2022 after Apple rejected its submission three times. The iPhone maker leveraged its controversial anti-steering rule to stop Spotify from including a link to external purchase options in its email blast that informed customers they needed to buy audiobooks on its website in order to listen to them in the app.
Apple recently approved a Spotify update which brought clear subscription pricing information and links leading to external subscription options on Spotify’s website.
Both web purchase links and an in-app web view for buying audiobooks are only available in Spotify’s mobile app in the United States and the European Union.
Elsewhere, the app continues to suffer from Apple’s anti-steering rules because the court ruling in Epic Games v. Apple only affects the US App Store. Apple has already updated its rules to allow links to external payments in US App Store apps.
Developers like Patreon, Amazon Kindle and others have taken advantage of the ruling to add links to web subscriptions and bypass Apple’s In-App Purchase fees.
The ruling prevents Apple from charging its 15-30 percent commission fee on purchases made outside the App Store and resorting to tactics such as scare screens to dissuade people from purchasing digital goods and services on the web.