WordPress Accuses Apple Of Preventing App Updates In Order To Extort In-App Purchases

Apple’s famously large 30% cut of all App Store sales has garnered considerable attention in the wake of its public spat with Epic Games. After the dust-up, one of the founding developers of WordPress is accusing Apple of preventing updates to its iOS app unless the app adds in-app purchases, from which it could take a cut.

“Heads up on why @WordPressiOS updates have been absent... we were locked by App Store,” WordPress’s Matt Mullenweg said in a tweet. “To be able to ship updates and bug fixes again we had to commit to support in-app purchases for .com plans. I know why this is problematic, open to suggestions.”

As pointed out by Stratechery reporter Ben Thompson, the WordPress app does not sell anything and merely allows users to set up free domains and manage them. It only charges for certain domains through its website. Mullenweg’s comment effectively paints Apple as extorting a popular service for 30% of its primary revenue source, from which it was never available through the app.

The Verge noted in a report that the WordPress app had been updated at approximately 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, after initially reporting that it had not been updated since July 27.

WordPress has not commented whether Mullenweg’s comments held true for any future updates or if Apple had backed down.