Tinder launches direct payments feature that bypasses Google Play fees

The frustration between the developers and app marketplace owners is growing. Apple has already got its plateful of backlash over app revenue share, and now its direct competitor Google is on the hot seat and is facing the app developers’ rebellion. Tinder is latest app to revolt against Google Play rules as it has introduced a feature that will let users directly pay the subscription to the developers. Once users choose this method they will lose the option of switching back to Google Play.

Tinder has “launched a new default payment process that skips Google Play and forces users to enter their credit card details straight into Tinder’s app,” Macquarie analyst Ben Schachter said in its now research (via Bloomberg). “Once a user has entered their payment information, the app not only remembers it, but also removes the choice to swap back to Google Play for future purchases,” the analyst wrote.

This is not the first time a developer has done that. Fortnite game developer Epic did the same thing, that is, bypassed Google Play altogether and allowed players to directly pay and buy stuff from the developers. The latest Google-Tinder scenario looks the same. According to App Annie, the app economy is expected to grow to $157 billion in 2022, and with this, Apple and Google are guaranteed to a make huge sum of money by charging a percentage of the revenue. “This is a huge difference. It’s an incredibly high-margin business for Google bringing in billions of dollars,” Schachter was quoted as saying.

Google and Apple have app stores, which are marketplaces where independent developers create millions of apps for users. While some of these apps are free, some of them have a subscription-based model (and/or in-app purchases). In exchange for letting developers disseminate apps on their app marketplaces, the companies take as much as 30 percent of revenue from these developers. 

However, in recent times, developers have voiced their concerns over the splitting of the share. We have all heard about the Apple-Spotify feud in which the music streaming service had showed an unwillingness to pay the 30-percent cut of in-app purchases. Spotify claimed that it was an unfair practice on Apple’s part and that it prohibits fair competition since no such restrictions are applicable to Apple’s own Apple Music.

Spotify later filed a complaint against Apple in the European Union over the Apple Tax and restrictive rules that Apple imposes on apps that are a part of the App Store. He also detailed the allegedly unfair ways in which Apple has prevented Spotify from giving a good user experience to its customers by rejecting app updates, allowing Siri integration and even prohibiting a Spotify app on the Apple watch for the longest time.

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