Subscriptions Are All in One Place

These days it seems like just about everything wants you to sign up for a subscription. Whether it’s a streaming service like Netflix or a reading service like Medium, the push is on to keep you paying monthly, and of course all of these subscriptions add up not only in terms of the raw dollars, but in the mental clutter that they add to your life. Even calendar apps are getting in on the game now.

Signing up in an app through Apple’s system, however, goes a long way to making that whole process feel a lot more manageable. Instead of looking at your credit card statement and email receipts each month to figure out all of the various things you’ve subscribed to, instead, you get a nice list of everything all in on place right within your iPhone or iPad settings app.

Plus, the process of signing up is also simplicity itself. There’s no need to go visit a web site and fill out a form and provide your credit card information. Tap “Subscribe” and confirm the payment with Face ID or Touch ID, and you’re good to go. It’s completely frictionless.

This is another feature that developers should welcome too, since it almost certainly translates into more subscribers. There are many services that I’ve signed up for that I wouldn’t have even considered if I actually had to go and visit the service’s website, yet I can easily subscribe in a click. There are even some that charge a higher price for in-app subscriptions where I’ve happily paid the Apple tax myself for the ease of managing everything through Apple’s system.