Netflix has reportedly began directing customers on iPhone and iPad to an exterior webpage the place they’ll join the service, according to a report from 9to5Mac. The change comes simply months after Apple began letting “reader” apps that present entry to digital content material, like Netflix and Spotify, hyperlink out to account sign-up pages on their very own web sites.

For way back to 2018, Netflix didn’t present an exterior signup hyperlink — and even inform customers the place they may join — in its iPhone and iPad apps. Users needed to as a substitute navigate to Netflix’s web site from their net or cellular browser to join the service earlier than accessing the app. This was completed to adjust to Apple’s guidelines, which made it troublesome for apps to get round its as much as 30 p.c fee on in-app purchases and barred builders from providing a hyperlink to an exterior sign-up web page. The setup made it complicated for brand new customers who would (logically) assume they’d have the ability to signal as much as Netflix utilizing the app.

But now, it appears like that’s altering — 9to5Mac stories that iPhone and iPad customers are actually seeing an exterior hyperlink inside the Netflix app that they’ll use to join the service. Users who faucet on the hyperlink see a message that warns they’re “about to leave the app” and go to an exterior web site. It additionally notes any transactions on the exterior web page aren’t affiliated with Apple:

Any accounts or purchases made exterior of this app will likely be managed by the developer “Netflix.” Your App Store account, saved fee strategies, and associated options, comparable to subscription administration and refund requests, won’t be accessible. Apple shouldn’t be chargeable for the privateness or safety of transactions made with this developer.

As famous by 9to5Mac, tapping by means of the warning redirects customers to an account sign-up web page on Netflix’s web site the place they’ll enter fee data and select a subscription plan. It’s not clear when Netflix began introducing this new choice, and the corporate didn’t instantly reply to The Verge’s request for remark. Currently, Netflix’s support page nonetheless states that customers can’t entry Netflix’s signup web page from its iPhone or iPad app.

Although Apple has begun to chill out its insurance policies for reader apps, it nonetheless has a strict set of guidelines that builders should observe, comparable to not together with any pricing data with a hyperlink to exterior sign-up pages. Developers should additionally submit an “entitlement” to get permission so as to add the exterior hyperlink to their app.

Apple has confronted criticism over its insurance policies that power most builders to make use of the App Store billing system, which Apple prices a fee to make use of. In response to a brand new regulation handed in South Korea, Apple began permitting builders to make use of third-party fee processors in apps launched within the nation. It has additionally made some adjustments for courting apps launched within the Netherlands following a prolonged battle with the nation’s regulator.

But Apple may have much more adjusting to do when the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) laws passes, as it could power Apple to permit using third-party fee techniques, side-loading, and third-party app shops. Google has already began making ready for the brand new legal guidelines by giving builders the choice to make use of an alternate billing system for apps distributed in Europe.