Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Netflix has reportedly started directing users on iPhone and iPad to an external webpage where they can sign up for the service, according to a report from 9to5Mac. The change comes just months after Apple started letting “reader” apps that provide access to digital content, like Netflix and Spotify, link out to account sign-up pages on their own websites.
For as far back as 2018, Netflix didn’t provide an external signup link — or even tell users where they could sign up — in its iPhone and iPad apps. Users had to instead navigate to Netflix’s website from their web or mobile browser to sign up for the service before accessing the app. This was done to comply with Apple’s rules, which made it difficult for apps to get around its up to…
