TikTok appears to be avoiding App Store commissions in epic fashion

TikTok appears to be investigating App Store rules that require paying the “Apple tax” on in-app purchases. According to Co-founder of the Sendit app, David Teslersome TikTok users are being directed to buy TikTok coins – digital tokens used to tip creators during live streams – on the company’s website via an in-app link, effectively avoiding the 30 percent commission that Apple charges for digital purchases.

Screenshots acquired by Tesler show at least two instances where iOS users are encouraged to “top-up” their TikTok coins on TikTok.com to “explicitly avoid in-app service fees.” Tapping the “try now” link in these notifications opens an embedded web view where users can access payment options like Apple Pay, PayPal, or credit/debit cards to bypass App Store fees. A message on this page informs users that they can save “about 25% with a lower third-party service fee” compared to purchasing coins in the TikTok app.

The alternative payment feature is only being shown to a select group of TikTok users, according to Tesler, noting that the account providing the screenshots had already purchased a large amount of coins. It’s unclear how many users received these in-app web links, although the purchase options could suggest that TikTok is targeting users who typically purchase large amounts of TikTok coins. Coin options range from packs of 70 (priced at 74 cents) to custom quantities that indicate “large quantity supported.”

TikTok support page does not mention the ability to purchase TikTok coins through its website, only listing the App Store and Google Play as places where coins can be purchased. Neither TikTok nor Apple responded to our request for comment at this time.

It’s likely that TikTok is violating Apple App Store rules with this feature. Apple began allowing select services to include website links in the app in 2022, although this was limited to “reading” apps like Kindle, Netflix, and Spotify, and could only be used for things like account management or creation. And as noted by TechCrunchonly applications that no offer in-app purchases (which TikTok certainly does) are allowed to use this External link right.

These violations seem like something Apple would try to rectify quickly (and typically aggressively), although the company doesn’t appear to have taken any action yet. Apple is currently blocking Spotify from implementing similar links in apps in the EU, despite being fined around $2 billion for its App Store practices. And TikTok’s immense user base — last reported at more than a billion monthly active global users — makes it more complicated to simply kick it off the App Store, with BloombergMark Gurman claiming that “the only way Apple will remove TikTok is if it wants to destroy itself.”