Twitter Blue will cost you more if you subscribe via an iPhone than if you do it via the Twitter website when it eventually relaunches. The move comes as Twitter tries to wriggle its way out from beneath Apple's App Store fees.
Owner and CEO of Twitter, Elon Musk, has already made his feelings about the 30% App Store cut known, threatening to "go to war" over it. But now it looks like he's found a way around giving Apple 30% of Twitter's money — by making iPhone owners pay more.
Thanks, Elon
Twitter Blue is currently on hiatus after Musk found that people were abusing the ability to pay to get a blue Verified checkmark. But when it comes back, the price will be $11 for iPhone owners and $7 for everyone else, writes The Information.
"Twitter has informed some employees that it plans to change the pricing of its Twitter Blue subscription product to $7 if users pay for it through the web and $11 if they do so through its app for iPhones," the report says, citing an unnamed source "briefed on the plans."
The tiered pricing will ensure that people who pay for Twitter Blue via the App Store effectively pay for Apple's transaction cut. Alternatively, users can sign up for Twitter Blue via the social network's website and pay less.
There are other changes to Twitter Blue, too. For example, the re-relaunched feature will include different colored badges depending on whether an account belongs to a company, government, or individual, which Twitter believes will make it more difficult for people to pretend to be businesses.
Anyone signing up to Twitter Blue cannot change their name in the seven days before paying up, while anyone who changes it afterward will lose their checkmark until someone manually reviews it. However, given that Twitter now has half as many employees as before, it isn't clear who will do that.
The refreshed Twitter Blue is expected to arrive tomorrow, December 9.
