Unlocking the Benefits: A Guide to Apple App Store 12-Month Commitment Subscriptions

New “Installment Plan” for App Store Subscriptions in iOS 26.5

Apple recently announced a new “installment plan” for App Store subscriptions, available in iOS 26.5. This feature allows apps and services to offer annual-style payment discounts while still billing customers monthly.

While this option is open to users with iOS 26.4 or later, developers must submit apps built for iOS 26.5 to enable it. With the recent release of iOS 26.5, we can expect apps to start offering these payment options. However, it is important to note that this feature is still not available in the United States and Singapore.

Apple refers to this as “monthly subscriptions with a 12-month commitment.” Essentially, it functions like an installment plan where users sign up for an annual subscription but are billed monthly. Cancelling the subscription early only prevents auto-renewal at the end of the term, similar to a standard annual plan.

If the subscription is not cancelled before the first year ends, users will automatically be enrolled in a second-year commitment, requiring another 12 months of payments.

According to Apple, subscribers agree to complete all payments until the commitment is fulfilled.

Missing a payment is not an option, as payments are automatically charged to the user’s payment method each month. Failure to process the payment may result in temporary loss of access to the subscription until the payment is settled.

Subscribers can upgrade their installment subscription to a higher tier, but it will be treated as a new 12-month commitment, with a prorated refund for any unused time in the current month.

Developers have the flexibility to set prices for these subscriptions, with Apple imposing restrictions to ensure reasonable rates. An installment plan cannot be priced lower than a prepaid annual plan or more than 1.5 times the cost of paying for a full year in advance.

While no apps have yet implemented these installment terms, it remains to be seen if Apple will adopt this model for its own services. For instance, Apple could potentially introduce an installment plan option for Apple TV, encouraging users to commit to a full 12 months of service at a discounted monthly rate.

global $wp;
. ‘/’;
?>