Apple apologizes to WordPress, no longer requires free app to add purchases

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WordPress for iOS is a free app that connects to the company's free open source content management system, which millions of sites around the Web use for some part of their structure. WordPress the company also sells domain names and an array of personal, business, and enterprise Web hosting packages. Apple, unfortunately, seems to have mixed the two up over the weekend and briefly forced WordPress to add in-app purchases that it otherwise wouldn't have, so it could take a cut.

"Heads up on why @WordPressiOS updates have been absent... we were locked by App Store," WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg explained in a series of Tweets on Friday. "To be able to ship updates and bug fixes again, we had to commit to support in-app purchases for .com plans. I know why this is problematic, open to suggestions."

WordPress opted for the path of least resistance, as The Verge reported, and agreed to add paths inside their iOS app for users to purchase premium offerings including domain names. Because of the agreements developers make with Apple to have their apps approved for the App Store, 30 percent of any purchases made through the WordPress app after that functionality was added would have gone to Apple.

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