Apple Offered Special App Store API Access to Hulu and Other Developers

Today is the fourth day of the Epic Games v. Apple legal battle, and documents shared in the trial continue to give us insight into the App Store and Apple's business practices.

app store blue banner
‌App Store‌ Vice President Matt Fischer is on the stand answering questions from Apple and Epic lawyers, and one of the emails shared as evidence confirms that Apple has established special deals with major app developers like Hulu.

In 2018, a tweet from developer David Barnard commented about ‌App Store‌ subscriptions being automatically cancelled through the StoreKit API, questioning why there hadn't been more offers to swap billing away from the ‌App Store‌.

Matt Fischer asked Cindy Lin about it, and she explained that Hulu is a developer with special access to a subscription cancel/refund API.

Hulu is part of the set of whitelisted developers with access to subscription cancel/refund API. Back in 2015 they were using this to support instant upgrade using a 2 family setup, before we had subscription upgrade/downgrade capabilities built in.

Apple does not further detail who other developers with special access might have been in the correspondence, but these are not features that all developers have access to.

Apple has long said that the App Store provides a "level playing field" that treats all apps in the ‌App Store‌ the same with one set of rules for everybody and no special deals or special terms, but it's clear that some apps are indeed provided with special privileges.


Fischer was asked specifically whether Apple has given some developers special access to allow them to do things that other developers don't get to do, and Fischer said no, but he said that Apple sometimes wants to test a feature with a small group before providing it to all developers.


Prior to when ‌Epic Games‌ implemented its own purchase options and kicked off this entire legal battle, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney asked Apple for a special deal that would allow it to bypass the in-app purchase system, which Apple denied. Just this week Sweeney also said that he would have accepted special terms from Apple for lower ‌App Store‌ commission.

Popular Stories

Apple Watch Ultra Night Mode Screen

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

Wednesday July 2, 2025 1:13 pm PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Friday July 4, 2025 1:05 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are just over two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:Apple logo repositioned: Apple's logo may have a lower position on the back of the iPhone 17 Pro models, compared to previous...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Max Battery Capacity Leaked

Thursday July 3, 2025 5:40 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the biggest ever battery in an iPhone, according to the Weibo leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post, the leaker listed the battery capacities of the iPhone 11 Pro Max through to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and added that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a battery capacity of 5,000mAh: iPhone 11 Pro Max: 3,969mAh iPhone 12 Pro Max: 3,687mAh...
airpods pro 2

AirPods Pro 3 to Help Maintain Apple's Place in Earbud Market Amid Increasing Low-Cost Competition

Thursday July 3, 2025 7:25 am PDT by
Apple's position as the dominant force in the global true wireless stereo (TWS) earbud market is expected to continue through 2025, according to Counterpoint Research. The forecast outlines a 3% year-over-year increase in global TWS unit shipments for 2025, signaling a transition from rapid growth to a more mature phase for the category. While Apple is set to remain the leading brand by...
apple silicon mac lineup 2024 feature purple m5

Apple's Upcoming Macs Listed in New Report

Thursday July 3, 2025 9:09 am PDT by
AppleInsider's Marko Zivkovic today shared a list of alleged identifiers for future Mac models, which should roll out over the next year or so. The report does not reveal anything too surprising, but it does serve as further evidence that Apple is seemingly working on new models of every Mac, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro. Apple is...
iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Magsafe

iPhone 17 Pro's New MagSafe Design Revealed in Leaked Photo

Wednesday July 2, 2025 8:37 am PDT by
The upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are rumored to have a slightly different MagSafe magnet layout compared to existing iPhone models, and a leaked photo has offered a closer look at the supposed new design. The leaker Majin Bu today shared a photo of alleged MagSafe magnet arrays for third-party iPhone 17 Pro cases. On existing iPhone models with MagSafe, the magnets form a...

Top Rated Comments

dannyyankou Avatar
54 months ago
That doesn't sound like "level playing field" to me
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mihirdelirious Avatar
54 months ago
"We treat all developers equally."
So that was also a lie under oath.
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Graphikos Avatar
54 months ago

Fischer was asked specifically whether Apple has given some developers special access to allow them to do things that other developers don't get to do, and Fischer said no, but he said that Apple sometimes wants to test a feature with a small group before providing it to all developers.
This makes sense to me, but it's also a really good way to go about explaining special access that might not have been as legit.

However, Apple does give choice companies/developers access to new APIs and whatnot all the time. Right? These are the companies that get on stage right after the announcements to show off what they could do with the new APIs.

So Apple allowed Hulu to access some otherwise restricted APIs while they were developing methods for the masses? Makes sense. You can read into the "level playing field" as much as you want but to push development there has to be testing and what better way can you test if not with actual, real-world apps and companies? It's the right thing to do... listen to what your developers need and work with them to improve the experience all around.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kennyt72 Avatar
54 months ago
It seems this level playing field has a few bumps on it
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Quu Avatar
54 months ago
It's clear that Apple has lied when they have said publicly all app developers are playing under the same rules. They did a special deal with Amazon they allowed special access to API's to Hulu etc

If you're big enough or create enough revenue Apple is willing to treat you differently. It's just the case that EPIC wanted too much while Amazon, Hulu and others were willing to accept the more minor exceptions Apple offered them.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
barkomatic Avatar
54 months ago
The whole "level playing field" is a joke. I'm not sure Apple will be forced to to include 3rd party apps outside of it's app store but it's starting to look like developers are going to get to be allowed to let people sign up in app for subscriptions without Apple getting a cut.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)