News

May Pugpig publisher check-in: Key takeaways including preview of Bolt’s new in-app purchasing (IAP) subscriptions modal

Catch the highlights from this month’s Pugpig publisher check-in, featuring Bolt’s new IAP subscriptions modal, our response to the US Apple App Store changes, and a sneak peek at the 2025 State of Mobile Publishing report.

30th May 2025

RSVP TO THE JUNE CHECK-IN

In this month’s publisher check-in, we covered lots of exciting product updates including a preview of Bolt’s new in-app purchasing (IAP) subscriptions modal and what we’re doing in light of the recent court ruling on Apple’s in-app payment rules in the. US. We also gave an earlybird preview of our upcoming 2025 State of Mobile Publishing report, covering top priorities for publishers this year, the most engaging content formats and more. You can watch the full recording here.

On next month’s check-in, we’ll be chatting with tech platforms expert, David Buttle, who’ll be giving an update on the AI market and what this means for publishers. If you caught David’s session at our Customer Summit last year, you’ll know that it’s not to be missed! Key details:

🗓️ Tuesday 24th June

⏰ 11am EDT/4pm BST

🎟️ Register for the event using this link

Pugpig customer team update

A look at the latest Pugpig app launches…

In May, we saw a range of exciting app updates on our platform. Let’s take a quick look…

The Week UK and US updated their app with changes that deliver more content to their subscribers. We’ve extended beyond one week of content by adding new logic to show last week and archive content, and updated styling throughout.
HELLO! app changes included a slick new refresh of cards and articles.

UnHerd launches redesign of Pugpig app – sleeker, smarter, and user-centred

The UnHerd app’s new Home timeline showcases the best of Newsroom, plus top stories from the UK and US – giving users a dynamic view of everything on offer. Users can dive into curated Timelines by day, explore topics by editorial section, and enjoy a revamped Watch & Listen hub packed with videos, podcasts, events, and more. Growth is fuelled by a smart five-article meter and automated push notifications via Airship – driving habit and engagement at scale.

Pugpig Product Team Update

Recent releases and upcoming features on Pugpig Bolt

Pugpig Product Director, Emillie, gave us a quick rundown of recently released features including SDK 18 (inc new iPadOS tab bar), support for protected audio and video streams, and haptic feedback. She also gave us a preview of the new and improved IAP subscription modal and explained the latest US Apple App Store changes and what they mean for you.

Read about our 2025 product roadmap

New and improved in-app purchase (IAP) subscriptions modal

The new design features a much more modern, refreshed UI. The subscribe call-to-action is sticky so you won’t run the risk of it being pushed off screen, and the layout is much more intuitive, especially for publishers offering multiple subscription tiers.

We’re initially rolling this out with a few customers on iOS first so we can keep a close eye on the metrics and the impact on conversions, ensuring necessary changes are made before rolling out to all customers.

Get in touch if you’d like to be involved in testing – we’ll be starting in the next week or two.

US Apple App Store changes and what we’re doing…

We delved into the pretty significant recent changes to Apple’s App Store guidelines for payments in the US (which you can read more about in our recent edition of the Media Bulletin), and product changes we’re making in light of this.

What’s changed?

U.S. court ruling forces Apple to allow links to external payment options (for apps downloaded via the US App Store)
This means apps can now include clear buttons or links that take users outside the app to complete purchases, bypassing Apple’s payment system and the typical 30% commission
In the rest of the world you can offer IAP or External Link Entitlement (ELE) as currently
Meanwhile the overall regulatory landscape remains in flux

What are we doing?

We’re rolling out an optional feature to support a button on the paywall that links straight out to your website (not via the ELE ‘scare screen’)
Our new Storefront Awareness feature will determine whether to display the external link button or the button configured for non-US users – this opens up the possibility of in the future allowing you to customise copy across the app based on storefront
Links open in the user’s default browser, not in the in-app browser (currently believed to be an Apple requirement)
We’re expecting Apple to mandate IAP alongside an external link if you offer them in other regions, however we’re leaving this flexible for you to decide

This sounds great! But will it convert?

Pros

Avoids Apple’s 15-30% commission
Greater control of pricing, promotions and messaging
Directly own the customer relationship

Cons

Increased friction with users being taken out of the app to transact
Lack of fully integrated offers and promotions
Risk of lower conversion due to this – the maths might not add up. Early A/B test results shared in the industry show a significant conversion drop

Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on 9-13th June

It’s the annual WWDC in a couple of weeks, where Apple will be releasing details of iOS/iPad OS19 (expected to be launched as iOS.iPadOS 26 in line with a rumoured shift in the naming of all Apple’s software). The headline thing we’re expecting to be announced is a huge overhaul of the UI on iOS and iPad OS, which experts are saying is set to be the biggest design change since iOS 7 back in 2013.

We’re also expecting Apple to be opening up some of the Apple Intelligence features to developers. We’ll be bringing you all our key takeaways in the next publisher check-in on 24th June, so make sure you come along.

Customer Poll: Recent changes to the US Apple App Store

This month’s quick-fire poll focused on what changes you’re planning on making based on Apple’s recent US App Store changes…

RSVP TO NEXT MONTH’S CHECK-IN

MONTHLY FOCUS: PREVIEW OF OUR 2025 STATE OF MOBILE PUBLISHING REPORT

This month, we gave an earlybird preview of our upcoming 2025 State of Mobile Publishing report, covering the hottest publisher priorities including personalisation and AI, and looking at the most engaging content formats in 2025.

Skip to 22 mins of the recording to see the early report findings.