Apple launches monthly subscriptions with 12 month commitment on the App Store, here’s how they work

Apple announced last month the arrival of a new option for App Store applications: monthly subscriptions with a 12-month commitment. Now, alongside iOS 26.5, these subscriptions have officially launched, and a new support document explains exactly how they work.

Apple Answers Questions About New App Store “Monthly Subscriptions with 12-Month Commitment”

Subscriptions have become standard across a range of App Store apps. And most of the time, apps will come with two different plans: monthly and yearly.

But alongside iOS 26.5, and also available to iOS 26.4 users, Apple has added a new option that could become popular. It’s basically a hybrid of monthly and annual plans.

“Monthly with 12-month commitment” allows you to pay for a subscription in 12 monthly installments while benefiting from the discount of an annual package. This gives you the best price without significant upfront costs.

One caveat is that the new plan is not yet available in the United States or Singapore. Oddly, it’s launched everywhere else in the world except these two countries.

However, for the rest of the world, Apple has a support document that answers key questions about the new subscription plan:

• How it works: “When you sign up for a monthly subscription with a 12-month commitment, you agree to make all payments until your commitment is fulfilled.”
• Early cancellation: “At any time during your commitment, you can cancel your subscription. Canceling before the end of your commitment does not end your payment commitment.” But canceling early will prevent your plan from automatically renewing.
• The payment method does not go through: “You may lose access to the service until payment is received. To avoid interruptions to your subscriptions and purchases, update the payment method in your Apple account.”

Apple also explains what happens if you want to move to a different plan before your commitment ends:

If you upgrade your plan during your 12-month commitment:

• You will immediately upgrade to the new plan.
• You will receive a prorated refund for any unused time during your current billing period.
• Your terms of engagement adjust to reflect your new plan.

Third-party apps must manually add this new subscription option, so deployment may be slow at first. But I would expect it to become quite common before long, especially if and when it comes to the United States.

Do you plan to start using this new subscription option where it is available? Let us know in the comments.

Best iPhone accessories