You found a small British audiobook platform you like. It came highly recommended. You downloaded their app. You want to buy something. Simple, right?
Except when you tap ‘Buy,’ you’re not paying the company you chose. You’re handed off to Apple or Google to complete the transaction – not because the company wants that, but because Apple and Google require it.
That’s how the mobile app ecosystem works today. And most people have no idea.
What’s actually happening
You can order a weekly shop from Waitrose through their app. Buy a jumper from Marks & Spencer. Book a flight on British Airways. Even buy a physical book from Waterstones. In every case, the transaction is between you and the company you chose. They use their own payment systems. Apple and Google don’t get involved.
But if you buy an audiobook, an ebook, a music subscription, or a streaming service – anything that competes with Apple and Google’s own content offerings – suddenly the rules change. The developer is forced to implement Apple or Google’s payment systems. They can’t offer you an alternative. They can’t even tell you one exists.
Over 80% of apps on the app stores are free to handle payments however they like. The restrictions only apply to companies selling digital content… the very category where Apple and Google are competitors. They justify this by claiming it’s about security and user protection. But there’s nothing unsafe about buying an audiobook from xigxag’s website, just as there’s nothing unsafe about buying groceries from Waitrose’s app. The difference isn’t security. It’s that we compete with them and Waitrose don’t.
At xigxag, we’ve built one of the top-rated audiobook apps in both app stores. We also have a website with a payment system that works brilliantly on our website. We can see exactly what the difference looks like, and it’s stark.
Apple and Google’s in-app payment systems fail at up to six times the rate of our website payments. When they fail, we can’t see why: they give us no visibility into what went wrong. Our customers expect us to help, but we can’t, because the transaction isn’t ours. We have to send them to Apple or Google’s automated support instead.
Apple and Google withhold our revenue for 30 to 50 days — sometimes as long as 68 days. Our website payment provider pays us within seven days. For a small business, this puts us in a tight spot when we need to pay our publishers before we get paid!
Apple and Google’s payment systems are simple not fit for purpose. They don’t support basic retail functionality that any online shop takes for granted: shopping baskets, multiple purchases at once, dynamic pricing, or detailed receipts. To issue proper receipts through the app stores, we’d need to maintain over 350,000 individual purchasable items across both platforms. Their systems couldn’t even support that.
And Apple won’t even show us individual transactions, so we have not ability to reconcile what they say we’ve sold vs. what we believe we sold.
These aren’t minor inconveniences. They’re structural barriers that make it harder for independent businesses to serve their customers well.
Why it matters to you
When you choose to buy from a small, independent company, you’re making a deliberate choice. You’re choosing to support something different. But Apple and Google’s rules mean that choice gets hijacked at the point of payment.
You end up transacting with one of the biggest companies on earth instead of the brand you actually chose. If something goes wrong, you’re dealing with their automated support, not a real person. And the company you wanted to support? They’re paying up to 30% of that sale for the privilege of being forced through a system that doesn’t work properly.
It’s not free and fair competition. It’s a stitch-up.
Something is changing — slowly
The UK government passed the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA) to give the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) new powers to tackle this kind of market dominance. Apple and Google have both been designated with ‘strategic market status’: official recognition that they hold entrenched power over critical digital infrastructure.
Other countries are moving faster. The EU now requires Apple to allow alternative payment methods and app stores. US courts have challenged Apple’s restrictions on how developers communicate with their own customers. The UK has the legal framework to act. The question is whether the CMA will impose real change, or accept weak voluntary commitments that leave the status quo intact.
As I argued recently in an opinion piece for LBC, the UK already has the power to take on big tech. The question is whether we’ll use it.
What you can do
If you use xigxag, the single best thing you can do is buy from our website instead of through the app. Here’s how simple it is: find a book you love, click buy, log in, enter your payment details, and confirm. The audio book you just bought will appear on the My Books page of the app immediately (you may need to swipe down to refresh).
The purchase is far more likely to go through without a hitch. If something does go wrong, you’ll be dealing with a real person, not a bot. And you’ll be helping to keep us sustainable as a business, so we can keep growing, building our audience, and bringing you more great books.
This applies to every small app or service you use, not just us. If they have a website, buy there. The product is the same. The difference is who gets paid.
At xigxag, we’re a Cornwall-based business building an independent audiobook platform. We exist because we think people deserve real choice in what they listen to, and in who they buy from. Thanks for supporting us. 💜
