Starting in “early 2022,” the firm will let “reader” apps—typically digital publications and audio, music and video platforms—link to external websites where users can sign up and pay for services. Apple is making the change to close a Japan Fair Trade Commission investigation into its App Store practices. (The Logic)

Talking point: The change, announced Thursday, will make a small difference to media services like Netflix and Spotify; while subscribers could already use their accounts through their iOS apps, prospective customers without accounts typically got an error message. Regulators around the world are chipping away at Apple’s insistence that users of its devices conduct transactions for or in apps within its walled garden. The company is facing yet another case over its in-app purchase rules—an Indian non-profit has reportedly referred it to the country’s competition commission over its practice of taking up to a 30 per cent commission.