Twitter’s newest launch Super follows could run into an app store issue

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The introduction of Super Follows signalled the end of really free content on Twitter and the beginning of whatever Patreon-infused future awaits the microblogging service. Supporting creators directly with monthly payments isn’t a terrible thing, but as app researcher Jane Manchun Wong pointed out on Thursday, the way they now function on iOS is a little strange — each Super Follow membership is a separate App Store in-app purchase (via MacRumors).

You can check it out for yourself by visiting the App Store on an Apple device or the web. Twitter now only offers ten in-app subscriptions of varying rates, each of which is connected with Super Following a certain creator.

Wong speculates that just ten are displayed since the App Store isn’t intended to display as many in-app purchases as Twitter now does. Twitter’s Super Follow subscriptions are available on the App Store as in-app purchases.

There appears to be some truth to it, but there is a catch: Apple only allows “10,000 in-app purchase products” per developer account. Even with Twitter’s eligibility criteria for Super Follows (including having 10,000 followers), it appears that this may become an issue as more people utilise the services, especially with the advent of other premium goods such as Ticketed Spaces and Twitter Blue. Wong speculates that just ten are displayed since the App Store isn’t intended to display as many in-app purchases as Twitter now offers.

Twitter's Super Follows could run into an App Store problem | Eagles Vine

Twitter’s Super Follow subscriptions are available as in-app purchases on the App Store.

There appears to be some truth to it, but there is an additional issue: Apple only allows “10,000 in-app purchase products” per developer account. Even with Twitter’s eligibility criteria for Super Follows (including having 10,000 followers), it appears that this may become an issue as more people utilise the services, especially with the advent of other premium goods like Ticketed Spaces and Twitter Blue.

Whether or not Twitter’s present setup for Super Follows proves to be an issue is completely dependent on how popular the function ultimately becomes. Twitter is experimenting with a slew of new features, but they don’t all have to stay (or make sense) to be significant. Some, like Fleets, which was killed off by Twitter after less than a year, will essentially self-destruct because to a lack of popularity.