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Facebook says it has solved its dispute with Apple and will roll out a subscription tool for iOS

It will show up in March.

Campbell Brown, head of news partnerships at Facebook
Campbell Brown, head of news partnerships at Facebook
Campbell Brown, head of news partnerships at Facebook
Asa Mathat
Peter Kafka
Peter Kafka covered media and technology, and their intersection, at Vox. Many of his stories can be found in his Kafka on Media newsletter, and he also hosts the Recode Media podcast.

Facebook has resolved a dispute with Apple that prevented the social network from launching a subscription tool for publishers on iOS devices.

Now Facebook says it will roll out a version of the tool, which has already been available on Android phones, on Apple phones in March.

“It’s resolved,” Facebook executive Campbell Brown said in her appearance at Code Media in Huntington Beach, Calif.

Brown and fellow executive Adam Mosseri didn’t give many details on how exactly the dispute was settled, but Brown said that all publishers were asking for the paywall’s so-called meter — or the number of free articles that can be viewed before being sent to the actual publisher — to be lowered to five. The change will roll out March 1.

Apple and Facebook had previously disagreed over the fee that Apple levies against app developers that sell subscriptions via iOS app. That fee can be up to 30 percent of revenue per month.

Facebook currently doesn’t take any of the money from subscriptions publishers sell using its tool, which puts up a paywall when readers try to reach certain stories. When readers hit the wall, they’re sent to the publisher’s website, where they can sign up for a subscription.

Facebook also said it plans to highlight breaking news in its Watch section, the tab on the Facebook app that houses original video.


This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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