In the latest app update on iOS, Audible now lets users actually buy audiobooks inside the app using existing credits.
According to a tweet from Chris Fralic of First Round (originally sourced by Joshua Topolosky of The Outline), the “Add to Library” button in Audible will show the message “You can now use credits without leaving the app!”:
This is a big deal in the Apple mobile ecosystem. You can buy books right in the app from credits you have (used to have to go to https://t.co/jdw7IGFIAv to buy). Thx for the scooplet @joshuatopolsky and the book rec @schlaf pic.twitter.com/R2rGzfFgvB
— Chris Fralic (@chrisfralic) September 16, 2019
Previously, you couldn’t even buy books within Audible, as Amazon didn’t make the option available to avoid paying a 30% markup due to Apple’s App Store policies. Instead, users could only listen to books purchased on the Audibles website – even if they had already purchased credits, they couldn’t apply them towards books from within the app.
With this update, as long as you pre-pay for credits, you can actually add the book to your library from within iOS. While it’s not full-on purchasing from within Audible, it’s one less hoop to jump through.
I previously held off on Audible due to these restrictions, so it may be worth revisiting if you’ve done the same.
