With Twitch increasing prices on tier-one subs yet again, one streamer this week has stepped up to provide a handy workaround to avoiding the mobile sub price hike before it goes into effect later this year.
FlashForce, an official content creator for Phasmophobia, revealed the deceptively simple trick Twitch streamers can use to help their subscribers dodge the mobile subscription price increase. Apparently, it’s as simple as adding a link to their channel that directs them to Twitch through the mobile browser. Subscribers who prefer watching Twitch from their phone or tablet can pay web prices—so long as they don’t buy anything through the Twitch app itself.
While this might seem like a “hack” that could get circumvented by Twitch if it garners too much attention, it’s very unlikely to be removed anytime soon. Any purchase made through the Twitch mobile app has always been more expensive than web prices solely because of “costs associated with selling subscriptions within mobile platforms,” according to the official Twitch help article on mobile subs. If a sub is bought through the web browser without incurring costs from Google or Apple, then Twitch loses no money and has no reason to discourage viewers from doing so.
In some ways, the mobile tier-one sub price hike coming so soon after the web sub price increase is an expected return to the status quo of mobile being substantially more expensive than desktop. Twitch explicitly states that subscribers “always have the option” to purchase cheaper subs through the mobile web browser in the help article itself.
Unfortunately, this workaround might still disincentivize gifting subs while watching on mobile, as Twitch’s mobile website is clunkier to navigate than the official app. However, it’s good to know that subscribers have options other than paying around $10 USD or more including tax just for a tier-one sub. Hopefully, this will be the last round of subscription price increases for a good while.
