Any discount is enticing, but I wonder how many really go through the effort of -

1. Searching, Opening the web page in Safari.

2. Signing-in.

3. Updating personal details.

4. Updating credit card details.

5. Making the payment.

Instead of clicking a button to save $1?

P.S. I would.

I believe a lot of people would, because of the psychology of "it's not just $1, it's 16%, what if I save 16% on everything, I would be rich", the feeling of "sticking it to the man (Apple)" and "I don't want to be an idiot that pays too much".

Most people are not rational about money, me included.

To be fair I would pay more on the Apple/Google store if I knew that a) I wouldn't need to give my CC details to a random company b) cancelling would be hassle-free

I had a very bad experience trying to cancel nytimes subscription. That's when I realized the usefulness of App Store being the intermediary/guardian.

This is a monthly subscription to a Twitch streamer. Assuming you re-subscribe (which seems to be the whole point of Twitch) you are paying an extra $12 over the year, which is 2 months of subscriptions and change compared to the website.

That seems significant for even the most lazy person.

I would not, as it will cost be time and money down the road in case the company doesn’t have a proper way to deal with cancellations

> in case the company doesn’t have a proper way to deal with cancellations

This is where a credit card becomes useful, any credit card company worth its salt will seize charges to you immediately. I wouldn't even ever use a debit card online, it's far too risky.

This is not “skirting the rules”. There is nothing in the rules that says you aren’t allowed to charge a higher price on the App Store. Spotify did this for years and the NYT does this now.