No external payment links or buttons for digital goods

Apple guideline 3.1.1 prohibits directing users to external payment flows for digital goods — and enforcement is not limited to rejection. Apple has terminated developer accounts for this violation and retroactively removed apps from the store. Google Play Billing Policy carries equivalent restrictions. The damage extends beyond the individual app: a terminated developer account means every app under that account is removed simultaneously. Unlike most rejection reasons which allow a resubmit with a fix, account termination has no straightforward appeal path. This is the highest-severity policy violation in the entire IAP compliance surface.

Remove all external payment links, webview checkout flows, and Linking.openURL() calls pointing to payment processors for digital goods. Implement purchases exclusively through StoreKit (iOS) or Play Billing Library (Android).

Search your codebase for the following patterns and eliminate each one found for digital goods:

// Remove patterns like these for digital goods:
Linking.openURL('https://yourapp.com/subscribe');
Linking.openURL('https://buy.stripe.com/...');
<WebView source={{ uri: 'https://checkout.paddle.com/...' }} />

The "reader app" exemption (Netflix, Kindle) allows having no purchase button at all — but explicitly prohibits linking to external purchase. You may link to account management (cancel, update billing) AFTER the user has subscribed via the platform store. Physical goods and real-world services remain fully exempt — only digital goods require the platform store.