Patreon’s iOS App Will (Now) Be Forced to Use In-App Purchasing Instead of Its Safari-Based System ⇥ news.patreon.com

For years, the Patreon app on iOS has allowed users to buy digital subscriptions without using Apple’s In-App Purchases model.¹ Instead, it throws up a Safari sheet with its own payment form. In 2021, Jacob Kastrenakes, of the Verge, contrasted this with the mandate given to Fanhouse, a similar platform, to use In-App Purchases. Kastrenakes followed up a few weeks later after Jack Conte, Patreon’s CEO, was interviewed for the “Decoder” podcast:

Patreon has been one of the odd exceptions to the rule. The platform’s iOS app has been able to accept payments outside of Apple’s in-app purchase system, which lets the company walk around that 30 percent cut. Conte suggests this may be allowed because users don’t come to Patreon to discover creators and content. “A lot of the actual engagement is happening on other platforms … So it’s just not the primary behavior that’s happening on Patreon,” Conte said. The Verge has reached out to Apple for comment.

That is a fair argument. Apple says its cut reflects services it provides, mostly marketing, though it does also admit it is just making money off its platform because it can. Patreon users do not benefit from the former. If Apple promotes In-App Purchases from third-party developers at all, I could not find an example in the App Store. Even if it did, Apple would not be a bigger draw for fans of people who make their living on Patreon than those individuals themselves.

Even so, Apple is now demanding Patreon make the switch:

As we first announced last year, Apple is requiring that Patreon use their in-app purchasing system and remove all other billing systems from the Patreon iOS app by November 2024.

This has two major consequences for creators:

• Apple will be applying their 30% App Store fee to all new memberships purchased in the Patreon iOS app, in addition to anything bought in your Patreon shop.

• Any creator currently on first-of-the-month or per-creation billing plans will have to switch over to subscription billing to continue earning in the iOS app, because that’s the only billing type Apple’s in-app purchase system supports.

That earlier announcement was made in December 2023 and it seems as though Apple did not provide a specific date, just a rough timeframe.

This is both a naked attempt to take an outsized cut from independent creative professionals, and a more consistent treatment of In-App Purchases. There are so many unanswered questions. Why was Patreon allowed an exemption in the first place, and for so long? Why did Apple change its mind late last year but also permit a long transition period which Patreon will complete next November? What changed? It is not as though Patreon is untrustworthy, or that cancelling a subscription is a laborious Amazon-like or New York Times-esque process.

Steve Troughton-Smith:

If you in the EU had left the App Store and were offering your app in an Alternative Marketplace and using Patreon as the monetization behind it, and your users are subbing in the Patreon app, now Apple will be taking the Core Technology Fee plus 30% of your revenue. They can tax both sides of the equation.

This would be similarly true for any Patreon competitor. Apple seems to believe it is entitled to a share of any financial gain from its platforms — except for physical goods, or transactions made through Mac apps distributed outside the App Store.

The 30% fee is also notable. As far as I can tell, only a handful of Patreon users would exceed the million-dollar annual threshold for Apple’s Small Business Program. That is, everyone who earns less than a million dollars per year through iOS Patreon pledges should, in theory, fork over a 15% commission rate to Apple. But it appears it is Patreon itself which is subject to the 30% rate. Whether that decision was made by Apple or Patreon, or if it is something which is a consequence of how App Store billing works, is unclear to me. But one thing is true regardless: Apple’s 30% commission is at least double the rate charged by Patreon itself, and only the latter has any material effect on the relationship between a creative professional and their supporters.

Update: In response to a question about whether Patreon would support the third-party payment options available in the U.S., E.U., and elsewhere, a spokesperson told me the company has “looked into alternate options but those also come with complex Apple requirements. Right now, because of these requirements, we do not believe they are viable options for Patreon nor do we believe they would result in a better experience for fans or creators”.