Apple in-app purchase fee

Apple’s in-app purchase fee depends on many factors. Like any marketplace, the App Store charges a commission on subscriptions and in-app purchases selling on their platform. This fee is a significant part of developers’ unit economy. In this article, you may find the structure of how you can reduce the commission and increase your LTV, and the apple payout dates.

Apple in-app purchase subscription fee

Based on the Apple website, 84% of apps are free, which means Apple does not earn a penny except the $100 developer enrolment fee. It means, like on any fair marketplace, developers decide how much to price for their products. The only thing Apple requires is to follow their Price Tiers with an average interval of one dollar.

Apple says they only collect a commission from developers when a consumer receives services through a mobile app. Let’s have a look at the ways developers may monetize their apps’ services on the App Store. We will talk about free apps for users to download with in-app purchases and/or subscriptions. This allows developers to earn 70 or 85% of sales from in-app purchases and/or subscriptions. It means that Apple collects 15% or 30% fees. Until  2021, Apple had only the 70/30 revenue share model, but in November 2020, they announced the new App Store Small Business Program. The program allows reducing App Store commission to 15% for app developers who earn less than one million dollars during the calendar year. You may read more about the program in our previous blog post.

An additional condition that might benefit you is that developers earn 85% from subscriptions that remain for more than one year. This rule refers to both regular and App Store Small Business Program. 

Apple in-app purchase commission in one table

App Store Small Business Program

Apple Fiscal Calendar

Apple’s payment calendar is tricky, so it is understandable if you get confused about your estimated payment date. We wrote a complete guide to help you understand how it works and added the Apple fiscal calendar. Please go to this article to learn more and download the calendar. 

Apple Fiscal Calendar Dates

I hope this content was helpful, and now you have a clear understanding of the apple in-app purchase commission and payout calendar. If you have an app with subscriptions, you can try to use Qonversion – the data platform for mobile apps with in-app purchases and subscriptions. Qonversion handles and takes care of all things regarding subscriptions so you can focus on your main product. 

You can learn more about how to implement in-app subscriptions without building your backend quickly. And yes, it is free to start with Qonversion.

Learn more about in-app purchases and subscription infrastructure.