Apple Warns Patreon to Adopt Its Payment System or Face App Store Expulsion

Apple has issued a warning to the crowdfunding application Patreon, indicating that it might be expelled from the App Store if its creators persist in employing unapproved third-party payment methods or bypass transactions on iOS. Instead, creators are encouraged to integrate Apple’s native in-app purchase system. Patreon has communicated to its creators via a blog entry and email, announcing an initiation of a 16-month transition to adopt Apple’s subscription billing by November 2025 for all its creators.

Patreon has also laid out plans for creators to transition to Apple’s subscription billing starting November 2024. Creators will have the choice to either set higher membership fees to cover Apple’s cut or to take on these costs themselves. Moreover, there’s an option to postpone this shift till November 2025 in Patreon’s settings, according to the announcement. Nonetheless, opting for postponement means creators cannot offer memberships via the iOS app until they switch to Apple’s subscription billing model, conforming to Apple’s mandates starting this November.

This move underscores the ongoing scrutiny over Apple’s App Store guidelines being inconsistently enforced — a critique Apple has encountered previously from various quarters, including from Epic Games, the developer behind Fortnite, which initiated antitrust litigation against Apple. Although Epic Games largely did not prevail, the ruling necessitated that Apple must permit links to alternative payment methods within apps. Subsequently, Apple now permits developers to direct customers to off-app subscriptions at a reduced commission rate of 27% instead of the usual 30%, and 12% instead of 15% for auto-renewing subscriptions from the second year onwards. (The enforcement of this ruling is ongoing in court).

While Apple’s policies are stringent, Patreon has navigated a peculiar loophole, with certain subscription services being accessible within its app and others not. According to Patreon CEO Jack Conte during an interview with tech news outlet The Verge in 2021, this might be attributed to the fact that most Patreon users discover creators and content through external channels rather than on Patreon itself. Though no special agreement with Apple was admitted, Patreon managed to circumvent Apple’s in-app purchase mandates for a period.

Evidently, Patreon is discontent with Apple’s enforced compliance with its policies, labeling neither of the options to increase subscription costs or absorb fees as “ideal.”

“Subscription billing is a widely adopted model by Patreon creators,” notes Patreon’s blog update. “Over recent years, we’ve gradually implemented it, overcoming various challenges to ensure a seamless transition for creators. Our preference has always been to empower creators with the flexibility of switching to subscription billing at their discretion. However, Apple’s prescribed timelines and limitations have curtailed this approach, coercing us to expedite this transition for all creators on their dictated schedule.”

Patreon reassured creators that Apple’s charges are only applicable within the iOS app, encouraging them to maintain consistent pricing across web and Android platforms. Creators are advised to direct their supporters to a support article detailing the impact of iOS fees to enhance patrons’ purchasing decisions knowledgeably.

As of this writing, neither Patreon nor Apple has provided additional comments.