Yeah the good old “you want to use Apple service for free” when all folks ask for is them charging less.
Almost no one actually demand Apple to provide App Store services for free. But many don't like the 30% cut.
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Apple Requiring Patreon to Use In-App Purchase and Pay 30% Fee for Memberships
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Almost no one actually demand Apple to provide App Store services for free. But many don't like the 30% cut.
And probably doesn’t allow easy download transfer either I’d reckon.
I also only use the browser and pay creators through them directly.
Maybe send out a post or an email explaining the situation, and tell their supporters subscribing through website is cheaper. Patreon sends out new post notification via email anyways.
While I can’t tell you how to spend your money, it feels a bit of bizarre to me to drop support to creators simply because you need to pay more to continue to be charged via iOS in-app purchases. Creators are not at fault here.
That doesn’t make it false. The fact that they also charge 8% when they don’t deliver anything doesn’t change the fact that they do deliver digital content for money.
By that logic anyone who wants to work with iOS customers must change their business model too, like someone using iPhone to buy cars, dealership would have to change their way of selling cars so Apple don’t charge 30% fee. I know above hypothetical is false but just saying.
I don’t know, and frankly, after reading this article, I don’t care anymore.
That’s certainly an issue that you want to ignore.
I completely agree.
We just disagree on which platform is providing value to whom.
Apple has a deep commitment to protecting the privacy and security of users precious personal information. This unparalleled protection can only be achieved when customers sign up using the App Store ecosystem of financial services and payments.
Because Apple could get paid for what they are doing - dev support, bandwidth etc. But that’s not what this is about. Steve Jobs wanted to run the App Store at break even. Tim Cook and Phil Schiller can’t stand that someone might make money through an iOS app so they’re going to make damn sure Apple gets a cut of that.
Thus submitting their entire life to Apple, giving up their privacy to Apple in exchange for “protection of privacy and security” From Apple. Sounds good to me.
Now millions of people will be impacted by this and the resulting negative impression that Apple is greedy.
nope. It is a charge just when buying things in-app, for digital goods and services consumed in-app.
outside of a few classes of apps (music and video players, ebook readers), you must provide the option for people to purchase goods and services consumed in-app via in app purchases, and there is anti-steering (eg don’t say apple sucks here is a link to get this cheaper above the purchase option and expect your app to be published.)
So Kindle can just omit any way to buy books, but Discord needs to provide a way to in-app purchase premium accounts or servers or emoji (or whatever they make money from; not an experienced Discord user)
Want to buy a car? Using in-app purchase isn’t even allowed.
Patreon could host merch stores and they would have to use a separate credit card system (or Apple Pay, which doesn’t cost them more than other options)
my opinion is the “apple tax” is a boon for Patreon. Their biggest threats are Google (YouTube) and Amazon (Twitch), where a lot of the content creators… post their content. The companies all have to follow this rule equally, so the convenience of an in-app YouTube/Twitch support option is countered by the same transaction fee. If you lose convenience by telling people the better support creators by going to a web site, it is a lot easier for Patreon to compete.
Then why make it as your argument? I don’t know which part you may have known is false.
We need the Apple zealots and defenders to the front of the house right now.
THEY you can tell us all why this is necessary and why patreon and its users should just suck it up!
YOUR APPLE AND TIM APPLE IS GETTING BURIED IN HERE, got to stop the bleeding!
THEY you can tell us all why this is necessary and why patreon and its users should just suck it up!
YOUR APPLE AND TIM APPLE IS GETTING BURIED IN HERE, got to stop the bleeding!
Apple keeping 30% while Patreon itself keeps only 12% is wild. And people will still go on this forum to bash the EU for doing something about the toxic environment Apple has created. They like to see consumers paying more for the exact same content, and developers losing purchases because the price inflated with Apple’s fees is too high to justify.
We need the Apple zealots and defenders to the front of the house right now.
THEY you can tell us all why this is necessary and why patreon and its users should just suck it up!
YOUR APPLE AND TIM APPLE IS GETTING BURIED IN HERE, got to stop the bleeding!
Ask and you shall receive.
jwz: Patreon screws me over, says a big Apple did it and ran away
Patreon has two billing models, monthly (bills on the first of the month, or whenever they get around to it) and daily (charges you the moment you sign up.) For several years now, they have been trying really hard to get creators to switch to daily billing whether they like it or not, with a...
As with a lot of drama involving Apple, we usually see news break that seem to paint Apple in a very negative light, resulting in a ton of traction, a ton of hits and a ton of criticism.
Then over time, more information emerges to paint the situation in the proper context, but by the time, not many people really care about the truth anymore.
All I say is - you know how your business model operates, you know how it interacts with iTunes billing, you choose to go ahead despite knowing that it means for you and your customers, maybe this is one of those situations where Patreon could simply remain a web app and not need to go through the App Store.
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Why does Patreon NEED an iOS app -
Patreon today confirmed upcoming changes to its iOS app, which will see fees for new subscriptions go up because Apple is enforcing its App Store rules on digital purchases. Apple is requiring Patreon to adopt the in-app purchase system, a process that Patreon started at the beginning of the year.
In January 2024, Patreon started using in-app purchases and paying Apple a 30 percent fee on digital products, but beginning in November, new Patreon memberships will also need to be done through in-app purchase and will be subject to the fee as well. Right now, when you subscribe to a creator through Patreon, Patreon directs you to a purchase flow that skirts built-in App Store payments, and Apple does not take a 30 percent cut.
To account for the 30 percent fee that Apple will collect, Patreon will give creators the option to either increase their prices just in the iOS app, or absorb the fee themselves, keeping prices the same across platforms. The changes to Patreon payments will only affect new memberships purchased through an iPhone or iPad from November onwards, and not existing subscribers.
Patreon says that the increased subscription fee will be the default option, and that it does not recommend that creators opt to absorb the fee themselves.
Apple will collect a 30 percent App Store fee for all new memberships purchased via Patreon for iOS and for other digital goods purchased from a Patreon shop, and creators that use first-of-the-month billing or per-creation billing plans will need to swap to subscription billing for their iOS supporters because the in-app purchase system does not support the other flexible payment types.
Per-creation billing allows Patreon members to pay their membership amount for each paid post a creator makes, with a monthly maximum. First-of-the-month billing comes into play with subscription models where a creator allows an upfront fee to unlock a backlog of content, with future payments made on the first of the month.
Because of the limitations of in-app purchase subscriptions, Patreon is transitioning all of its creators to subscription billing, a process that it plans to complete by November 2025. Creators that already use the subscription model do not need to make changes, but creators using other methods will need to update.
Patreon says that if it does not adopt the in-app purchase system for all iOS transactions, it risks being kicked out of the App Store. As fees are not changing on other platforms such as the web and the Android app, Patreon suggests that creators send their fans to the Patreon Help Center article to explain the iOS fees compared to the fees on other platforms, so customers can "better understand the implications of where they choose to make their purchases."
It is worth noting that Apple's 30 percent cut of Patreon subscriptions will be higher than the amount that Patreon keeps from creators. Patreon keeps between 8% and 12% of paid membership subscriptions, along with payment processing fees. Patreon also collects five percent from digital product sales.
Apple will cut its fees from 30 percent to 15 percent after a subscription has lasted for one year, which is standard operating procedure for the in-app purchases. Apple has been cracking down on the sale of digital goods post-pandemic, and Facebook has also been required to pay Apple's in-app purchase fees for ad purchases on iOS devices.
Article Link: Apple Requiring Patreon to Use In-App Purchase and Pay 30% Fee for Memberships
why don't they just handle everything through their website like they used to?
Patreon payments are basically donations. You do that to support the creator, not to see those a few videos earlier than other. Charging 30% for a donation is a very bad move. Sadly Google does the same. If you send somebody a "superchat" on YouTube, Google gets 30%. Most donors are not aware of that. I saw somebody donate $500 in a superchat. That is $150 for Google. Those companies need to be stopped.