The ‘Apple Tax’ Hits Patreon—New Payment Options for iOS to Cover 30% Fee

Photo Credit: Patreon

The Apple Tax is coming for Patreon subscribers on iOS as the app must switch to Apple’s in-house payment system or face removal from the App Store.Apple is requiring Patreon to switch to their in-app payment system for all iOS transactions or be kicked out of the App Store. Patreon says Apple’s in-app purchase system is not built with its “creator-first flexibility,” which will result in some changes to the experience for people who subscribe to creators through iOS. Patreon is required to switch over by November 2024 with some pretty serious consequences for creators who use the platform.

Apple is applying its 30% App Store fee (the Apple Tax) to all new memberships purchased in the Patreon iOS app—in addition to anything bought in the Patreon shop. Any creator who utilizes Patreon’s first-of-the-month or per-creation billing plans will have to switch over to subscription billing to continue earning in the iOS app, since that’s the only billing type that Apple supports. The new Apple Tax only impacts new subscriptions sold inside the Patreon iOS app from November 2024 onward—but Patreon has built a few tools to help creators adjust.

“Based on creator feedback, we’ve built an optional tool that can automatically increase your prices—only in the iOS app—to offset the cost of Apple’s fee,” Patreon says. Creators will still earn the same amount of revenue per transaction, though their supporters who utilize iOS to pay will see an across the board increase in prices. This automatic price increase for iOS is the default, but Patreon is giving creators the option to absorb the Apple Tax and not hike prices for their customers.“Apple has made clear that if creators on Patreon continue to use unsupported billing models or disable transactions in the iOS app, we will be at risk of having the entire app removed from their App Store,” the help document reads. Patreon is starting a 16-month migration process to bring all creators onto subscription billing by November 2025—with the goal of discontinuing first-of-the-month and per-creation billing models by that date.

Patreon users aren’t too happy about the update, especially with the options for first-of-the-month and per-creation billing going away. “How about you let us delist ourselves from the iOS app permanently instead?” asks one person inquiring about the recent changes. “My company makes a game that doesn’t even support iOS. I didn’t even know there was a Patreon app and I certainly don’t want my business model upended because of something that produces no value to me.”