this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2026
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Just crank all iOS user payments up by 30%, explain why, and let nature sort itself out.
Apple doesn't allow this - they expect your price to be the same everywhere or they'll remove the app from their store or decline version updates. There have historically been a few high profile exceptions privately negotiated, and I think they were forced to relax this in the last year or two, but here they are again trying to claw away money they did literally nothing to earn.
You're not correct on the "same price" thing. Yes, Apple declined version updates, but it's because they don't want apps to tell the user to go to the website, they don't care about a price match.
You're definitely right about them prohibiting devs from pointing to a web browser to subscribe. They can't link, can't even use language that explains WHY you can't subscribe in the app (if the dev decides to forego using Apples payment system entirely). I think that THIS was what Apple recently was forced by a judge to relax, after the Apple v Epic case.
I must have been conflating the policy that they ABSOLUTELY did have (but only til 2011) and the outside links issue. Hughes Hubbard
Macrumors
That's interesting, TIL that they used to be even worse than they are today. Thanks!
It's hard to believe, I know. 😅
Instagram puts way more than 30% on their ads when purchasing through iOS
If you buy 100€ of ad budget, they want you to pay an additional 42.5% apple service fee and additional taxes here in Germany.
If I do it through their ad center suddenly the taxes are already included in the budget so if I pay 100€ I get 100€. So in the end, Meta charges iOS users an additional 70% vs what they usually charge.
Are you purchasing ad space through Meta or Apple in the no fee scenario?
I have an app which reduces the quality of the app for apple users to force them to subscribe more than Android users.
The price is the same, but on android there's no limit to the number of saves you can keep whereas Apple has a limit of 5 and you need to Subscribe at $30/year to unlock more saves.
It's already an option and if you read the article, only 4% are still on the legacy billing system (no Apple tax at all)
iOS users using a browser don't pay the Apple Tax. And the only reason to pay through the app is if you specifically want to use Apple Pay (e.g to pay with your phone bill instead of your credit card).
At this point it's a "stupid tax" more than anything.
Small clarification. Apple Pay is not really paying with your phone bill. I think you can but most users just have their credit card or debit card linked.
That's why I used e.g instead of i.e :) That's one use case for Apple Pay that you can't get from the website. Another would be that you don't share your card details with whoever Patreon's payment processor is - which might make sense if you trust Apple more than some particular processor
They would all be screaming shut up and take my money.