cross-posted from: lemmy.ca/post/59469059
Damn! Creators are going to need another Patreon to supplement their Apple-induced Patreon shortfall.
Apple to Soon Take Up to 30% Cut From All Patreon Creators in iOS App
Submitted 8 hours ago by Sine_Fine_Belli@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/01/28/patreon-apple-tax/
Comments
DannyMac@sh.itjust.works 25 minutes ago
hector@lemmy.today 40 minutes ago
These Silicon Valley parasites are taking way more than a fair share. Every industry is Consolidated and the few gatekeeping corporations left take more than their fair share that is the entire problem. Capitalism does not work without controls. Never has, I never will. This absolute free market talk has always been ad hoc, to further the business interests of those making the arguments.
JensSpahnpasta@feddit.org 7 hours ago
To make this clear: Patreon is a platform mainly used by creators, artists, musicians to get a reliable income directly from their fans. Apple is trying to steal 30% of the income of our favorite artists.
Flagstaff@programming.dev 7 hours ago
Good thing none of us have iPhones here, right, guys? Right?
HotsauceHurricane@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
Been locked in this ecosystem for a while guys. I’m not proud of it.
hanrahan@slrpnk.net 1 hour ago
Definetly not, wayyyy to closed.
ParlimentOfDoom@piefed.zip 2 hours ago
Why isn’t Apple trying to take 30% of all purchases through the Amazon app? Or eBay? Or your local grocery delivery? It’s the same exact thing. Such a stupid greedy fucking attempt
mcv@lemmy.zip 13 minutes ago
Next they’ll take 30% on every transaction through my banking app.
bitjunkie@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
Because Patreon creators can’t afford to sue them
ComradeRachel@lemmy.blahaj.zone 43 minutes ago
Iirc it has to do with “monthly subscriptions” and they are arguing that Patreon is a monthly subscription and those get charged at the higher amount.
It’s why subscribing to YouTube premium within iOS app costs more because Google just makes up the difference that way.
Not that’s it’s right but it’s really debatable if Patreon should be considered a monthly subscription the same way streaming services are.
chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
I think they’re trying to kill Patreon for some reason. Maybe they’ll launch their own Patreon competitor? Maybe they noticed developers were giving away iOS apps and getting crowdfunded on Patreon?
ZoteTheMighty@lemmy.zip 2 hours ago
It’s wild that Steam is getting a class action lawsuit for charging 30% right now, and Apple doing shit like this at the same percentage and legally is getting a free pass.
BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 hours ago
I’ll throw a hat in the ring here. It’s because Steam has a grip on the gaming market that others want instead of them. That’s it, they want that money instead of Valve. Apple is getting a pass on this because it’s just fucking over the common guy which businesses couldn’t care less about.
mcv@lemmy.zip 11 minutes ago
But Valve doesn’t have a monopoly on PC games. You can sell your own game, or sell through GOG. On iPhone, Apple has the monopoly and they abuse it.
REDACTED@infosec.pub 1 hour ago
Huh? It’s the businesses that will suffer from that 30% tax. It’s like suddenly seeing your Netflix subscription being more expensive and that triggers this “do I even need it anymore?” evaluation
If it costs 13€ to support a 10€ Patreon pledge, then how do you expect the company to cover for that?
Balldowern@lemmy.world 30 minutes ago
DannyMac@sh.itjust.works 22 minutes ago
Sadly, I’m guessing this is transparent to iOS users, they think they’re supporting creators with $X each month, but behind the scenes, the creator is getting $X * 0.7 and then I’m guessing Patreon also takes some off the top of that for their infrastructure.
dan@upvote.au 7 hours ago
Why does Apple feel they deserve a 30% cut? In cases like this, Apple aren’t providing any value at all.
Kirp123@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
They were sued by Epic Games for the same shit and Epic won on one count which allows them to put links to alternative payment methods and go around Apple.
kurmudgeon@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
So couldn’t patreon just argue in court that this precedent was already set with epic?
Flagstaff@programming.dev 7 hours ago
It’s just platform-milking, just like Meetup.com’s latest antics; there isn’t deep analysis needed to everything, haha. “Capitalism” is totally a legitimate answer despite being just one word.
Munkisquisher@lemmy.nz 6 hours ago
Meetup is now owned by Bending Spoons, who have also enshittified wetransfer, Evernote, eventbrite, AOL, vimeo. They buy decent products that never exploded to ipo status, fire everyone and milk the rest for whatever they can charge.
JamieDub86@piefed.social 6 hours ago
You got a link to what meetup has been up to?
Passerby6497@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
Because apple is a “premium” product, so you have to pay a “premium” fee for normal stuff so it feels like you’re using “premium” services
cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone 3 hours ago
gotta get the money to bribe trump somehow
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 3 hours ago
Just pass on the cost of the corruption to the consumer, as usual. It’s the Corruption Tax.
hayvan@piefed.world 5 hours ago
Deserving is irrelevant under Capitalism. It’s only whether they can get away with it or not?
willington@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 hours ago
And fixing this problem is going to require a similar attitude from the people tired of this.
boonhet@sopuli.xyz 7 hours ago
They provide the payment system. They also mandate it.
If you subscribe on the website you don’t have to pay the extra. It’s only for subscriptions initiated via the app
tabular@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
An app you can only get via the Apple store, mandated by Apple?
XLE@piefed.social 3 hours ago
Apple also gets money from developers who use their platform already. That should be it.
Apple will already bully small developers off their platform while giving bigger companies first-class treatment.
vogi@piefed.social 7 hours ago
This sums the problem up fairly nicely I think. I do wonder with Apple being a gatekeeper by EUs own definition and unfair sales terms supposed to be history with the Digital Markets Act in place this can’t go through, right?!?! at least not in the EU… assuming they do their job.
artyom@piefed.social 3 hours ago
It’s not about what they deserve, it’s about what they want.
Gargantuan@piefed.social 5 hours ago
I suspect this has more to do with closing a loophole than going after Patreon and only Patreon.
People don’t have to subscribe through the app. and Patreon don’t have to offer that functionality in the App. Apple don’t have Patreon locked in to their platform.
FireWire400@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
I hope Patreon will just switch off the ability to pay through the iOS app, along with a nice fuck you-message to Apple
lost_faith@lemmy.ca 3 hours ago
Last time this came up Patreon simply allowed the creators to charge the commission directly on top of the price for non apple users, or eat the 30% loss. So everyone not using iOS would pay, say, $5/month, iOS users would pay $5+30%. Hope they retain that option.
ComradeRachel@lemmy.blahaj.zone 40 minutes ago
Ya a few apps already do this. YouTube premium does for sure and I have heard a few others doing so.
artyom@piefed.social 2 hours ago
It’s against App Store rules to inform your customers they’re being fucked by Apple in any way. If you do, they’ll take it down.
eager_eagle@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
Isn’t it against the law in many places to charge customers without providing a breakdown of what they’re being charged with?
lando55@lemmy.zip 1 hour ago
I was actually curious how this currently works as I’ve never used the Patreon app, so thanks for that. I’m sure it’s a nice convenience to be able to transact through the app, but not 30% passive Apple income levels of nice. It’s too bad they are stuck in their flat-rate commission model, because alienating third-party developers and businesses in this manner will kill their ecosystem.
Can any current creators on Patreon provide some insight into how the revenue streams break down between the iOS/Android app platforms versus the website? What impact do you foresee if instead of a payment option in the app it simply directs you to the website?
Bunbury@feddit.nl 1 hour ago
Luckily I’m about to switch to graphene OS soon. I’ll be forced to make a bunch of changes to choices I made out of convenience in the past
myfunnyaccountname@lemmy.zip 3 hours ago
Think. Of. The. Shareholders.
BioDriver@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
I’m an Apple shareholder and think this is a great way to lose engagement and revenue
ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 3 hours ago
Do you have enough shares for your vote to mean anything?
myfunnyaccountname@lemmy.zip 2 hours ago
Willing to sell those shares?
Dindonmasker@sh.itjust.works 1 hour ago
I’ve been warned many times in the past to not subscribe to people on the patreon app since it costs more then in browser because of the app store’s cut. So is this just even worse then it was or was that just for the google play store before?
ComradeRachel@lemmy.blahaj.zone 42 minutes ago
Ya I always subscribe on the website. Google and Apple have both charged extra fees for monthly subscriptions bought within the app.
vogi@piefed.social 7 hours ago
`That’s how the system works. You don’t expect Walmart to not get a commission when you sell something at their store.
30% is reasonable. DEAL WITH IT.
Don’t like it? Make your own phone and platform.`
Opening up the comments on macrumors never disappoints me :)
cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone 3 hours ago
its also not how it works… at all. walmart would buy wholesale from a supplier not directly from the seller
MountingSuspicion@reddthat.com 2 hours ago
Apple is being terrible here, but Walmart now has an amazon-like storefront where third parties can list their own products basically entirely apart from Walmart but using their site. Not sure what the percent cut Walmart takes is, but Walmart might never actually buy from a company selling on their site.
willington@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 hours ago
The bigger the asset, the more sacrosanct are that asset’s interests.
That is a system of nearly unlimited milking of anyone who is not themselves represented through a multi-hundred billion dollar asset.
Fighting this in the business or legal arena is a complete waste of time. Those battlefields are favorable to the biggest assets.
Passerby6497@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
Apple is reselling services, just like Walmart wholesales products, clearly
Zexks@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
Its the same with pretty much EVERY app on the apple store. Everything there is 30% more than the same thing bought elswhere
xenomor@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
Tim Cook needs more money to forge golden offerings for his good pal Donald trump.
melsaskca@lemmy.ca 2 hours ago
Evil corp wants even more. Ho-hum. Sigh. Anyway…
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 3 hours ago
Parasites.
Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 8 hours ago
Fuck patron. Fuck you Tim Apple. Fuck you both
a_fancy_kiwi@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
What’s wrong with Patreon? I looked up their fees and it may be more complicated but they advertise a 10% fee. That seems pretty reasonable considering the services they offer.
unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 7 hours ago
How is 10% reasonable. They just transfer money from A to B while showing people some static html text about the options. They basically do nothing.
Rekall_Incorporated@piefed.social 7 hours ago
They are an American tech company.
From what I remember, they did try to heavily raise fees and worsen the experience on their platform “my next trillion users … life changing blah blah .. my ARPU”, but then backed off when they got public pushback. They will do it again when they think they can get away with it.
Better to use something like liberapay.
That’s what I use to donate to Piefed development and I’ve been meaning try and pitch this platform to Patreon list.
rafoix@lemmy.zip 6 hours ago
Apple App Store and Google Play stores have a market duopoly. They should be forced to forfeit all or most of its fees.
nucleative@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
It’s all about control of reach.
If I was an influencer and using Patreon (I’m neither), it’s a simple decision:
Total reach * conversion rate * platform commission = income
Apple’s app store has a fuckton of desirable reach - they monopolize (arguably literally) all the easy payments from iphones and kill anybody else who tries to redirect eyeballs. They are too strong. But what else are you going to do if you need Patreons or app customers, etc?
You can’t ignore the reach, and you’d have to pay or work harder to get eyeballs another way too unless you can get free publicity by being crazy or something and pull people into your own payment/ download channels.
ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 2 hours ago
You aren’t gaining reach by having your current followers gain a payment fee.
It’s just something you don’t have a say in.
I thought Epic won this lawsuit though.
nucleative@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
Once they are following, I’d think you can begin to convert them to higher tiers of support through private channels?
Evilschnuff@feddit.org 6 hours ago
That’s why we need rules and regulation around gatekeeper platforms like iOS and android. If both demand 30% there is no choice not to pay in certain circumstances.
dugmeup@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
How greedy is Apple? Talk about insatiable greed!
CallMeAnAI@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
Most of you would applaud if this was gaben.
glimse@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
You’re not a very observant person, are you?
gravitywell@sh.itjust.works 7 hours ago
I’m surprised this wasn’t already the case, how did patreon get an exception in the first place? I don’t know anything about how apple billing with patreon works but the way this sounds is that patreon’s “Legacy Billing” somehow allows creators to get around the 30% fee that is normally standard to anything on apple, and the means to enable/disable this feature is entirely in the hands of individual creators rather than patreon or apple, weird.
Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 47 minutes ago
What exactly does Apple think that they’re brining to the equation in order to deserve that 30? Is it simply that they’re hosting an app on their store, so therefore they’re entitled to a cut?
So if I write a novel, and get it published, Microsoft can say "We deserve 30% because you used our product to produce your product?
I’m so fucking tired of corporations. It’s well past guillotine-o-clock.
UltraBlack@lemmy.world 18 minutes ago
They’re bringing the apple tax to the table
dreadbeef@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 minutes ago
Because Valve can and Tim wants his yachts