Two payment processing companies have joined forces to offer developers an alternative system for processing in-app purchases outside of the App Store, featuring a single service that operates across iOS and the web.
This joint offering comes in the wake of legal challenges, specifically the Epic Games court rulings, which mandated that Apple permit developers to utilize external payment services without imposing its standard commissions. While this ruling opened the door for alternative payment methods, the implementation could potentially be complex for developers.
Anticipating a favorable outcome in the Epic Games lawsuit, one of the companies, Paddle, initially unveiled its own in-app payment platform back in 2021. Although Epic Games did not prevail on all aspects of its case against Apple, it did secure a key victory requiring Apple to allow developers to include external payment links within their applications.
The collaboration sees Paddle teaming up with subscription platform RevenueCat to provide a more streamlined, cross-platform solution. This partnership aims to address the potential complexities developers might face when moving away from Apple’s integrated system, such as independently managing tax obligations, regulatory compliance, and providing cross-platform support for subscriptions.
The integrated service from RevenueCat and Paddle is designed to simplify these challenges for developers. It offers support across iOS, Android, and web platforms, enabling consumers to subscribe on one device or platform and automatically gain access to the service or content on others.
RevenueCat contributes an analytics dashboard to the partnership, offering developers insights into performance metrics. Paddle assumes responsibility for handling payments, tax, and compliance matters specifically for transactions conducted on the web.
For users, the payment process when utilizing this alternative system is designed to be relatively smooth, particularly when leveraging Apple Pay. The workflow involves a three-step process: the app displays the available in-app purchase options; upon selection, the user is directed to a prefilled web form within the Safari browser; the user then taps the Apple Pay option to complete the transaction and is subsequently returned to the application.
Developers utilizing this service will incur costs, though these are structured to potentially offer savings compared to Apple’s standard commission rates, especially for transactions exceeding a certain threshold. For payments under $10, the cost to developers is 10%. For payments above $10, the cost is set at 5% of the transaction value plus a fixed fee of $0.50.
While the service may be more expensive than a developer building and managing their own payment system using existing payment providers, the combined ease of implementation and the relatively seamless user experience, especially with Apple Pay integration, is positioned as an appealing option. This is considered particularly true for in-app purchases priced at over $10, where the percentage savings compared to Apple’s commission could be more significant.
