Do You Have to Pay Apple 30 Percent for Everything?
When Apple's commission actually applies, when it drops to 15 percent, and when you pay nothing at all, explained without the panic.
Short answer
No, you do not pay Apple 30 percent on everything. The commission only applies to digital goods and services sold inside the app, through Apple’s in-app purchase system. Physical goods and real-world services, like a ride or a delivery, pay Apple nothing and use normal payment methods. Many small developers pay 15 percent rather than 30, and subscriptions drop to 15 percent after a year. So the fee depends entirely on what you sell, and it is worth understanding before you rethink your whole idea.
What the commission is actually for
The fear behind this question is common: a founder hears Apple takes 30 percent and imagines losing a third of all their revenue, which would sink many business models. The relief is that the commission is far narrower than the panic suggests. It applies to one specific thing: digital goods and services bought and used inside the app.
Apple requires that these digital purchases go through its in-app purchase system, and takes a commission on them. A subscription to a digital service, a premium feature you pay to access, in-app currency in a game, digital content like an ebook or a course consumed in the app, these are what the fee is about. The logic Apple gives is that it built and maintains the store, the payment system, and the platform, and takes a share of the digital sales that happen through it. Whether you agree with that or not, the key point is the boundary: the fee is about digital goods, not everything your app might charge for.
When you pay Apple nothing
Here is the part that changes most founders’ plans for the better: a huge category of apps pay Apple no commission at all, because they sell physical goods or real-world services rather than digital ones.
When you buy a ride in a ride-hailing app, a meal in a delivery app, or a product shipped from a shopping app, that is a real-world transaction. Apple’s in-app purchase rules do not apply, the App Store Review Guidelines specifically allow these to use normal payment methods, and Apple takes nothing from the sale. This is exactly why the biggest names people point to, the ride apps and the shopping giants, are not handing Apple a third of their revenue: their core business is physical and real-world, outside the commission entirely. If your app sells something that exists in the real world or is delivered outside the app, you are most likely in this camp too.
When you pay 15 percent instead of 30
Even when the commission does apply, 30 percent is the top rate, not the only one. Two programs bring it down to 15 percent for a large share of developers.
The first is the App Store Small Business Program, which lowers the commission to 15 percent for developers earning under a set amount per year. That threshold covers most new apps and small businesses, so if you are just starting out, your digital sales likely qualify for the lower rate from the beginning. The second is subscriptions: after a customer has been subscribed for one year, Apple’s commission on that subscription drops from 30 to 15 percent. So a subscription business that keeps its customers pays the higher rate only in the first year, then half that afterwards. Between these two, many developers who do pay a commission are paying 15 percent, not the 30 that causes all the alarm.
The rates, by what you sell
| What you sell | Apple’s cut | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Physical goods shipped to the buyer | 0 percent | Real-world goods, normal payment |
| Real-world services (rides, delivery) | 0 percent | Consumed outside the app |
| Digital goods, large developer | 30 percent | In-app purchase, top rate |
| Digital goods, Small Business Program | 15 percent | Under the earnings threshold |
| Subscriptions after one year | 15 percent | Reduced rate for retained subscribers |
The table shows why the flat 30 percent story is misleading. What you actually pay depends on what you sell and how much you earn, and for a great many apps the real number is zero or 15 percent. The founders who panic are usually imagining the worst cell in this table applied to their whole business, when their business often sits in one of the other rows.
How this shapes your app’s business model
Understanding the boundary early lets you design a business model with clear eyes rather than fear. If your app’s revenue comes from physical products or real-world services, the commission simply is not your concern, and you can price and build accordingly. If your revenue is digital, subscriptions, premium features, digital content, then the commission is part of the economics, and you plan for it: price with the fee in mind, lean on the Small Business rate while you qualify, and value long-term subscribers who move to the lower rate.
What you should not do is contort a genuinely digital product into pretending to be something else to dodge the fee. Apple’s reviewers know the difference, and apps that try to route digital purchases around in-app purchase, or disguise them, are commonly rejected. The honest and durable approach is to know which category you are truly in and build for it. A well-designed app, following Apple’s expectations, earns a smooth path through review; a fee-dodging workaround earns a rejection and a rebuild.
Building your monetization the right way
| Your revenue source | What to plan for | Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Physical goods or services | No Apple commission | Use normal payment processing |
| Digital goods, early stage | 15 percent via Small Business Program | Price for it, enroll in the program |
| Subscriptions | 30 then 15 percent after a year | Value retention, price accordingly |
| Mixed digital and physical | Different rules per item | Architect each correctly from the start |
The practical rule is to decide your business model honestly first, then map each revenue stream to the right column. Many apps are mixed, selling some physical and some digital, and each part follows its own rule, so the architecture matters. Getting this right at the design stage, rather than discovering it after launch, is the difference between a monetization model that works and one that surprises you. This is exactly the kind of decision worth settling before a line of code is written.
Three apps, three very different bills
To make the boundary concrete, picture three apps that all charge their users, and see how differently Apple’s commission treats them.
The first is a delivery app that takes payment for meals brought to the customer’s door. That is a real-world service consumed outside the app, so Apple takes nothing on those orders; the app uses ordinary payment processing and keeps its full margin, minus the normal card fees any business pays. The panic about 30 percent simply never touches its core revenue.
The second is a small productivity app that sells a subscription to its digital features. That is a digital service, so it goes through in-app purchase, but because the developer earns under the Small Business Program threshold, the rate is 15 percent, not 30. And as customers stay subscribed past a year, even that drops. The real cost is far from the headline number that made the founder nervous.
The third is a large game selling in-app currency to millions of players. This is the case the 30 percent story actually describes: digital goods, a big developer above the small-business threshold, paying the top rate. Even here it is 30 percent of the digital sales, not of everything the business does. Three apps, and only one pays the rate everyone fears, which is the whole point: the commission is specific, not universal.
The honest limitation
A few caveats keep this from being advice you follow blindly. Apple’s rules and rates change over time, and regulation in some regions is shifting what is allowed, so the specifics here are a snapshot, not a permanent contract; check the current terms when you build. And the boundary between digital and physical is not always obvious for every product, so an unusual model deserves a careful look rather than an assumption. The one thing that stays true is the principle: the commission is about digital goods sold in the app, not about everything, and it is rarely the flat 30 percent that causes the panic.
Getting your monetization architecture right is a design decision as much as a technical one, and it pays to make it deliberately. A team that designs and builds under one roof, as we do, helps you structure the app so each revenue stream follows the right rule, honestly and durably, and builds it natively to launch cleanly under Apple’s review. See examples in our work and talk through your app’s business model at a short call.
FAQ
Do you have to pay Apple 30 percent for everything?
No. Apple's commission only applies to digital goods and services sold inside the app through its in-app purchase system, like a subscription, a paid premium feature, or a virtual item. Physical goods and real-world services, such as a ride, a meal delivery, or a product shipped to you, pay Apple nothing and use ordinary payment methods. So whether the fee applies depends entirely on what you are selling.
What does the 30 percent actually apply to?
Digital goods and services consumed inside the app: subscriptions, premium features, in-app currency, digital content, and similar. Apple requires these to be sold through its in-app purchase system, and takes a commission. It does not apply to physical products, real-world services, or purchases that happen outside the app, which is why apps like ride-hailing and shopping do not pay it on their core sales.
Can I pay 15 percent instead of 30?
Often, yes. Apple's Small Business Program lowers the commission to 15 percent for developers earning under a set threshold a year, which covers most new and small apps. Subscriptions also drop to 15 percent after a customer has been subscribed for a year. So the headline 30 percent is really the top rate, and many developers pay half that on the digital sales that qualify.
How do apps like Uber and Amazon avoid the fee?
They sell physical goods and real-world services, not digital ones, so Apple's in-app purchase rules do not apply and they pay no commission on those sales. A ride, a delivered meal, or a shipped product is a real-world transaction that uses normal payment processing. The 30 percent is specifically about digital goods consumed in the app, which is why these businesses are exempt on their core sales.
Should I design my app to avoid Apple's commission?
Design your business model honestly first, then understand where the commission falls, rather than twisting the product to dodge a fee. If you genuinely sell physical goods or services, you will not pay it. If you sell digital goods, the fee is part of the deal, softened by the 15 percent programs. Trying to disguise digital goods as something else usually gets the app rejected, so plan it properly from the start.