Apple on Thursday announced a new API called the Advanced Commerce API to support more forms of in-app purchases, such as subscriptions and content add-ons. The company added that it has not changed its commission structure to support these use cases.
“App stores facilitate billions of transactions each year for developers to grow their businesses and deliver world-class customer experiences. “To further support developers' evolving business models, such as subscriptions, we are introducing the Advanced Commerce API,” the company said in an announcement.
Image credit: Apple
In an accompanying support document, Apple expanded on the use cases and eligibility for apps and developers to apply to the program, which spans three broad categories. Apple said the initial use case will be apps with large libraries of one-time purchases with frequent updates, such as audiobooks or courses. The second use case is an app that adds author-driven content where users can purchase access to that content either as a one-time or renewable subscription. The third use case is for users who purchase add-ons within a subscription service, such as additional channels, sports, or regional content, to be sold as renewable purchases.
Last year, Apple asked creator platform Patreon to switch to the App Store billing system for creator content or risk to boot. In response, the company said it would slowly transition to Apple's payment system for iOS apps and complete the process by November 2025. Apple's decision to debut the new API is to support use cases like Patreon.
The company is trying to create more value for developers to stay in Apple's ecosystem after the EU forced Apple to allow alternative payment processing and third-party app stores on its platform. For example, the company has started allowing retro game emulators around the world. Additionally, we have launched a way for developers to offer discounts to customers whose subscriptions have expired.