Web subscriptions post Epic-vs-Apple

  • 27 September 2021
  • 7 replies
  • 527 views

Userlevel 5
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  • RevenueCat Staff
  • 173 replies

Hey everyone, I’m curious what folks’ approach is regarding the Epic-vs-Apple decision? Is anyone making plans already to explore linking out of the app to a web paywall? Or are you going to wait and see how things turn out?

At RevenueCat, we’re currently playing around with a few options to support potential use cases (of course, pending what exactly will and won’t be allowed), and I’d love to get a feeling for the level of interest in the topic.

Jens
Head of Product @ RevenueCat

 

7 replies

Userlevel 1
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In short - very interested! We’ve seen a lot of success converting our free uses over to web-based subscriptions (i.e. Stripe) via email campaigns. However, there exists friction within those users because they forget that they subscribed via the web, and go looking in the app for subscription status. Two requests to consider - 1) clearly displaying to a user if they are subscribed via Apple/Google, or the web 2) and provide a clickable link to their account manage page (i.e. Stripe dashboard) to manage their subscribers if it’s web-based. 

Hey, I think we would be interested.in being able to get people to subscribe via Stripe Subscriptions as the % cut is steep for our new app.

However  if we started having a lot of complexity of different payment methods (As potentially Apple might go down the route of saying you can advertise your other payment method but you have to offer it via their IAP system too)  then I would love revenue cat to ship with some higher level UI components to help with this (ala Stripe Elements) to remove us having to code all these situations

 

James

Badge +5

+1 

It would be great to get a simple and consistent RevenueCat API that facilitates payments by credit card or by Apple Pay (probably using Stripe) alongside Apple's IAP. We'd definitely use that if Apple allows it. 

Badge +3

I just can’t wait for it.

I’m currently paying 15% (discount from 30%) to Apple and Google and IMO it’s still an absurd fee for a mandatory / unavoidable service.

We definitely need options. 

Userlevel 1
Badge +9

Ditto on the above, we’re a new app and would be very interested in reducing the 15% cut from App Store & Google Play.

 

We’ve also run into problems with Google Play’s Family Payments not being allowed to be used for subscriptions on their kid’s phones and hope that Stripe can unblock that issue for us.

Badge +3

Just got an interesting email from Apple about “App Store Review Guideline updates“:

  • Deleted from 3.1.3. “Developers cannot use information obtained within the app to target individual users outside of the app to use purchasing methods other than in-app purchase (such as sending an individual user an email about other purchasing methods after that individual signs up for an account within the app).”


So now I can ask for the user email address and use it to tell the users about other purchasing methods.

But can I offer other purchasing methods? I’m lost. 

Badge +6

Is anyone making plans already to explore linking out of the app to a web paywall?

Yes and no.

I am an independent developer with one small, but solid subscription app on Google Play / App Store / Web and I have previously been looking into alternative solutions outside of Google / Apple to process subscription payments. The first place to look was Stripe as RevenueCat already supports integrating with Stripe. What I thought should be easy quickly turned into a nightmarish endeavor, for two example reasons (list not comprehensive):

  • In contrast to Google / Apple, Stripe does not act as a Merchant of Record (MoR), but purely as a processor. Therefore, I am fully responsible for battling with VAT for each country I sell to. As a single developer, that’s an insane thing to start with, even if you consider things like VAT MOSS.
  • Stripe seems very limited or at least requires additional efforts in terms of accepting SEPA direct debit payments, which would be one of the key benefits of having a payment provider outside Google / Apple, wo do not currently offer this payment method. It is after all quite popular in Europe (Germany) and with the target group my app caters to.

Therefore my question is: Are you considering integrating with other providers that act as full service providers such as FastSpring, Paddle or 2Checkout?

It might be the wrong thread to discuss payment solutions in detail, but maybe someone has (other/more) experience with these things?

Admittedly, after reading about all the pitfalls in the payment processing world, I am quite happy with the service I get from Google / Apple, aside from the fact that it is too expensive and unusable without services such as Revenuecat. I simply raise one invoice each per month, integrate Google / Apple, my app and RevenueCat - and I am done, no worries about tax, about refunds, about customers not paying, nothing. That’s what I want from a solution outside of Google / Apple, too. Otherwise, as a single developer, it is much too complex and I’d rather spend my time on the product.

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