I hope Patreon will just switch off the ability to pay through the iOS app, along with a nice fuck you-message to Apple that pops up when you first open the app
this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2026
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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?
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.
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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.
Good thing none of us have iPhones here, right, guys? Right?
Honestly I wouldn't touch Apple products with a bargepole. I dislike closed ecosystems
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Definetly not, wayyyy to closed.
Been locked in this ecosystem for a while guys. I'm not proud of it.
It’s better than the alternatives, unfortunately. I really want to dump Apple; the products are waning in quality and the company is spending a lot of time genuflecting for king tangerine. But it just works.
“Just install grapheneOS” my brother in Christ, I have no time or interest in fucking up with the primary communication device I rely on to reach family, friends, and work. I don’t have time for the hobbies I want to do let alone adding work-adjacent activities under the cloak of a hobby.
Installing graphene was not like flashing a ROM ten years ago. You just follow the simple steps on the web installer.
Nothing would prevent you from communicating with a Graphene OS phone. It's a smartphone OS, not compiling Arch here...
But use whatever excuse you can find to stay in the Apple ecosystem, that's fine.
It totally could and probably would. I am a phone OS tinkerer myself, but the above poster is right that it is a lot of hobbyist type tinkering and you can brick your device and fuck it up so you can't communicate with your friends and family.
I agree with the main sentiment that these alternative OSs for phones and computers are a lot better in a lot of ways, but we are unwise to act like getting your computer or phone that way is that easy. Trying to get an alternative OS working well on a device can very easily consume an entire waking day or more, and bricking is not impossible, especially with phones.
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I am in it for not too long, I wanted a Framework notebook but they didn't sell in my country so I couldn't purchase it through my business so I went with macbook and iphone next to because, why not.
I generally don't care much about things like in the op news tbh, as if I have a subscription for something I use it directly from the website
And stuff like the seemless integration when switching from my phone to my MacBook with my airpods is fucking great.
but I am not a normal techie, I am waaay overindexed on user experience over a lot of things, for example I pay for spotify because the Ux is great for me, I refuse to pay for streaming devices because my own plex/jellyfin server is a much better UX.
I am also refusing to buy cars without physical buttons.
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Why does Apple feel they deserve a 30% cut? In cases like this, Apple aren't providing any value at all.
- Apple aren't providing the content - the creator is.
- Apple aren't providing a platform for the content - Patreon is.
- Apple aren't providing a platform for discovery - people aren't finding Patreon creators solely via Apple products.
Sure, Apple are providing a payments platform, but why do they deserve 10x what Stripe charges?
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
gotta get the money to bribe trump somehow
Just pass on the cost of the corruption to the consumer, as usual. It's the Corruption Tax.
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.
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.
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.
Ironic that they named themselves on a plot about breaking out of a cycle of control, classic Palantir or Anduril vibes too of like “haha movies good where stonks”
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Deserving is irrelevant under Capitalism. It's only whether they can get away with it or not?
And fixing this problem is going to require a similar attitude from the people tired of this.
We need to rep our interests as ruthlessly and as sophisticatedly as our enemies.
It's not about what they deserve, it's about what they want.
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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 :)
its also not how it works... at all. walmart would buy wholesale from a supplier not directly from the seller
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.
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.
Apple is reselling services, just like Walmart wholesales products, clearly
Tim Cook needs more money to forge golden offerings for his good pal Donald trump.
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.
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.
Once they are following, I'd think you can begin to convert them to higher tiers of support through private channels?
Apple App Store and Google Play stores have a market duopoly. They should be forced to forfeit all or most of its fees.
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.
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