Navigating Apple’s billing requirement

Patreon is home to an incredible range of creators, all with unique circumstances and billing needs. Apple’s in-app purchase system, on the other hand, only supports Patreon’s subscription billing model. Apple has also made clear that if creators on Patreon continue to use unsupported billing models or disable transactions in the iOS app, we will be at risk of having the entire app removed from their App Store.

Apple’s billing mandates mean that if you’re on a first-of-the-month or per-creation billing model, your membership will no longer be available to fans in the iOS app starting this November until you switch over to subscription billing.

As a result of Apple’s mandates and in order to make sure that you can continue getting new members in the iOS app, we've started a 16-month-long migration process to bring all creators onto subscription billing by November 2025, supported by a roadmap of new features and tools to make sure the billing model works for you, your community, and your business. To be clear, this means that first-of-the-month and per-creation billing models will be discontinued in November 2025.

Most creators on Patreon use subscription billing. Over the past few years, we’ve slowly rolled it out, tackling each hurdle that has come up to ensure that the migration is not disruptive for creators. That’s the way we like to roll out products. Unfortunately, because of Apple’s timelines and constraints, we can’t continue to do it this way. Instead of helping creators move to subscription billing if and when they feel like it’s right for them, we’re now forced to migrate all creators on Apple’s timeline.

How this change will affect you depends on your current billing model. If you’re not sure what billing model you’re on, you can find out in your settings.

• Subscription billing – You do not have to make any changes to your billing model and can adjust how you handle Apple's fees at any time.
• First-of-the-month billing – In order to let you keep earning in the iOS app, we are going to automatically switch you over to subscription billing beginning in November 2024. However, if you’d like more time, you can delay your migration in your settings to keep your current billing model until November 2025. To be clear: even if you delay your migration, Apple’s requirements still apply. If you have not switched to subscription billing by this November, your fans will not be able to purchase new memberships in the iOS app. If you delay the migration but then change your mind, you can migrate to subscription billing at any time in your settings.
• Per-creation billing – Because this is such a big change to how you run your business, our Product Support will offer 1-1 support to help you migrate, which takes more time. You will be able to keep your current billing model until November 2025, at which point you’ll be migrated to subscription billing automatically. However, Apple’s requirements still take effect in November 2024. If you have not switched to subscription billing by this November, your fans will not be able to purchase new memberships in the iOS app. You can start the migration process in your settings.