Apple and Google open payments internationally (slowly)

Back in 2021, we first announced Paddle In-App Purchase (IAP), the industry's first alternative to Apple's payment system for iOS apps. Paddle's IAP system comes with more flexible subscription management options and retention tools, additional payment methods (alongside Apple Pay), and pricing well below the 15-30% commission that app developers currently pay.

While we're still unable to launch Early Access to Paddle IAP due to US court rulings, there might be a change coming soon.

What happened to Paddle's In-App Purchase (IAP) platform?

The last time you heard from Paddle’s IAP team (January 2022), we’d just delayed our alternative in-app billing system.

We’re sorry for the delay. Paddle's IAP platform had fully completed our testing process and was fully ready to launch in December 2021, pending guidance from Apple's legal team.

That guidance never came. We were forced to put the launch on hold when Apple was granted a stay by US courts, which allowed it to continue charging its 30% commission without alternatives. We’re still unable to launch Early Access to Paddle IAP with this US policy in place.

As a member of the Coalition for App Fairness, our team has spent the past year advocating with EU, UK, and US lawmakers for better competition and fairness in the mobile app ecosystem. With more choices, we believe the ecosystem will change to allow more developer innovation and benefits for consumers.

Android and iOS are slowly opening for developers

Change may be coming soon. Both Apple and Google are slowly allowing more developers to choose alternative in-app payment systems:

• Apple is allowing apps to use 3rd-party payments in South Korea
• Apple is allowing dating apps to use 3rd-party payments in the Netherlands
• Google is allowing apps to use 3rd-party payments in India
• Google has proposed allowing 3rd-party payments in the UK

This, plus news that Apple is working to allow sideloading in iOS 17, makes us think an announcement on In-App Purchase (IAP) could come as soon as WWDC on June 5. We couldn’t be more excited about what comes next.

In the coming weeks, we’ll continue to share news from around the developer community — plus new product updates on Paddle’s upcoming solution for In-App Purchase on iOS.

Watch this space.

Join the Paddle IAP waitlist to stay updated on what happens next.