As of August 2023, Apple takes a standard 30 percent commission rate for App Store transactions and regular subscriptions. Additionally, app developers that host their apps on the Apple App Store and manage to retain subscription users see their commission fees drop to 15 percent after the subscriber's first year. After incurring penalties and fines from the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), Apple further agreed to decrease commission fees for dating apps hosted in the Dutch Apple App Store.
App publishers and developers
In 2021, the leading app distribution platforms – the Apple App Store, the Google Play store, and the Amazon AppStore- introduced tailored programs to accommodate smaller developers and reduce their due commissions. In 2021, approximately 906 app publishers reached their first million U.S. dollars in earnings across the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. This represents a decrease from the previous year when over 1,000 app publishers reached their million-dollar milestone.
The Apple Small Business Program launched in January 2021 allows developers to pay a 15 percent commission fee to distribute their mobile app in the Apple App Store, provided their annual earnings do not surpass one million U.S. dollars. Similarly, while Google Play Store standard commission is set at 30 percent, in October 2021 it was reported that Google planned to half them for in-app subscriptions and developers enrolled in its 15 percent service fee tier group who reported earnings lower than one million U.S. dollars. Comparable to the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, in June 2021, the Amazon Appstore introduced its Small Business Accelerator Program, which allows developers with less than one million U.S. dollars in revenues to pay only 10 percent in commission fees.
App stores vs. publishers: revenues
In 2021, the Apple App Store reportedly reached around 85 billion U.S. dollars in revenues from global consumers worldwide, while the Google Play Store saw 47 billion U.S. dollars in revenues from subscriptions and other in-app purchases. Subscription revenues for the year also saw iOS consumers spending considerably more than Android consumers: users on the Apple App Store generated 13.5 billion U.S. dollars in-app subscriptions, while users on the Google Play store generated almost five billion U.S. dollars in recurring app payments during the last measured year. During the second quarter of 2022, the Apple App Store was reported to generate 22 billion U.S. dollars in revenues from global users, more than double the revenues Android users generated via the Google Play Store.
By comparison, in June 2022, leading gaming app publisher Artifex Mundi generated approximately 31.8 million U.S. dollars in app revenues via the Google Play Store, while Gus Communication Devices Inc generated over 56 million U.S. dollars from Android users in the same month, ranking as the leading non-gaming publisher in the Google Play Store. Tencent Mobile Games was the highest grossing gaming publisher for iPhone in June 2022, generating almost 78 million U.S. dollars during the examined month, while Google LLC was the leading non-gaming publisher for iPhones with 62 million U.S. dollars, followed by Tencent Technology with 43.6 million U.S. dollars, and Tinder with 38.4 million U.S. dollars.
