In-App Purchases & App Subscriptions Medium

What it is

In-app purchases sell things inside a mobile app: a one-off unlock (pro features, remove ads), consumables (coins, credits), and subscriptions (monthly or annual access to premium features or content). Apple and Google require their own billing for digital goods, take a cut, and in return handle payment methods, tax, receipts, refunds and renewals everywhere the app is sold. Subscription infrastructure (RevenueCat, Adapty, Qonversion) sits on top to manage paywalls, trials and analytics across both stores.

How the money flows

The user pays the store; the store keeps 30% (15% for developers under $1 million a year through the small business programmes, and 15% on subscription renewals after the first year); the rest is paid to you monthly, roughly 30-45 days after the end of the month. Web checkout for digital goods is allowed in a growing set of jurisdictions and avoids the cut, at the cost of friction. Ad-free tiers, lifetime unlocks and annual subscriptions are the products that convert best.

What it pays

Consumer subscription apps convert 2-5% of monthly active users to paying, at $3-15 a month or $20-80 a year; ARPU per monthly user of $0.02-0.15 is typical, so $20-150 per 1,000 monthly users. Utilities and productivity apps with a clear pro feature convert higher on one-off unlocks; games earn from a small share of users spending a lot on consumables. Geography matters: US and Japanese users pay several times what users in most markets pay.

Requirements and who pays

A published app, developer accounts ($99 a year on Apple, $25 once on Google), a paywall screen that explains the value, and a subscription management layer if you want cross-platform analytics. Store review decides when features go live. Users pay the store, the store pays you.

Pitfalls

Show the paywall after the user has experienced value, not before. Offer a free trial only if you have the retention to survive it. Price annual at 40-60% below twelve months of monthly. Watch refund and cancellation reasons in the store console. And keep your own web presence and email list: an app the store removes is an app without customers.