An app pays the store a commission when it sells something digital that people use inside it, such as a subscription, content or an unlocked feature; physical services, live consultations between two people and free apps that accompany a paid web system charge outside the store, with no commission. In Brazil, since June 2026, Apple charges 21% plus a 5% processing fee on purchases through its system, and still takes a commission when digital content is paid for outside it. The most expensive mistake is mixing, in the same app, what is exempt with what is not.
When an app has to use in-app purchase#
An app has to use in-app purchase, and pay the store a commission, when it sells something digital that people use inside it: a subscription, content, an unlocked feature, game currency. When what is sold is a physical service, a product delivered to the door or a live consultation between two people, the charge goes outside the store, by card or by Pix (Brazil's instant payment system), and the store takes no commission.
The question "can I charge in the app without giving the store 30%?" came up with two clients in the last few weeks, and the answer depends on what the app sells. When we design SaaS products with an app and a web system, it goes into the scope early, because it changes the price, the payment flow and sometimes the number of apps.
The general rule is in App Store guideline 3.1.1 and in the Google Play Payments policy. The exceptions are in Apple guideline 3.1.3 and in the same Google policy.
| What the app sells | Needs in-app purchase? | Rule | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subscription, course, content or feature used in the app itself | yes | Apple 3.1.1 · Google, Payments policy | premium plan, recorded class, ad-free version |
| Physical product or service consumed outside the app | no, and both stores forbid using their billing | Apple 3.1.3(e) · Google, physical goods and services | delivery, rides, cleaning, gym membership |
| Live consultation or class between two people | no | Apple 3.1.3(d) · Google, 1:1 service not recorded for replay | medical consultation, private tutoring, personal trainer |
| Live class or session for a group | yes | Apple 3.1.3(d) · Google, exemption only between two people | live online group class |
| Clinical service from a licensed healthcare provider | should not use Google billing | Google, Payments policy FAQ | telehealth visit, prescription |
| Free app that accompanies a paid web system, with nothing for sale inside | no | Apple 3.1.3(f) · Google, consumption-only app | the Casa Follow Up patient app |
| Content bought on the website and accessed in the app | on Apple, only if it is also sold in the app, except reader apps for magazines, books, music and video | Apple 3.1.3(a) and 3.1.3(b) | course bought on the website and watched in the app |
| Software sold directly to companies for their employees | no, if the sale is to the organization | Apple 3.1.3(c) | corporate tool |
The row about content bought on the website is the one that misleads people most. Guideline 3.1.3(b), on multiplatform services, only lets the app open what was bought elsewhere if the same item is also available through in-app purchase.
How much Apple and Google charge in Brazil#
The 30% figure is Apple's standard commission, a number Apple itself used when it announced the Small Business Program in 2020. In Brazil, since June 18, 2026, the table is different: a 21% commission on digital goods and services, plus a 5% processing fee when the purchase goes through Apple's system, for 26% in total.
The Small Business Program accepts developers who earned up to 1 million US dollars in the previous year, adding up the accounts associated with the same company, and developers who are new to the App Store. In Brazil, members pay a 10% commission, or 15% with processing. Subscriptions renewed after the first year also drop to 10%.
Google Play, in Brazil, follows the table used in most countries: 15% on the first million dollars of the year for developers enrolled in the 15% tier, 30% above that, and 15% on auto-renewing subscriptions.
| Where | Purchase through the store | Another payment method inside the app | Link to pay on the website |
|---|---|---|---|
| App Store in Brazil | 21% + 5% processing (10% + 5% in the Small Business Program) | 21% (10% in the program) | 15% on sales within 7 days of the tap (10% in the program) |
| App Store in the European Union, since October 1, 2026 | 26% (15% in the program) | 20% (10% in the program) | 15% (10% in the program) |
| Google Play in Brazil | 15% up to 1 million dollars a year in the 15% tier, 30% above; subscriptions 15% | fee 4 points lower, through user choice billing | we found no program for Brazil in the current policy |
Paying outside the store in Brazil lowers the commission without removing it#
Since iOS 26.5, under an agreement between Apple and CADE, Brazil's competition regulator, apps in Brazil can offer another payment method for digital content and send users to buy on the website. The commission stays: 21% on another payment method inside the app and 15% on what is sold on the website within 7 days of the link tap, with 10% in both cases for the Small Business Program.
New obligations come with it: Apple's in-app purchase has to appear next to the other payment method, users under 18 need parental consent, and whoever charges outside collects the taxes on the sale and sends Apple a monthly report of the transactions.
On Google Play, Brazil is part of user choice billing for non-game apps, with a fee 4 points lower on sales made through the other billing system.
In the United States, because of a court decision, Apple's guidelines already allow buttons and links to buy on the website. How much Apple can charge on those sales is still before the court: according to 9to5Mac, in August 2026 Apple proposed 15% for most apps and 5% for Small Business Program apps.
For anyone selling digital content, paying outside the store has become a decision about price and operations. For anyone selling a physical service or a live consultation, none of this applies, because that commission never existed.
What Apple asked in the Casa Follow Up review#
Casa Follow Up is a continuous clinical monitoring platform: the patient answers short check-ins in the app, and the healthcare professional reads the progress on a web platform, where they also pay the subscription. In the first review, on June 19, 2026, Apple did not reject the app. It pointed out an iPad layout fix and sent an information request (guideline 2.1(b)) with five questions about the business model, from who uses the paid content to whether users pay to create an account.
The answer we put together started from a fact: the person who pays, the professional, does not use the iPhone app, and the patient pays nothing anywhere. That places the app under guideline 3.1.3(f), for free apps that accompany a paid web-based tool. Two other guidelines looked helpful and were left out on purpose.
- 3.1.3(b), multiplatform services. It requires what was bought elsewhere to also be for sale in the app, so if the reviewer read Casa Follow Up as a multiplatform service, the result would be a demand for in-app purchase. The answer stated plainly that it did not apply, because the patient buys nothing on any platform.
- 3.1.3(c), enterprise services. The text ends by saying that consumer or single-user sales must use in-app purchase. Since the professional signs up and pays on their own, on the website, a solo professional could be read as a single user. That is why "software for companies" went in only as a description.
The most delicate point was disclosed instead of hidden. When the professional's subscription lapses, the patient can still see their data in read-only mode but cannot send new check-ins until the professional renews. The answer explained this as a rule of the professional's web contract, which the patient never sees or pays.
Before resubmitting, three items blocked the release: search the app for the words subscription, plan, price, Stripe and the commercial website address, including in the terms of use opened inside it; make sure no professional screen could be reached from the app; and set up a demo account linked to an active professional. By June 23, four days after the request, the app had been approved.
Why the consultation paid in a telehealth app stays outside the store#
In a telehealth app we are modeling, the patient pays for the consultation inside the app, by card or Pix, through a payment provider, and neither Apple nor Google is part of that transaction. Apple guideline 3.1.3(d) names "medical consultations" among the real-time services between two people that can be charged outside in-app purchase, and Google says transactions for regulated clinical services should not use Google Play billing.
The risk was somewhere else. The first design had a monthly fee for doctors and a plan for patients, two digital subscriptions that, if sold in the app, would go through in-app purchase and give the reviewer a reason to read the whole product as digital content.
Two product decisions took the subscriptions out of the app. Doctors no longer pay a monthly fee. Patients have no plan: the app is free and they pay only for the consultation. With no subscription in the app, the risk of the store requiring in-app purchase dropped sharply, because what was left is the consultation, which the rule exempts by name.
In the same modeling work, chat consultations got a scheduled time, which also helps with the store: the guideline speaks of real-time services, and a conversation with no set start or end sits closer to access to content. And because it is a health app, it is published by the client's company, which provides the service, as guideline 5.1.1(ix) requires. How to set that up is in who should own the App Store account.
The mistake is mixing exempt and non-exempt sales in the same app#
Physical services and live consultations do not pay the store a commission, and no store asks them to. What leads the store to require in-app purchase is an exempt product that adds, in the same app, a digital sale, such as a premium plan or a subscription for the person who provides the service.
Another question we received in the last few weeks shows how this happens. In a SaaS where professionals sell coaching to students, the app is free, the student signs up outside it and the professional subscribes through the web dashboard, which fits 3.1.3(f). The client wants students to start paying inside the app. If what the student buys is delivered and used in the app, such as plans and materials, the rule becomes 3.1.1: in-app purchase, with the commission, and no professional's payment provider on the iPhone. And since it is a single app for the whole platform, one professional selling through the app is enough for the rule to apply to everyone.
Three shortcuts come up all the time, and none of them works:
- Unlocking content with a code or QR code bought on the website. Guideline 3.1.1 names both as prohibited mechanisms.
- Adding a "subscribe on our website" button. Outside the United States and each country's programs, Apple prohibits calls to action to buy elsewhere, and in Brazil that link now pays 15%.
- Removing the price only from the purchase screen. 3.1.3(f) requires no call to action to buy anywhere in the app. On Casa Follow Up, we treated the terms of use opened inside the app as part of that, so they could not mention checkout or prices.
Google is a little more flexible with apps that only give access to what was paid for elsewhere: according to its Payments policy FAQ, such an app may say that purchases are made on the website, as long as there is no direct link.
How to design the billing before building the app#
Billing is decided in the scope, before the first screen. The order we follow:
- List everything anyone pays for in the product and classify each item using the table of rules.
- Decide where each payment happens. When the person who pays works at a computer, the subscription can stay on the web and the app can have nothing for sale. Who goes to the app and who stays on the web is covered in mobile app or web system.
- Separate what is exempt from what is not. If the product sells a service and also a digital subscription, the subscription goes to the web or to in-app purchase, and the service keeps being charged outside.
- Build the commission into the price when digital sales inside the app are the business.
- Write the review notes before submitting, saying who pays, where they pay and under which guideline, with a demo account that shows the app working.
Before the store, the app goes through test builds, and why they cannot be used to distribute the app is in why TestFlight is not a way to distribute your app.
Frequently asked questions#
Does a delivery, ride or service booking app pay a commission to Apple and Google?#
No. When people buy a physical product or a service consumed outside the app, both stores require another payment method, such as a card, Apple Pay or, in Brazil, Pix. Apple guideline 3.1.3(e) says those payments must use a method other than in-app purchase, and Google's policy forbids using Play billing for physical goods and services, naming transportation, food delivery and gym memberships.
Can I put a "subscribe on our website" button in the app?#
It depends on the country. On Apple's United States storefront, the guidelines allow buttons and links to buy on the website. In Brazil, since June 2026, the link is also allowed, but Apple charges 15% on sales made within 7 days of the tap, or 10% in the Small Business Program. In most other countries, a button or link to pay outside in-app purchase is still prohibited. On Google Play, the app cannot lead users to another payment method except through each region's programs.
Does the Apple Small Business Program apply in Brazil?#
Yes. Developers who earned up to 1 million US dollars in the previous year, across all associated accounts, or who are new to the App Store, can join. In Brazil, the commission for program members is 10%, plus a 5% processing fee when the purchase goes through Apple, for 15% in total. Subscriptions renewed after their first year get the same 10% commission.
Can a video or chat consultation be paid by card or Pix inside the app?#
A live consultation between two people, yes. Apple guideline 3.1.3(d) lists medical consultations among real-time person-to-person services that can be charged outside in-app purchase, and Google says regulated clinical services should not use Google Play billing. The format changes the answer: on Apple, a live class or session for a group must use in-app purchase, and on Google a one-to-one session is only exempt if it is not recorded for replay.
Does a free app that accompanies a paid web system need in-app purchase?#
No, as long as it sells nothing and does not invite people to buy. Apple guideline 3.1.3(f) exempts free apps that act as a stand-alone companion to a paid web-based tool, on the condition that there is no purchasing inside the app and no call to action to buy outside it. In practice, the app cannot show a price, a plan, a subscribe button or a checkout link on any screen, and it is worth checking the terms of use opened inside it too.
Sources#
- Apple, App Store Review Guidelines, revision of June 8, 2026 (guidelines 2.1, 3.1.1, 3.1.1(a), 3.1.3 and 5.1.1(ix)): https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/
- Apple, App distribution in Brazil (App Store fees and rules in Brazil): https://developer.apple.com/support/app-distribution-in-brazil/
- Apple Developer News, "Changes to iOS in Brazil", June 18, 2026: https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=dhwadr2x
- Apple, Changes for apps in the European Union (rates in effect since October 1, 2026): https://developer.apple.com/support/dma-and-apps-in-the-eu/
- Apple, App Store Small Business Program: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/small-business-program/
- Apple Newsroom, App Store Small Business Program announcement, November 18, 2020: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/11/apple-announces-app-store-small-business-program/
- Google Play, Payments policy: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9858738
- Google Play, Payments policy FAQ (clinical services, 1:1 services, consumption-only apps): https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/10281818
- Google Play, Service fees: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/112622
- Google Play, Understanding user choice billing: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/13821247
- 9to5Mac, Apple's proposed commission on off-App Store purchases in the US, August 13, 2026: https://9to5mac.com/2026/08/13/apple-proposes-commissions-of-up-to-15-for-off-app-store-purchases-in-the-us/
Next step#
If your product has an app and a paid component, it is the kind of project we build in SaaS products: the billing model decided in the scope, the app designed to pass review and the release published under your company's account, as we did for Casa Follow Up.