Patreon will force creators to move away from legacy billing methods this fall to appease Apple’s newly revived subscriptions mandate. The migration will impact four percent of Patreon creators who still use first-of-the-month and per creation billing models, with Apple imposing a deadline to switch to subscription billing by November 1st, 2026. On its support page, Patreon says it will “automatically transition” any creators who have not manually switched by this date.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because Apple has already introduced and then U-turned on this mandate before. In 2024, Apple initially told Patreon to move its creators to the App Store’s in-app purchase system — allowing Apple’s 30 percent commission to be applied to purchases and renewals — by November 2025, or “risk being kicked out of the App Store.” Patreon announced in May that the deadline was no longer in effect because Apple had approved an update to provide iOS users in the US with alternative checkout options following the Epic Games v. Apple ruling, which blocks Apple from imposing fees on purchases made outside of apps.
Now Apple has revived the mandate with a new deadline. Patreon members on iOS can still skirt Apple’s 30 percent fees by joining via mobile web, but subscription billing will include those fees and is the only method that supports Apple’s in-app purchase system.
“We strongly disagree with this decision,” Patreon said in the announcement blog. “Creators need consistency and clarity in order to build healthy, long-term businesses. Instead, creators using legacy billing will now have to endure the whiplash of another policy reversal – the third such change from Apple in the past 18 months.”
We have reached out to Apple for comment.
