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Answers · Mobile

Do I have to use Apple's in-app purchase for subscriptions?

Inside the app, yes, for anything digital your users consume in the app. Apple takes 15 to 30 percent and rejects apps that link out to an external checkout for it. On the web, in a browser, you keep using Stripe. The same account can be entitled by either path.

Updated · 2 min read

The rule in one line

Digital content consumed in the app goes through StoreKit on iOS and Play Billing on Android. Physical goods and real-world services do not. A ride-hailing app takes a card; a subscription to your SaaS does not.

How the kit handles it

The shells intercept two marker paths rather than loading them as web screens. They are declared in config/routes.rb:

bin/rails routes | grep iap

/iap/subscribe triggers the native purchase sheet. /iap/manage opens the platform's subscription management. In a plain browser those same paths render a fallback, so nothing 404s if someone finds the URL.

After a native purchase the app posts the receipt to the server, which verifies it with Apple or Google through app/adapters/app_store.rb and app/adapters/play_store.rb and activates the same Subscription row a Stripe purchase would have. Entitlement does not know or care which route the money took.

Detecting the app

hotwire_native_app?

That helper is in app/controllers/application_controller.rb and reads the user agent the shells append. Gate the purchase UI on it: show the Stripe button on the web, the native trigger in the app. Showing the wrong one is the rejection.

The commission

15 percent for most small developers under the small business programs, 30 percent above the threshold, on both platforms. That is a real number to put in your pricing before you ship, not after.

Renewals and cancellations

Both platforms notify your server rather than expecting you to poll. Those webhooks are declared in config/routes.rb alongside the Stripe one, so a cancellation in the App Store settings ends entitlement the same way a Stripe cancellation does.

What you may say in the app

The rules on mentioning external pricing have changed more than once and vary by jurisdiction. Check the current guidelines before you write copy that points anywhere off-platform, because this is the part that moves.

Related questions

How do I tell if a request came from the native mobile app?

Use the hotwire_native_app? helper in app/controllers/application_controller.rb. The shells append "Hotwire Native" to the user agent, and the helper reads it. That check is how you show the native purchase trigger in the app and the Stripe button on the web, which the store rules require you to get right.

How does a native in-app purchase activate access on my server?

The app completes the purchase natively, then posts the receipt to /iap/purchase. Your server verifies it with Apple or Google through the store adapters and calls the same Subscription.activate! a Stripe checkout would. One entitlement row, two possible ways of paying for it.

How much do Apple and Google take from an app subscription?

Fifteen percent for developers under the small business thresholds on both platforms, thirty percent above them. Apple's programme applies under one million dollars a year; Google's reduced rate applies to the first million. Neither is automatic: you apply. Stripe's fee on the web is under three percent, which is the comparison that matters for pricing.