Apple is asking Patreon to move creators to in-app purchases for subscriptions by November

Creator platform Patreon It conflicts with Apple’s new mandate forcing all creators to move to a subscription billing model, which now has a new transition date of November 1, 2026.

While the upcoming changes will only affect 4% of creative people For those still using Patreon’s old billing models, the company’s announcement emphasized that Apple’s lack of consistency around its changing terms has made it difficult for creators to build healthy, long-term businesses.

What Patreon is referring to is the mandate announced by Apple in 2024 regarding subscription billing changes. That said, Patreon is a must Moved all creators to subscription billing Use Apple’s in-app purchase system by November 2025 or else Patreon risks being removed from the App Store. Apple made this decision because Patreon was billing a certain percentage of creator subscriptions, and the tech giant saw this as avoiding its App Store commission structure.

To Apple’s credit, Patreon has been given plenty of time to transition its customers to Apple’s in-app purchases.

The company said it It will convert creators to subscription bills in November 2024, and creators can choose whether they want to increase their subscription prices to cover Apple’s fees. Additionally, creators can choose to delay changes until November 2025 if they need more time. However, they won’t be able to offer in-app subscriptions until they approve in-app purchases from Apple.

Last May, Patreon benefited Newly relaxed App Store guidelines resulting from US court ruling in the case Epic v. Apple To provide creators with the ability to process web payments from links in the Patreon app. At the time, Patreon told creators that the previous November 2025 deadline no longer applied. This gave creators more time to decide what to do with their subscription business.

The company is now saying that its decision to pause the transition for its creators may have added to the confusion given that Apple is now re-imposing a November 2026 transition deadline.

While Patreon is complying with Apple’s decision, it is clearly troubled by the idea that the tech giant should have a say in how creators run their businesses.

“We strongly disagree with this decision,” her blog post said.

“Creators need consistency and clarity in order to build healthy, long-term businesses. Instead, creators using legacy billing will now have to endure the impact of another policy reversal — the third such change from Apple in the past 18 months. Over the years, we have suggested to Apple multiple tools and features that could have been designed to allow creators using legacy billing to transition on their own schedules, while adding more support. Unfortunately, Apple has consistently rejected these tools.”

Creators can read more about the transition plan at Patreon website. It has also built several tools to support these changes, including a Benefit entitlement instrument To find out who has paid or is scheduled to pay, Tier repricing toolsand dedication discount Tools to provide payment flexibility. An option for annual membership only will be offered before November 2026 as well.