In-App Purchase (IAP)
ADOPTIONDEFINITION
Apple and Google's built-in payment system for digital goods and services sold inside an app, which takes a platform commission of up to 30%. For over a decade, apps that wanted to sell digital content had to route payment through this system or risk removal from the app store.
The in-app purchase requirement applies specifically to digital goods and services — subscriptions, virtual items, unlockable content — consumed within the app itself. Physical goods and services (a ride, a hotel booking, a physical product) have generally been allowed to use outside payment methods. Crypto apps sat in an ambiguous middle ground: buying bitcoin isn't quite a "digital good" in the traditional sense, but app store guidelines were written broadly enough to catch crypto payments anyway, forcing exchanges and wallets to disable in-app purchasing on iOS or redirect users to a browser.
Regulatory pressure has chipped away at the in-app purchase requirement over the past several years. Court rulings and legislation in the US, EU, and elsewhere have forced Apple and Google to permit alternative payment links for some app categories, and antitrust scrutiny of the up-to-30% commission has continued. Apple lifting its restriction specifically on crypto payments follows that broader trend.
IN A SENTENCE
"Apple's in-app purchase rule had blocked direct crypto payments on iOS for over a decade — that restriction is now gone."
Key facts
Common questions
Why was buying bitcoin treated as a digital good under App Store rules?
Apple's guidelines were broad enough to cover any transaction conducted within an app that didn't clearly fall under the physical-goods exception, and crypto purchases were generally treated this way in practice, regardless of the underlying asset.
Does removing the restriction mean Apple takes no cut of crypto payments?
It means apps are no longer required to route crypto payments through Apple's in-app purchase system, which is where the up-to-30% commission applies. Apps handling their own payment processing outside that system generally do not owe Apple a commission on those transactions.