What apps fall subject to Apple/Google's 30% subscription fees?

Question

I'm building an app for a local cafe with Flutter.

My question is regarding in-app payments as they are quite confusing. The cafe already does a monthly membership that provides customers certain benefits. The app will be used to support charging customers for the membership as well as to buy items to pickup from the store. I'm reading a lot about in-app purchases and Apple/Google's 30% cut of app subscription fees. But this isn't a subscription to the app itself, its a service of the cafe. Will the sale of the monthly cafe membership fall be subject to those fees or am I able to avoid those?

If you have IAP, Google will take 30% cut, no matter what app it is. You may try some other Payment services to avoid them if Google allows that. — CopsOnRoad, Aug 04 '19 at 02:33
My plan is to use Square or Stripe so yes, I'd be using another payment gateway — Jack, Aug 04 '19 at 02:35
Great, so I am not sure if you need to pay that 30% cut to Google/Apple. — CopsOnRoad, Aug 04 '19 at 02:35

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 05 '19 at 13:06

I wouldn't advice using IAP, and, moreover, selling non-digital goods via IAP might violate Google Play Policies (please see this topic)

30% commission is evil, but it can be justified by much easier user flow comparing to 3rd-party payment services. For example, a super quick 1-Tap pay mechanism is dramatically beneficial for the mobile gaming industry where most decisions are made spontaneously.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 05 '19 at 16:45

0

I'd suggest using Square's official Flutter plugin for In-App Payments SDK. That's perfect for the purchase of physical goods, physical services or physical subscriptions from within your app.

answered Aug 05 '19 at 16:45

user717804

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What apps fall subject to Apple/Google's 30% subscription fees?

2 Answers2