6 December 2022
PRESS RELEASE
Apple announces the biggest upgrade to App Store pricing, adding 700 new price points
Developers will also gain new flexibility to manage prices globally
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today announced the most comprehensive upgrade to pricing options since the App Store first launched, giving developers 700 additional price points and new pricing tools that will make it easier to set prices per app. App Store country or region, manage currency rate changes and more.
Since the App Store’s inception, its world-class commerce and payment system has allowed developers to conveniently configure and sell their products and services on a global scale. The App Store’s commerce and payment system offers developers an ever-expanding set of options and tools to grow their businesses, from frictionless checkout and transparent invoicing for users to robust marketing tools, tax and fraud services, and refund management.
Pricing has been the foundation of these options, allowing developers to choose from a variety of business models, such as one-time purchases and multiple subscription types. These new pricing improvements will be available for apps that offer auto-renewable subscriptions starting today and for all other apps and in-app purchases in spring 2023, giving all developers unprecedented flexibility and control to price their products in 45 currencies on 175 shop fronts.
Under the updated App Store pricing system, all developers will be able to choose from 900 price points, which is nearly 10 times the number of price points previously available for most apps. This includes 600 new price points to choose from, with an additional 100 higher price points available upon request. To give developers worldwide even more flexibility, price points – starting as low as $0.29 and going up to $10,000 upon request – will offer an expanded range of price points that increase incrementally across price ranges (e.g. $0.10 up to $10; every $0.50 between $10 and $50; etc.). See the table below for details.
In each of the App Store’s 175 storefronts, developers will be able to leverage additional pricing conventions, including those beginning with two repeating digits (eg ₩110,000), and will be able to price products beyond $0.99 or €X.99 endings to incorporate rounded price endings (eg X.00 or X.90), which are particularly useful for managing bundles and annual plans.
Starting today, subscription app developers will also be able to manage currency and charges across storefronts more effortlessly by choosing a local storefront they know best as the basis for automatically generating prices across the other 174 storefronts and 44 currencies. Developers will still be able to define prices per shop front if they want it. The option for pricing by storefront will be extended to all other apps in spring 2023.
For developers who distribute their apps around the world, the App Store’s global equalization tools have given them a simple and convenient way to manage pricing across international markets. Today’s enhancements expand those options and allow developers to keep their local currency constant in any storefront of their choosing, even when currency and taxes fluctuate. This means, for example, that a Japanese game developer who gets most of their business from Japanese customers can set their price for the Japanese storefront and have their prices outside the country updated as currency and tax rates change. All developers will also be able to define the availability of in-app purchases by storefront.
Periodically, Apple updates prices in certain areas based on changes in taxes and exchange rates. This is done using publicly available exchange rate information from financial data providers to ensure that prices for in-app purchases remain the same across all storefronts. Currently, developers can adjust prices at any time to respond to tax and currency adjustments. By 2023, developers with paid apps and in-app purchases will be able to set local prices that will not be affected by automatic price adjustments.
These newly announced tools, which begin rolling out today and continue throughout 2023, will create even more flexibility for developers to price their products while remaining accessible to the hundreds of millions of users Apple serves worldwide, and to in turn, help developers continue to thrive on the App Store.
About Apple
Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV. Apple’s five software platforms—iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS—provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with cutting-edge services, including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, and iCloud. Apple’s more than 100,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth and to leaving the world better than we found it.
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