Are you a YouTube Premium user? You could be paying more than you should if you subscribed through the Apple App Store

Apple charges an additional 15-30% for in-app purchases and subscription fees like YouTube Premium
This is known as the ‘Apple tax’
Third-party developers have been protesting this, most notably Fortnite founder Epic Games.

The Apple App Store is a one-stop shop for all your needs. It has made subscribing to third-party services much easier and you can manage all your memberships from one place, on your iPhone. That said, subscribing to platforms through Apple does have a small but costly drawback.

If you’ve signed up for top streaming services like YouTube Premium through the App Store, you may not know that this could cost you a lot more than if you signed up through YouTube, and it’s all due to App Store fees.

For example, if you signed up for the standard YouTube Premium tier through their website, it would cost you $15.99/£12.99/AU$22.99 per month, but if you signed up through the App Store, that monthly price becomes a little more expensive ($20.99/£16.99/AU$23.99).

Two words; apple tax

Apple doesn’t just make money selling its wide range of smartphones, laptops and other devices; Its App Store has created another source of income for the tech giant, now often referred to as the “Apple tax.”

Since Apple charges developers to implement alternative payment systems other than Apple Pay, these developers will increase monthly subscription costs by approximately 15-30%, charging you more per month simply for subscribing to platforms through the App Store to avoid paying this fee. It doesn’t just apply to monthly subscriptions; Apple applies this tax to most of its digital products and in-app purchases.

Now, Apple has been doing this practically since the App Store was launched on iPhone about 18 years ago, which resulted in an outcry against this tax, mainly from Epic Games, the founding company of Fornite.

In 2020, Epic Games began its protest against Apple’s App Store fees by implementing its own direct payment system on iOS. As a result, Apple booted Epic’s developer accounts and removed Fortnite, but it didn’t end there.

Epic Games retaliated with its own claim, arguing that Apple decided to remove Epic developer accounts because it viewed Epic Games as a threat to its ecosystem. Fortnite then reappeared on the App Store after a five-year absence, but the dispute has not yet been resolved. As things stand, the US Supreme Court decided to hear Apple’s appeal for contempt in the ongoing lawsuit with Epic Games. This will begin in the Supreme Court’s next term, which begins in October.

For most of you who know Apple’s ways, App Store fees probably won’t come as much of a surprise, but for the average user who relies on their Apple device to make digital purchases more convenient, you may not be as aware of the issue and are still being caught off guard by the Apple Tax.

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