Apple’s iOS in-app purchase system only supports subscription billing. Apple has made clear that if creators on Patreon continue to use unsupported billing models or disable transactions in the iOS app, we will be at risk of having the entire app removed from their App Store. Apple's billing requirements mean that you will not be able to sell new memberships through the iOS app beginning in November 2024 and will have to migrate to subscription billing by November 2025.
If you are using charge upfront billing, you will automatically be migrated to subscription billing in November 2024 unless you delay the migration from your settings page by November 1, 2024. If you delay your migration, you will not be able to offer new memberships in the iOS app per Apple’s requirements. If you want to continue earning in the iOS app, we recommend going forward with the automatic migration in November 2024. Visit our page on moving from 1st-of-the-month billing to subscription billing to learn more about what you can expect.
How charge upfront billing works
With charge upfront billing, members pay to join your membership and then monthly on the 1st after signup. members’ first payment gives them access to your backlog of creations and their membership. We then process members' payments on the 1st of every month after that.
Each first-of-the-month charge gives members membership access for that month. For example, a member's January 1st payment gives them membership access throughout January.
Members' experience with charge upfront billing
New member experience
New members pay when they sign up. A member's sign-up payment gives them access to your back catalog. Following their first payment, members’ bills renew on the 1st of each month at approximately 12:00 am PT.
Existing member experience
If you switched to charge upfront before September 16, 2022, you may have existing members and be wondering what they’ll experience. Members who joined before you enabled charge upfront billing will experience no billing change unless they increase their membership.
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Existing member upgrades |
Existing member downgrades |
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Suppose an existing member upgrades their membership after you switch to charge upfront. In that case, they'll pay the difference between their previous and upgraded membership. After their initial upgrade payment, we will process their membership renewal payment on the 1st of each month from then on.
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If an existing member downgrades their membership, they'll experience no change. Since they aren't unlocking new content and have paid for the current month in total, there is no need for an additional payment. When their membership renews on the 1st of the month, their membership access and payment amount will reflect their new subscription. |
How to enable charge upfront billing
Beginning in November 2024, Apple will require Patreon to use iOS in-app purchases for digital goods and new memberships to keep the Patreon app available on the Apple App Store. Since the iOS in-app purchase system only supports our subscription billing model, creators using other billing models will not be able to sell new memberships in the iOS app once in-app purchasing rolls out. Apple has made clear that if creators on Patreon continue to use unsupported billing models or disable transactions in the iOS app, we will be at risk of having the entire app removed from their App Store, so we have started a 16-month-long migration journey to get all creators onto subscription billing by November 2025.
Creators are no longer able to enable charge upfront billing, and we will begin automatically migrating them to subscription billing unless they’ve opted to delay their migration to subscription billing from their settings page by November 1, 2024.
How to manage members after enabling charge upfront billing
If you’ve launched on or after September 26, 2022, with charge upfront, then you’re starting fresh and you can refer to your Relationship manager to manage new members.
If you switched to charge upfront before September 26, 2022, a new billing month appears in your Relationship Manager.
When you get your first new member after turning on charge upfront, the current month will populate as a billing month in your Relationship Manager. The new month will include new members who joined after you switched and exclude existing members.
Why the change? Once we start processing new members' payments charge upfront, our system needs to account for that transition month. All of your members will pay for their renewal on the 1st of the month, but only new members will have an initial sign-up payment.
Your existing members will populate in the upcoming month's income reports.
As an example:
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Pre charge upfront > |
Charge upfront enabled > |
Every month after |
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member A joins on April 12. They pay on May 1 when you bill members monthly, but not with upfront billing. member A's payment is listed under the April line item in your Relationship manager with a May 1 processing date. |
On May 13, you turn on charge upfront. member B signs up and pays on May 20. For May, a new line item appears to account for this new income with your new billing model. |
On June 1, we process all of your members' (new and existing) subscription payments. A line item appears for June and includes member A and member B's payments. Every month after May has all members regardless of their join date. |
FAQ
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Members who upgrade pay the difference between their previous pledge level and their new pledge level. Say that member D was charged $10 on March 1. They then upgraded to $15 on March 7. On March 7, they paid $5 to upgrade. member D has paid a total of $15 for March.
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Members who downgrade will be charged the new amount on the 1st of the month. There is no charge for downgrading, and they’ll retain their original membership access until the next billing date on the 1st. members who downgrade will not receive a refund.
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You’ll find a detailed payment history for each member in your Relationship manager.