Bad changes coming to Patreon because of Apple's greedy policies.

EDIT: Apparently, my page has never been available to Apple app users in the first place, because it's an adult page. (Another reason to hate Apple: they're anti-porn!) So, I won't be too affected by this policy change until next year, in which I will be HIGHLY affected once my page is forced into the "monthly" billing model instead of the "per creation" model, oof. Still, this is a good PSA on what's going on with other creators and a reminder to not use Apple apps to sign up for ANY subscriptions.

Original post starts here:

Hello everyone! Frankly, this is terrible news to wake up to.

As usual, Apple is bringing terrible policy changes to yet another app. (Don't forget, they're largely behind the Tumblr porn ban, the reason why apps like Clip Studio charge you a subscription if you use them on an iPad, and they tried to sue Itchio over "indecent content" which is one of the only sites I can sell my PDFs on.)

TLDR: Apple wants to take 30% of every subscription (more than Patreon itself takes) for every pledge someone makes through the iOS app. That's a payment the FAN will pay, not me. Every person using the app in the future will be overpaying.

So, if you're currently pledged through that store, you're probably going to want to change that in the future.

The timeline looks like this: in November, my page can no longer take any pledges from someone trying to pledge via the iOS store, and then in November 2025, I will not have access to my current "per creation" at all.

Why is this bad? 

It's bad because over half of my pay-check each month comes from generous people who decide they want to tip me with an extra pledge per month. (My page does not require people to pay me per creation, it's everyone's choice to either pay me once, twice, three times, or the full four. I rely on everyone's kindness to get by with this model.)

Is your pledge affected? 

Unless you've used the iOS app to pledge, no, you're not. If you're not on an Apple device, you are totally unaffected. However: if you have used the Apple app to pledge, I really can't tell you for sure what's going to happen in November. I'd suggest switching to pledging via a browser or other device now, if you can.

How can you avoid this? 

Use a browser like Firefox to pledge with. Yes, use a browser on your phone. (Firefox has an amazing phone version with amazing add-ons.) Better yet, just use a desktop or laptop computer to pledge, if you have one. Use anything BUT the Apple store app to pledge and you should be okay. This way, you can boycott that version of the app too.

How does this affect you going into the future?

So, what I expect to see is a decline in pledges starting this November, with a huge drop-off next November. It's going to be devastating.

I have plans for what I want to do: but those plans require time and are never a guarantee of money in the first place. (For example: finally finishing the Solanaceae game or releasing another chapter of Cavemate. All of those things take a lot of work to get done right and it's not guarantee I'll make enough money to support myself even if I do finish them. Patreon was way more reliable.)

All I can really do at this moment is take a look at how much time I have left (a deadline like this is always terrible to deal with, ugh) and work accordingly. And thank all of you who are here with me through this.

As a last note: if you're paying for anything on your Apple device via one of their apps, double check how much you're paying. You're probably overpaying if it's something like a Youtube premium, etc. I've seen folks saying they found out they were overpaying up to $5 on certain things before.

Fuck Apple. Boycott the app. Support any artists you see affected by this by commenting on their work and sharing their creations around. Thank you very much!