Preparing for the enhanced global pricing update on May 9 – Latest News


The App Store’s world-class commerce and payments system provides a convenient and effective way to set equalized prices across international markets, adapt to foreign exchange rate or tax changes, and manage prices per storefront. Last month, we introduced major pricing upgrades, including enhanced global pricing, across all purchase types. Now more customer friendly, the new price points follow the most common conventions in each country or region, and are globally equalized to your selected base country or region using publicly available exchange rate information from financial data providers.

As reminder, on May 9, 2023, pricing for existing apps and one-time in-app purchases will be updated across App Store storefronts using your current price in the United States as the basis—unless you’ve made relevant updates after March 8, 2023. You can update your base country or region at anytime using App Store Connect or the App Store Connect API. If you choose to do so, prices in your selected base country or region won’t be adjusted when prices are globally equalized on the App Store to account for foreign currency changes or new taxes. You can also choose to manually adjust prices on multiple storefronts of your choice instead of using the equalized price.

Learn how to select a base country or region

Learn how to set in-app purchase availability

Learn how to view the new pricing



App Store pricing upgrades have expanded to all purchase types – Latest News


In December, we announced the most comprehensive upgrade to pricing capabilities since the App Store first launched, including additional price points and new tools to manage pricing by storefront. Starting today, these upgrades and new prices are now available for all app and in‑app purchase types, including paid apps and one‑time in‑app purchases.

  • More flexible price points. Choose from 900 price points — nearly 10 times the number of price points previously available for paid apps and one‑time in‑app purchases. These options also offer more flexibility, increasing incrementally across price ranges (for example, every $0.10 up to $10, every $0.50 between $10 and $50, etc.).

  • Enhanced global pricing. Use globally equalized prices that follow the most common pricing conventions in each country or region, so you can provide pricing that’s more relevant to customers.

  • Worldwide options for base price. Specify a country or region you’re familiar with as the basis for globally equalized prices across the other 174 storefronts and 43 currencies for paid apps and one‑time in‑app purchases. Prices you set for this base storefront won’t be adjusted by Apple to account for taxes or foreign currency changes, and you’ll be able to set prices for each storefront if you prefer.

  • Regional options for availability. Define the availability of in‑app purchases (including subscriptions) by storefront, so you can deliver content and services customized for each market.

Get ready for enhanced global pricing updates in May

The App Store’s global equalization tools provide a simple and convenient way to manage pricing across international markets. On May 9, 2023, pricing for existing apps and one‑time in‑app purchases will be updated across all 175 App Store storefronts to take advantage of new enhanced global pricing. The updated prices will be globally equalized to your selected base country or region using publicly available exchange rate information from financial data providers. These price points will also follow the most common conventions in each country or region so that prices are more relevant to customers.

You can now update your current pricing to take advantage of the enhanced global pricing using App Store Connect or the App Store Connect API. If you haven’t made price updates for your existing apps and one‑time in‑app purchases by May 9, Apple will update them for you using your current price in the United States as the basis. If you’d like a different price to be used as the basis, update the base country or region for your apps or in‑app purchases to your preferred storefront. You can also choose to manually manage prices on storefronts of your choice instead of using the equalized price.

Learn how to select a base storefront

Learn how to set in-app purchase availability

Learn how to view the new pricing



Apple’s App Store pricing gets a major overhaul


Apple’s App Store pricing gets an update



Starting now, app developers can select between over 900 price points to charge customers for any App Store purchase — even whole numbers like $1 are supported.

That means customers will see a lot more apps that cost $1 instead of the classic $0.99, and in-app purchases can go as low as $0.10. The highest a developer can charge for something is $10,000, though that requires special permission from Apple.

Developers have until May 9, 2023, to set up regional base prices. On that date, Apple will enable the new pricing across 175 App Store storefronts.



Apple announces biggest upgrade to App Store pricing, adding 700 new price points





Apple announces biggest upgrade to App Store pricing, adding 700 new price points – Latest News


Developers will also gain new flexibility to manage pricing globally

Apple today announced the most comprehensive upgrade to pricing capabilities since the App Store first launched, providing developers with 700 additional price points and new pricing tools that will make it easier to set prices per App Store country or region, manage foreign exchange rate changes, and more.

Since the App Store’s inception, its world-class commerce and payments system has empowered developers to conveniently set up and sell their products and services on a global scale. The App Store’s commerce and payments system offers developers an ever-expanding set of capabilities 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 foundational to these capabilities, enabling developers to choose from a variety of business models, such as one-time purchases and multiple subscription types. These new pricing enhancements will be available for apps offering 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 throughout 175 storefronts.

Under the updated App Store pricing system, all developers will have the ability to select 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 provide developers around the world with even more flexibility, price points — which will start as low as $0.29 and, upon request, go up to $10,000 — will offer an enhanced selection of price points, increasing incrementally across price ranges (for example, every $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 that begin with two repeating digits (e.g., ₩110,000), and will be able to price products beyond $0.99 or €X.99 endings to incorporate rounded price endings (e.g., x.00 or x.90), which are particularly useful for managing bundles and annual plans.

Starting today, developers of subscription apps will also be able to manage currency and taxes 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 storefront if they wish. The pricing capability by storefront will expand to all other apps in spring 2023.

For developers distributing 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 upon these capabilities, allowing developers to keep their local currency constant in any storefront of their choice, even as foreign exchange and taxes fluctuate. This means, for example, a Japanese game developer who gets most of their business from Japanese customers can set their price for the Japan storefront, and have their prices outside of the country update as foreign exchange and tax rates change. All developers will also be able to define availability of in-app purchases by storefront.

Periodically, Apple updates prices in certain regions based on changes in taxes and foreign exchange rates. This is done using publicly available exchange rate information from financial data providers to help ensure prices for in-app purchases stay equalized across all storefronts. Currently, developers can adjust pricing at any time to react to tax and foreign currency adjustments. Coming in 2023, developers with paid apps and in-app purchases will be able to set local territory pricing, which will not be impacted by automatic price adjustments.

These newly announced tools, which will begin rolling out today and continue throughout 2023, will create even more flexibility for developers to price their products while staying approachable to the hundreds of millions of users Apple serves worldwide, and in turn help developers continue to thrive on the App Store.

Learn more about auto-renewable subscriptions

Learn about pricing for auto-renewable subscriptions



Apple to raise App Store pricing in Japan due to tax change



 

Apple on Monday notified developers that App Store pricing will increase in Japan this October due to a tax code update, changes that impact individual app sales and in-app purchases.

App Store Connect

In a post to Apple’s developer portal, the company said the pending App Store price hike is a direct response to changes in the Japan Consumption Tax (JCT), which is slated to increase from 8% to 10% in October. App pricing is set to rise accordingly, save for auto-renewable subscriptions.

An updated price tier list shows minimal effect on end users. So-called “tier 1” apps will still sell for 120 yen, as will “tier 2” software priced at 250 yen. Developers’ take of “tier 1” apps is 84 yen, while “tier 2” apps net 175 yen.

Apple routinely tweaks App Store pricing to match regional tax laws. The company also adapts App Store fees to offset variations in exchange rates, though this type of adjustment occurs less frequently than tax-related fluctuations.

According to Apple, the Pricing and Availability section of My Apps in App Store Connect will automatically update with new pricing information once the change goes into effect. Developers will see increased proceeds as a result of the price hike, and can manually shift app and in-app fees if they so choose.

Due to Apple’s pricing structure, the JCT increase does not influence auto-renewable subscriptions in the same way as individual app sales. Developers have the option of preserving current pricing for existing subscribers.