Apple Cuts Mini App Commission by Half to 15%

Apple is dialing back its take on a fast‑growing piece of the app economy, with an announcement that it’s now implementing a Mini Apps Partner Program — effectively reducing the App Store commission to 15% for purchases made inside “mini apps” embedded within larger iOS and iPadOS apps.

The change formalizes a business model Apple has officially permitted since 2017 but never priced differently, and is intended to foster continued health of emerging micro‑app ecosystems on the App Store rather than having them gravitate to other sales channels.

What Defines a Mini App on iOS and How It Works

Apple describes a mini app as a self‑contained experience developed using web technologies such as HTML5 and JavaScript, distributed within a host app. Picture lightweight services released through a messenger, marketplace, or game hub without having to download from the full App Store.

Mini apps, mini games, streaming games, and chatbots are permissible under Apple’s App Store guideLINEs: Guideline 4.7 of its App Review Guidelines has for some time sanctioned such content along with plug‑ins (as in new features that can be added to an existing app) and even emulators — as long as the content abides by rules on data handling and has been subject to the usual back‑and‑forth before being approved. The widely used hosts are WeChat and LINE (messaging), Discord (mini games), along with AI chatbots taking on app‑like add‑ons inside conversations.

How the New Mini Apps Partner Program Will Work

To be eligible for the 15% rate, an app must be offered on the App Store for iOS or iPadOS, and it must adhere to the Apple Developer Program License Agreement and App Store Review Guidelines, including 4.7 designating mini apps.

Apple needs support for two technologies specifically. The Advanced Commerce API normalizes purchasing flows and fraud protections, along with the Declared Age Rating API to make sure there are age‑appropriate experiences within each mini app instance.

All eligible transactions must be made with Apple’s in‑app purchase system. Hosts must also provide the customer’s details to Apple when processing refunds in order to ensure that account status and entitlements are equivalent across the ecosystem.

The lower commission rate will apply to digital goods and services, including cryptocurrency, along with consumables (such as fuel), non‑consumable enhancements, and additional content.

Enrollment entails a request, information about the host and its mini apps, acceptance of terms for the program, and content sent in for review. Already, Apple asks hosts to supply a manifest containing included software and metadata as well as links to the mini apps they surface.

Why Apple Is Launching This Mini Apps Commission Cut

Mini app ecosystems are also a phenomenal retention engine for “super apps,” which is why Apple would like them anchored on iOS using its commerce rails. In reducing the take from 30 percent to 15 percent, Apple is simply mimicking incentives that it’s already adopted elsewhere, including in the App Store Small Business Program and the 15 percent subscription fee after a user’s first year.

It also underscores competitive and regulatory pressure. Google’s Play Store provides a 15% cut on many subscriptions from day one. This is part of a broader policy climate in the U.S. and Europe, where platforms have been coming under more pressure to justify their fees and enhance developers’ choices. Encasing mini apps in Apple’s secure payment and security stack is a hedge against off‑platform experiences.

Bloomberg reported that Apple and Tencent agreed to a 15% take on WeChat mini apps. Today’s program is extending that kind of rate beyond a single partner, an indication of Apple’s plans to scale the model.

What the New 15% Mini Apps Rate Means for Developers

Reducing platform fees, in the case of halving them, snaps unit economics into shape instantly. On $10 million in eligible gross revenue, a mini app developer would have $1.5 million more to its bottom line than under a 30% fee — cash that might be put into better user acquisition, higher quality content, or better customer support.

For hosts, the program is an on‑ramp to create or expand catalogs of third‑party services — games, bookings, education, productivity — that should not require full native rebuilds.

Our web‑tech foundation facilitates broader iteration, and API age rating and standardized commerce offer us moderation benefits.

There are trade‑offs. Apple’s in‑app purchase is still required for eligible transactions, and program participation requires that you apply Apple APIs. That keeps integrity high but restricts other ways of being monetized that some have dabbled in.

AI Assistants and the Mini App Moment on Apple Platforms

AI assistants are rapidly becoming distribution surfaces for services, collapsing the distinction between search, chat, and apps. Bot platforms have started to feature app‑like extensions from the likes of travel, productivity, and media brands. Apple’s new incentive rewards those ecosystems — if they reside within App Store‑distributed hosts and rely on Apple’s commerce stack.

That framing is significant: instead of giving in to off‑platform chat interfaces for discovery and transactions, Apple is encouraging the same behavior patterns within the App Store’s guardrails and economics.

What to Watch Next as Apple Rolls Out the Program

The rate of adoption will depend on implementation specifics. The question is how narrowly Apple will interpret “self‑contained,” how granular the age rating signals would need to be across diverse mini apps, and whether the analytics and entitlement tooling will be up to snuff in a vast marketplace.

Developers will also be paying attention to the extent that the program grows beyond iOS and iPadOS, like tvOS or visionOS, and how Apple acts upon refund data flows to curb abuse without introducing friction into customer care.

The bottom line: Apple’s 15% rate for mini apps is a direct entreaty to super‑app builders and the next crop of AI platforms. It keeps innovation inside the App Store, reduces the take rate where it matters most, and doubles down on trust and safety protections that at scale are as valuable to developers as distribution itself.