Insight Timer, Apple’s popular meditation app, now demands a 30% cut of donations sent to teachers. After over a year of using Stripe-based in-app purchases, Apple apparently made the change. Insight Timer lets users tip their favorite meditation teachers. But now Apple says these tips count as “digital content” and must use Apple’s payment system.
Insight Timer has always used Stripe to handle tips for teachers. This allowed teachers to get all the money donated by users. But Apple reviewed the app again recently. They told Insight Timer that teacher tips now count as content sold in the app.
If something is sold in an iPhone/iPad app, Apple takes a 30% cut of all payments made in the app. So now when someone tips a teacher through the Insight Timer app, Apple will take 30% of that tip money.
The founder of Insight Timer, Christopher Plowman, is not happy with this change. He said the app’s main money comes from subscriptions, not teacher tips. But tips are an important way for teachers to make extra money from fans of their work. Now those teachers will get 30% less in tips each time.
Plowman tried to convince Apple to reconsider. But Apple said the app must follow their rules or be removed from the App Store. With no other choice, Plowman agreed to the changes. He worries this sets a bad example for other meditation and religious apps too.
Now Insight Timer must update its system to share teacher tip money with Apple. This means less money for the teachers doing the work, even though Apple doesn’t directly help with the teaching. It’s an unfair change many think Apple shouldn’t have made.
