How to make money from an iPhone app: 6 ways (2026)

By Sigsten Gustavii· 27 October 2026· 8 min read

You make money from an iPhone app by selling something through it, digital access through Apple's in-app purchase or real-world goods and services through your own checkout, or by showing ads.

Which of those fits depends on what your app does and how often people come back to it. This guide walks through the six models, what Apple takes from each, when each one works, and how to set up the most common ones without writing payment code.

1. Subscriptions

A subscription charges people every week, month or year for continued access. Apple calls these auto-renewable subscriptions. According to Apple's subscriptions page, you keep 70% of the price in a subscriber's opening year and 85% after a year of paid service, or 85% throughout in the Small Business Program.

Subscriptions suit apps that keep earning their keep: new content, a service that costs you money to run (like AI features or synced data), or a habit people return to daily. They suit a simple tool less well; people resent paying monthly for something that does not change.

• Offer a yearly plan next to the monthly one. It is a better deal for the regular, and the subscriber pays for the year at once.
• Use a free tier that is genuinely useful, with the paid tier unlocking more, rather than a wall at the start.
• Subscription offers let you give a discounted price or free access for a set time, and offer codes let you share free or discounted access through your own channels.

2. One-time unlocks

A non-consumable purchase unlocks something permanently: a pro version, a pack of templates, the full recipe library. People pay once and keep it, including on a new phone through Restore Purchases. Apple's In-App Purchase page notes that non-consumables and auto-renewable subscriptions can offer Family Sharing, for up to five family members.

This is the honest model for a tool someone uses occasionally, and it is easy to explain: "Pay once, it's yours."

3. Consumable purchases

A consumable is used up and can be bought again: coins in a game, a pack of AI generations, extra storage for a month. It suits apps where usage varies a lot between people, or where each use costs you something, such as an AI call. Price it so the heaviest use still covers your costs.

4. Paid downloads

You can charge for the app itself. It is the simplest model, and the hardest to sell, because people cannot try the app before paying. It works well for a specialised tool whose audience already knows it needs it. Many developers instead make the download free with a one-time unlock inside, which lets people see the app before paying.

5. Selling real-world goods and services

If your app sells something used outside the app, like a haircut, a class, a meal or a T-shirt, guideline 3.1.3(e) says you must use a payment method other than in-app purchase, such as a card payment, and Apple takes no commission. Real-time person-to-person services, such as tutoring between two people, may also use other payment methods under guideline 3.1.3(d).

For a small business, the app's money often comes this way: the app is the convenient front door to a business that already sells something.

6. Ads

A free app can show ads from an advertising network and keep the ad revenue; Apple takes nothing, since no sale goes through the App Store. Ads need a lot of people using the app to earn meaningful money, and they cost you some goodwill and screen space. They fit casual games and free utilities with a broad audience better than focused tools.

What Apple takes, and when it pays you

For digital goods, guideline 3.1.1 requires Apple's in-app purchase, and Apple's standard commission is 30%. Its Small Business Program cuts that to 15% for developers with up to 1 million USD in proceeds a year; you enroll, it is not automatic. Apple pays your proceeds into your bank account within 45 days of the end of the fiscal month, once you have signed the Paid Apps Agreement and added banking details. Our post on how much Apple takes from app sales has the full table and worked examples.

How to pick a model for your app

Whatever you choose, decide before you build the paywall, because the model shapes the app: what is free, what is paid, and where the paywall appears.

Where to put the paywall

The model is half the decision; where people meet the price is the other half. A few patterns work across most apps:

• At a natural limit: when someone reaches the free tier's edge, such as the fourth habit or the eleventh recipe, they already know the app is useful.
• Before a premium feature: a locked button with a short line on what it does, opening the paywall when tapped.
• After onboarding, softly: a dismissible offer once people have seen what the app does, never a hard wall before it.

Whichever you use, the paywall should say plainly what the person gets, show the real price and period, and offer a way to restore past purchases.

Mistakes that cost app makers money

• Charging before showing value. A paywall on the opening screen loses people who have not seen why the app is worth it.
• Unlocking digital content with your own checkout. Guideline 3.1.1 rejects it; use in-app purchase.
• Forgetting Restore Purchases. People expect to get what they paid for on a new phone, and reviewers check it.
• Not enrolling in the Small Business Program, and paying double the commission for no reason.
• Pricing below your costs when each use costs you money, such as AI features.

How to add payments to an iPhone app with Borel, step by step

Borel builds native StoreKit paywalls, so your app can sell a subscription or a one-time unlock the way Apple requires, without you writing payment code. Borel takes none of what your app earns.

1. Build the app by describing it to Borel, and try it on the live iPhone in your browser.
2. Set up a paid plan from Payments in the chat's + menu: a subscription or a one-time unlock, its billing cycle and its price.
3. Say what the plan unlocks, in a message like the one below.
4. Check the paywall on the live iPhone: Borel's paywall shows Apple's own price, with Restore Purchases, terms and privacy links.
5. Publish with Pro and Apple's Developer Program. Borel creates the products in your App Store Connect account before the build goes to Apple.
6. Sign the Paid Apps Agreement, add banking details and enroll in the Small Business Program in App Store Connect, so Apple can pay you.

Free people can save 10 recipes. Pro unlocks unlimited recipes, meal planning and the shopping list. Show the paywall when someone tries to save the 11th recipe, and explain what Pro adds in one line.

The in-app purchases page shows the paywall, and what an iPhone app costs to make covers the other side of the ledger.

The bottom line

An iPhone app makes money through subscriptions, one-time unlocks, consumables, a paid download, real-world sales or ads. Digital sales go through Apple at 30%, or 15% for small developers, and real-world sales and ads keep Apple out of it. Pick the model that matches how people use the app, then build the paywall around it. If you want to try an idea without writing payment code, start free on Borel and add a paid plan when the app is ready.

My advice is to charge for something people already came back for. If you put a paywall in a Borel app, I would like to hear how it does.

– Sigsten

Make your iPhone app in Borel

Describe the app you want and see its first screens before you pay anything.