Fruit of The Doom (Patreon)

So late Wednesday night, I was e-mailed directly from P●tre●n with some bad news.

A certain fruit-moniker tech company has pushed its ultimatum on P●tre●n, stating that all users must be on the subscription/anniversary style or they’re going to disallow the App version of this platform on their App store.  And also the other ugly caveat of the fees, which Content Creators are either going to have to pass onto their Audience, or absorb the cost and get less per pledge made via the OS App Store.

You can read for yourself here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/148395613  (free to view, they made this post public)

Yeah, you’ve heard this before; I was fretting a lot about it back in 2024:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/in-light-of-news-110003157

https://www.patreon.com/posts/113654915?collection=801517

https://news.patreon.com/articles/understanding-apple-requirements-for-patreon

But then in May 2025: https://www.patreon.com/posts/128001823?collection=1475886 it looked as though everything was going to be alright.  The US end laid down the law, and at that time, the European Union was doing the same thing. 

But here we are in early 2026 and… yeah.  By sheer coincidence, last week, my own Government deemed it totally unfair App●e were charging such extortionate fees just for Apps to exist on their store, and asked them to change it.  Naturally, App●e are preparing to Appeal that judgement.

Now what’s the fuss about?  The FAQs say that the way I get paid isn’t going to change, just how people get charged.  Well, as I explained last August: https://www.patreon.com/posts/to-clarify-135680553?collection=1641117

And I explain here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/sign-of-times-110335165  time-sensitive rewards aren’t going to work under the new system.  Granted, since November 2024, anyone who joins a new account is automatically enrolled under the new anniversary date billing system.  I’ve been dealing with that as and when since it’s usually less than 10 late additions joining and I can go “ok, here’s your key(s).”  Easy-peasy.

Come November this year, it is my understanding that everyone will be converted to the anniversary billing system and be billed on the date they joined. Retroactively, this is going to be tricky because I’ll have to do a lot more admin to make sure nobody’s left out or double-charged or what-have-you. Plus timing.

(As an aside, something weird happened recently when one addition appeared unassigned to a Tier which was… odd.  Not sure what that’s about and I’m hoping that’s not indicative of something major coming).

As I said in the spring of 2025: https://www.patreon.com/posts/just-reminder-126391981  which I re-iterate here. 

Granted, the majority of my Audience just happen to come via web browser or the Android App, but this serves as a reminder for those who just happen have to that particular type of phone.

As for what I’m going to do… I don’t really have the mental capacity right now to give a direct answer.  I’m over my initial emotional reaction (which is why I’m posting this up today, so I’d only stick with the facts)… the silver lining is that at least I have until November of this year, as does everyone else. 

A lot of people are unhappy about this, I hear, even with the official line of “only 4% of our users still charge per creation or charge up-front.” 

Maybe I’m over-reacting, as the status quo has changed again and my head can’t handle it.  I don’t know.  But yeah, there’s the facts as I know ‘em.

I’ll keep you all posted on further developments as and when I hear them.  In the meantime, back to normal proceedings.  Thanks for reading.

Stay safe, stay well.

‘Kam