External payments/App2Web for iOS: How app developers are succeeding on the web in 2026

Last year, the mobile app market experienced a seismic shift, the Epic vs. Apple ruling.

With no Apple fees or restrictions on linking out to external payments, this landmark decision effectively allows developers to bypass the 15-30% commission on in-app purchases, creating unprecedented opportunities to grow revenue and margins.  

This ruling affects over 200,000 apps developed in the US, as well as any app selling into the US market. 

Over a year on from the ruling, these developers continue to face a critical strategic decision: whether to implement external payment options, and if so, how to optimize the user experience to maximize conversion rates while maintaining user trust. 

This playbook provides insights from early adopters and practical recommendations to help navigate this new world confidently. 

The current (legal) lay of the land

First, let’s clarify what this actually means in 2026 legally.

The ruling establishes several key principles that app developers should understand:

Universal application: The ruling applies to all apps, not just "reader apps".

Any app selling anything with a payment can implement alternative methods, including both subscription and consumable purchase apps.

Legal protection: The court explicitly prohibits Apple from retaliating against developers who implement alternative payment methods, providing a safeguard for businesses exploring these options.

User communication freedom: The ruling prevents Apple from using scare tactics to discourage users from choosing alternative payment options, allowing developers to communicate openly with their customers.

The ruling for mobile apps in the Small Business Program

For those on Apple’s small business program, the financial incentives are definitely less dramatic than for larger apps paying Apple’s full fee. But even for these sellers, there are still some notable benefits. 

Cash flow advantages for growing apps

Small business apps often face significant cash flow challenges when scaling their marketing efforts. 

Apple's payout delays of up to 60 days can severely limit a growing app's ability to reinvest in user acquisition, especially when trying to establish their first profitable marketing channel.

External payments solve this immediately. Instead of waiting two months for revenue, developers can access funds within weeks, allowing for more aggressive testing and iteration cycles that are critical during the growth phase.

Stoikk: A case study in External Payments/App2Web

The journey from the app to the web (to purchase) has been coined External Payments, or App2Web.

one app company capitalizing on the new motion successfully is Stoikk.

When the ruling was announced, Stoikk saw a huge opportunity to keep more of its revenue but knew they had to act fast.

"Appeal processes in the US can take six to eight months, so we saw this as a short window of opportunity. It made strategic sense to be among the first movers."
- Erkmen Erakkus, Co-Founder and CEO, Stoikk

Here's how they established their new App2Web monetization strategy successfully with Paddle: 

Dual options to highlight the benefit for the user: 

Their paywall features two call-to-action buttons: "Use Apple Pay and get a 25% extra discount" and "Continue in-app."

Apple Pay focus 

Their checkout design prioritized Apple Pay over credit/debit card payment to maintain the familiarity and trust of the native payment experience.

Trust signaling

They implemented a loading screen with their app logo before the checkout page to reinforce user trust and brand recognition.

Their experience executing web funnels previously provided them with valuable data on higher lifetime values (LTVs) with web payments, allowing them to make informed decisions about their implementation strategy.

No drop in conversions

The early results have been promising. 

Early data shows that rather than a dip in conversions, Stoikk has seen a slight uplift. 

The company anticipates significant increases in customer lifetime value through improved retention tactics available with web payments, and by moving quickly, they've gained valuable insights before the market becomes saturated and CPMs (Cost Per Mille) potentially increase.

RevenueCat's Dipsea experiment

RevenueCat's aggregate data shows that while some apps experience initial conversion dips of 10-15% when implementing external payments, others see improvements. 

The difference often comes down to implementation sophistication and audience alignment.

Having acquired romantic audiobook app Dipsea last year, RevenueCat have been able to run a number of first hand experiments with an App2Web motion. 

Dipsea’s users required particularly careful trust-building due to the sensitive nature of their product.

They implemented a "content preview" approach where users sample the experience before being presented with payment options, building confidence in the value proposition. 

For Dipsea, the auto-renewal challenge was particularly important given their subscription model, requiring significant investment in robust renewal infrastructure and proactive subscriber communication.

The results have been promising, maintaining strong conversion rates while significantly improving their unit economics through reduced platform fees.

The experimental setup

The experiment tested four distinct approaches: 

• Variant A: Original native paywall with IAP only 
• Variant B: Functionally identical IAP-only paywall (a control to ensure their implementation didn’t introduce issues)
• Variant C: Choice between in-app purchase and discounted web payment
• Variant D: Web payment only

Conversion patterns and the friction paradox

The data revealed an interesting pattern. While external payments showed a significant drop in initial trial starts when users moved from app to web, the complete funnel told a different story. The conversion rate from trial to paid subscription was substantially higher for web payments.

This suggests that the higher friction of web checkout actually filters for higher-intent users from the start. 

Despite fewer people starting trials, more of those who do start end up converting to paid subscriptions.

Revenue parity despite fee differences

External payments achieved near-parity with in-app purchases when accounting for platform fees.

 With web payments costing approximately 6% versus Apple's 30% commission, the revenue per customer proved almost equivalent, making the switch financially neutral in the short term.

The retention advantage

Among 2,000 active subscriptions initiated in May, only 2.5% of web payment subscribers had turned off auto-renewal, compared to 18% of App Store subscribers who had already disabled auto-renewal.

This retention difference suggests that while first-year revenues might be comparable, web payments could provide significant long-term revenue advantages, potentially improving lifetime value by 15-20%.

The auto-renewal infrastructure challenge proved particularly important for Dipsea's subscription model, requiring significant investment in robust renewal systems and proactive subscriber communication. However, this upfront investment enabled the superior retention rates that drive long-term value.

Additional data from other companies reinforces these patterns, with some reporting 10-15% conversion drops offset by 2-3x improvements in trial-to-paid conversion rates on web platforms.

Key success factors and optimization strategies

Although the early signs are positive for Stoikk, others in the space, like Superwall, who have taken an aggregate of data from their customers, are seeing a drop in conversion (despite an increase in total revenue). 

These dips in conversion and Stoikk's success are relative to the product and the audience.

Outside of the app context, we know from our own tests that a one-page checkout can dramatically increase conversions for inexpensive digital products, but can decrease the conversion rate on pricier B2B SaaS checkout pages. 

Your customer base will have vastly different pay preferences, even from your competitors. Assume nothing and experiment with everything. 

Below, Lucas Lovell outlines the tactics that give you the best chance for success and we outline some of the other tactical plays developers are leveraging to drive conversions on the web.

A/B testing framework for external payments

Developers can run A/B tests and segment portions of their audience, even down to specific demographics within the US. Specific test variables to consider include:

• Price points and discount strategies
• Placement of the external payment option (paywall vs. earlier in the user journey)
• Different UX patterns and visuals
• Various cohorts based on user demographics or behavior

Strategic placement beyond paywalls

The paywall isn't the only place to make the transition to web payment. Some developers move users to web during a loading screen or plan customisation step mid-onboarding, so it feels like part of the flow rather than a detour.

Building user trust

Use familiar payment options like Apple Pay, keep the visual experience consistent with your app, and communicate clearly about what's happening. If the payment screen looks like a different product, you'll lose people.

Retention

Web payments let you message users about failed payments, prompt them to update details, or offer discounts before they churn. HubX has already saved over $100,000 in churn through cancellation flows alone. Read their story.

Advanced cancellation flows

When someone tries to cancel, you can ask why and respond. Offer a discount to price-sensitive users, or a downgrade to those who want a lower commitment. Apple's cancellation process doesn't give you this.

Strategic friction

Slowing things down can improve conversion. A personalisation screen, progress indicator, or short assessment before payment builds investment. Users who complete those steps convert better and retain longer. Gaming, productivity, and health apps each respond to different friction types, but the principle holds across categories.

What Cal AI taught the industry

The ruling is clear: Apple cannot stop you from linking to external payments. But how you implement it does matter, and the industry now has a concrete reference point for where the line sits.

In April 2026, Apple pulled Cal AI from the App Store. Not because the app had a web checkout, which is legal in the US. But because of how the rest of its monetisation was structured:

• It bypassed IAP entirely for in-app digital goods, using Stripe to process transactions that Apple's guidelines require to go through IAP (guideline 3.1.1)
• Its paywall displayed a cheaper weekly price prominently while burying the actual billing amount
• Users who declined the first subscription offer were immediately hit with a second

The lesson isn't "don't do App2Web." 

The courts have been unambiguous on that. The lesson is that the rules around how you do it are specific, and Apple is watching.

Common mistakes developers are still making:

1. Ambiguous implementation choices. There's still no clear answer on some approaches, especially whether to use in-app webviews or external browser flows.
2. Missing required options. Some teams are adding external payments but dropping in-app purchase entirely. Apple can still enforce that you offer both.
3. Skipping re-review. Change something significant in your billing or pricing flow? You need to re-submit. No exceptions.
4. Deceptive billing or UX patterns. Apple isn't just watching where payment happens. It's scrutinising how you present pricing and subscriptions too.

Three things need to be true for any App2Web implementation:

1. Offer IAP alongside the external link: You cannot remove IAP from your paywall. External checkout runs alongside it, not instead of it.
2. Transparent billing throughout: Users need to know they're leaving Apple's payment environment before they tap through to a web checkout. Disclosure copy is required at the point of the link.
3. No post-decline pressure: If a user dismisses the external checkout prompt, you cannot immediately re-surface it. One clear offer, clearly labelled.

For most well-run apps, none of these are difficult. Cal AI made the picture clearer for the whole industry.

Hybrid motion, or wholesale change? 

For most, App2Web is not about leaving the App Store.

It's about running a second revenue channel alongside IAP. This distinction matters operationally.

Your existing Apple subscribers cannot be moved to web billing unless they cancel and resubscribe. Apple's IAP governs those relationships. There is no mechanism to migrate them. And Apple still requires IAP as an option on the paywall for new users.

What you can do:

• Route all new users through web checkout, where you own the transaction, the email, and the billing relationship from the first click
• Leave existing Apple subscribers on IAP, undisturbed, on the billing relationship they signed up for
• Run both channels in parallel

Some sellers run incentive campaigns to encourage existing Apple subscribers to switch over, typically offering a discount or a feature unlock in exchange for moving to a web subscription. These can work, but expect a meaningful portion of your installed base to stay on Apple permanently. Factor that into your revenue modelling.

The practical model for most apps: IAP for the subscriber base you already have, web checkout for every new subscriber from this point on.

Challenges and mitigation strategies

Inside the walled garden, Apple manages the entire subscription lifecycle on your behalf: That makes things easy for apps, yes. But it also limits developers. When you move to web checkout, you expose yourself to more responsibility but that responsibility brings freedom and revenue upside - when handled correctly. 

Here's what that can look like:

Trial to paid conversion: On IAP, Apple handles trial expiry and the conversion billing automatically. On the web, you manage the timing, the messaging, and the failure handling if a card declines at conversion.

Insufficient funds and card failures: A failed card on IAP means Apple cancels the subscription quietly. You find out weeks later, on web, you can see the failure in real time, retry on a schedule you control, and send recovery messaging before the subscriber churns.

Retry logic and dunning: Smart retry logic, timed to card issuer patterns, recovers a material percentage of failed payments that a single retry would miss. Recovery and win-back. Users who do lapse can be reached directly. On IAP, you have no email, no contact. On the web, you have both.

Retention and cancellation flows. On IAP, a subscription is three taps from cancelled. On web, you can introduce a pause option, a downgrade, or a retention offer before the cancellation completes.

In managing this newfound responsibility, apps have two choices: 

1. Hire new talent, or place additional work on already stretched product teams. 
2. Outsource the workload to a disparate set of tools, or one solution. 

As a Merchant of Record (MoR), Paddle handles everything in a single solution: global tax compliance, payments, fraud prevention, chargeback disputes, as well as customer billing support & retention.

You get the revenue advantages of web sales with the operational simplicity you already have on the App Store.

Implementation strategy and rollout plan

Here's a recommended approach for implementing external payment methods in your app:

Phase 1: Evaluation and Planning (1-3 days)

1. Assess your app's current conversion metrics to establish a baseline.
2. Identify key metrics that could be improved through implementing external payments.
3. Conduct a team brainstorming session to explore implementation options.
4. Select the right payment solution.
5. Develop a testing strategy and identify user segments for experimentation.

Phase 2: Initial Implementation (4 - 6 days)

1. Build a simple initial implementation (button on paywall linking to a web checkout).
2. Set up proper attribution tracking.
3. Implement trust-building elements in the checkout experience.
4. Launch A/B tests with a portion of your user base.

Phase 3: Optimization (Ongoing)

1. Analyze conversion data from initial tests.
2. Experiment with different payment flows, discount strategies, and UX patterns.
3. Expand successful approaches to larger user segments.
4. Implement advanced cancellation flows and retention strategies.
5. Continuously monitor attribution data and refine marketing strategies.

Runna: what success on the web looks like with Paddle 

Runna is a personalized running coaching app with nearly a million monthly active users across 175 countries. They built their business on mobile - but hit a ceiling. 

App-store-only monetization was expensive to track, hard to attribute, and gave them no control over the subscription experience.

Adding a web checkout changed that. Subscribers who come through the web now have a 15% higher retention rate than those who convert in-app - a meaningful lift when you're thinking about lifetime value at scale. 

Web also gave them something the App Store never could: the ability to test quickly. No waiting on release cycles to try a new pricing structure or onboarding flow.

The operational side was the other unlock. Managing global tax across 175 countries while handling chargebacks and fraud wasn't something they wanted to build themselves. Paddle's Merchant of Record model meant they didn't have to.

Runna has since been acquired by Strava. The web revenue stream they built is part of what made them an attractive business.

Read the full story

How to implement External Payments/App2Web today

Ready to start experimenting today?

Paddle's partnership with Helium covers your External Payments/App2Web implementation end-to-end: the checkout flow, the Merchant of Record layer, and web/app attribution.

Learn more about the partnership