Apple increases in-app purchase prices by 40% in a year as experts blame its privacy push for the rise

The average price of in-app purchases on Apple’s App Store has risen 40 percent since last year, new data shows.

Analysis by app intelligence company Apptopia also found that Google Play’s in-app purchases increased by just 9 percent over the same period.

Although inflation has hit Americans hard across the board over the past year, Apptopia notes that most of the price hikes happened before inflation set in.

The company instead believes the higher costs have more to do with Apple’s push for App Tracking Transparency (ATT) — which launched in February 2021.

The company instead believes the higher costs have more to do with Apple’s push for App Tracking Transparency (ATT) – which launched in February 2021 and can be seen above

One-time in-app purchases, like a new skin in Tennis Clash, have increased at a much faster rate than in-app purchases for monthly or yearly purchases, like year-round access to Headspace (above) — Apptopia has found

Apple CEO Tim Cook has said, “Too many people just follow [without our consent]and people are either unaware of it or they are unaware of the magnitude.

“You’ll see iOS surge well ahead of inflation hitting hard in 2022, suggesting publishers may actually be reacting to increased effective cost per install (eCPI) as Apple’s (ATT) policies make it more expensive , attracting users,” Apptopia explained in a blog post about the new data.

The privacy protocols for in-app purchases (IAPs) – introduced by Apple CEO Tim Cook as part of the iOS14 operating system – require users to authorize “tracking” for each downloaded app.

Because this tracking is a big part of how apps like Facebook benefit from targeted advertising, Meta’s revenue saw its first dip in July.

When asked about the new feature in an interview early last year, Cook told GQ that as the app ecosystem evolved, “the tracking happened without our consent.”

He said he doesn’t mind tracking with consent, but says “too many people are just tracking [without our consent]and people are either unaware of it or they are unaware of the magnitude.’

At the time, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the new update would push people away from Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, which it also owns, and toward Apple’s iMessage, which is built into all of its products. He called the move “selfish” and said it will not only hurt Facebook but also small businesses.

Apptopia found that prices on the App Store have increased significantly more than on Google Play. Therefore, the data company wanted to determine if all IAPs are equally affected.

Single purchase IAPs, like a new skin in Tennis Clash, increased much more than in-app purchases for monthly or yearly purchases like year-round access to Headspace, Apptopia found.

“Average iOS single purchase IAP prices increased 36% year over year in July, while annual + monthly IAPs increased just 19%,” the company wrote.

According to Apptopia, app publishers are trying to present value and retain customers for longer in order to lower acquisition costs.

When Apple reported its third-quarter results in late July, it was reporting $19.6 billion in services revenue, marking a 12% year-over-year increase for the tech giant. That number was also lower than the 27% growth reported in the same period last year.

The Cupertino, California-based company’s category of services, which includes the App Store, Apple TV+, Apple Music, cloud services and more, reached 860 million paid subscribers on the Apple platform.

“The record level of performance of our services portfolio in the June quarter reflects the strength of our ecosystem on many fronts,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO, in announcing the company’s results.