How do app store subscriptions and fees work for a work app?
Store subscriptions are the easiest way for one professional to pay for a work app on their phone. This guide explains the Apple and Google mechanics that matter, with dated fee facts, and where store billing stops fitting.
How do app store subscriptions work for a work app?
The user subscribes inside the app with the payment method on their Apple or Google account. The store charges them each period, renews automatically until they cancel, handles refunds and pays you the price minus its fee. You define the plans, prices and offers in App Store Connect or Play Console and grant access in your app based on the store's status.
For a technician or engineer paying for themselves, or expensing it, that is the lowest-friction way to pay. For a company buying 40 seats it is awkward: no invoice in the company's name, no admin seat control, and receipts scattered across personal accounts.
That split shapes the rest of this page. Store subscriptions serve individuals well; team and company plans usually need web or invoiced billing, as the team and company pricing guide explains.
Who should be billed through a store subscription?
Use store billing when the payer is the person holding the phone: a self-employed arborist, an engineer buying a tool for their own work, a supervisor who will expense it. Offer company billing when someone other than the user pays, when more than a handful of seats are involved, or when procurement asks for an invoice.
Make the switch easy. When a PlanLens user on an individual plan joins a company account, their personal subscription should end cleanly and their drawings and markups should stay put. Explain in the app how to cancel the store subscription, since only the user can do that in their store account.
How do Apple and Google subscriptions differ?
| Apple App Store | Google Play | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue share (as of October 6, 2026) | 70% to developer in year one, 85% after the subscriber's first paid year | 15% on subscriptions; new structure in EEA, UK and US from June 30, 2026 |
| Structure | Subscription groups and levels | Subscriptions with base plans and offers |
| Introductory offers | Free trial, pay as you go, pay up front | Free trials from 3 days to 3 years; introductory pricing |
| Other offers | Offer codes, up to 10 promotional offers, win-back offers | Offers on base plans, targeted by eligibility |
| Failed payments | Billing retry; check App Store Connect for current options | Grace period on by default, then account hold |
| Sharing | Family Sharing available | Not covered here |
Sources: Apple's auto-renewable subscriptions page lists the revenue share and offer types. Google's subscriptions help page describes base plans, offers, free trials of 3 days to 3 years and introductory pricing. Google's subscription lifecycle documentation explains that the grace period is on by default, that account hold lasts 60 days minus the grace period by default, and that subscriptions can be paused. Store terms change often and differ by storefront: check current terms for your storefront before you set prices.
How do you set up subscriptions step by step?
- Pick two billing periods at most: monthly for people testing the habit, annual for people who already rely on the app.
- Mirror the plans on both stores with the same names and features, so support and marketing can describe one offer.
- Add one introductory offer, such as a 7-day free trial, rather than several competing ones. The trial conversion guide covers lengths.
- Handle billing problems in the app. During a grace period, keep access and show a calm banner. During account hold, explain what is paused and how to fix it.
- Sync entitlements from Apple, Google, web and invoiced plans into one account record.
- Give users receipts they can expense, or point them to the store receipt, and explain how to switch to company billing.
One entitlement, many billing sources.
A user's access should come from one record in your system, whether they paid through Apple, Google, the web or a company invoice. Otherwise every support ticket becomes a detective job.
What do subscription screens look like in practice?
The fictional PlanLens app sells an individual Pro plan through the stores. The three screens show the purchase, a payment problem during Google Play's grace period and the handover when the user's employer takes over billing.
PlanLens Pro
- Open drawing sets offline on site
- Markups synced across devices
- Compare revisions side by side
Drawings
Your Pro access continues while you fix this.
Your plan
Cancel your personal subscription in your store account to avoid paying twice. Your drawings stay.
What subscription mistakes cost revenue or trust?
- Hiding the renewal price. State the price after the trial and when it renews, near the button.
- Cutting access the moment a payment fails. Use the grace period; a site supervisor locked out mid-inspection may not come back.
- Different plans on each platform. It confuses teams that use both iPhone and Android.
- Double billing after a company takeover. Detect it and tell the user how to cancel.
- Selling company plans only through the stores. Finance teams want invoices; see company purchasing.
Trade-off: store billing costs a fee but saves you payment processing, tax handling in many regions and refund support. For low-priced individual plans that is often a fair trade.
What should you measure for subscriptions?
| Metric | Question it answers | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Trial or offer start rate | Do activated users accept the offer? | Store reports plus your events |
| Paid conversion after offer | Does the offer turn into revenue? | App Store Connect, Play Console |
| Recovered payments | Do grace period and hold messages work? | Play Console, App Store Connect, your entitlement log |
| Monthly to annual switches | Do users commit once they rely on the app? | Billing events |
| Handovers to company billing | Are individuals turning into company accounts? | Entitlement source changes |
Read recovered payments closely in the first months. A work app used daily on site may recover more failed renewals than a tool opened once a month, because the user sees the banner sooner. If recovery is weak, test the wording and placement of the billing banner before you touch prices. If annual switches are low, check whether users can see what they save and whether the annual option appears at a moment they already rely on the app.
Related: churn and renewals and monetization models.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Apple take from subscriptions?
As of October 6, 2026, Apple pays developers 70% in a subscription's first year and 85% after the subscriber's first paid year. Check current terms for your storefront.
How long can a Google Play free trial be?
Google Play allows free trials from 3 days to 3 years on subscription offers.
What is a grace period?
A window after a failed renewal payment during which the user keeps access while they fix the payment method. On Google Play it is on by default.
What is account hold on Google Play?
A state after a failed payment and grace period where access is paused. By default it lasts 60 days minus the grace period.
Should company plans use store billing?
Usually not. Companies want invoices, seat control and admin features, which are easier to provide through web or invoiced billing where storefront rules allow.
Can users pause a Google Play subscription?
Yes, Google Play supports pausing subscriptions if you enable it.
What Apple subscription offers exist?
Introductory offers (free trial, pay as you go, pay up front), offer codes, promotional offers and win-back offers.
Sources & further reading
Regulator rules, platform policies and local data change. These sources let you check the facts on this page, last checked October 6, 2026.