Apple launched a new Mini Apps Partner Program that offers app developers a better fee (15% instead of 30%) in exchange for using some of its technology to build their mini apps. Apple says:
“The Mini Apps Partner Program provides an improved customer experience for mini app users while helping developers who host mini apps and games grow their business on the App Store.”
The partner program adds new requirements for the mini apps to support specific Apple technologies including its Advanced Commerce API, Declared Age Rating API, and in-app purchase system, as well as send information about a user's in-app purchase to Apple when refunds are requested.
One one hand, Apple positions the program as a way for developers to grow their business, leverage Apple's trust and safety tools, and benefit from reduced commissions. On the other hand, it helps ensure Apple retain its ability to extract a commission from mini applications by creating and enforcing an infrastructure around them.
Wait, what exactly is a “mini app”?
Apple defines a mini app as “experiences that are built using web technologies like HTML5 or JavaScript and distributed within a larger, native app.”
In simpler terms, mini apps are tools, games, or functions that exist within a “big app” or mobile browser that offer app functionality without requiring you to download and install a full app from the App Store. For example, mini apps can handle tasks like ordering food, booking a ride, playing a game, or making a quick purchase. Google Maps uses mini apps to offer ride-hailing from Lyft and restaurant reservations from OpenTable within its app, and and Snapchat runs mini app games like Bitmoji Party, Snake Squad, and Crazy Run directly within its app.
Mini apps have been around for a while, but they are still growing in popularity and use cases in the U.S. Whereas in China, there are literally millions of mini apps within the WeChat ecosystem.
Apple has historically hated mini apps because they provide a way to bypass their App Store (and thus the “Apple tax” on in-app purchases). The company actually spent years fighting mini apps, but eventually had to give in to the growing demand for mini apps outside of their ecosystem, as well as regulatory and legal pressures — such as the Epic Games lawsuit and the EU's Digital Markets Act.
That's an over simplification of Apple's greed-driven fight against mini apps, but I'm just trying to demonstrate that much to their dismay, Apple lost the battle against mini apps and are now embracing them in order to maintain as much control as they can over them. This new Mini App Partner Program is their attempt at an olive branch in exchange for continuing to climb their tree.