What you need to know about Apple’s Advanced Commerce API

Apple’s newly released Advanced Commerce API tackles two key challenges: managing large catalogs of in-app purchases or subscriptions, and offering bundled subscriptions with add-ons. While most developers won’t need this API, it’s a significant improvement for apps that do.

Apple first announced the Advanced Commerce API at WWDC in June of 2024, but offered no documentation and only a vague description of what it would do. With yesterday’s announcement they have now provided a detailed overview and full documentation. It’s a long read, so here’s a summary of what you need to know.

What problems does it solve?

The Advanced Commerce API addresses two main use cases:

1. Large catalogs: Apps offering extensive libraries of purchasable content (think creator platforms like Patreon with tens of thousands of creators or educational platforms with thousands of courses). These catalogs have been challenging (and sometimes impossible) to create and maintain from within App Store Connect.
2. Complex subscriptions: Apps wanting to bundle multiple subscriptions together (like a streaming service offering a base subscription with optional premium channel add-ons). While using multiple subscription groups allow for aspects of this in the past, it creates a situation where customers have multiple subscriptions which made it challenging for developers to implement, difficult for customers to understand, and a management headache for both.

Key details

Features

• Host and manage your own SKU catalog instead of configuring everything in App Store Connect
• Specify product details dynamically at runtime
• Bundle multiple subscriptions into a single purchase
• Maintain App Store commerce benefits (payment processing, tax handling, customer support)

Requirements

Your app must:

• Use StoreKit 2
• Implement in-app subscription management
• Use App Store Server API and Server Notifications V2
• Support iOS 15.0+ and equivalent OS versions
• Pass a separate approval process

Limitations

Purchases made through the Advanced Commerce API:

• Can’t be promoted on the App Store
• Don’t support subscription offers
• Can’t use Family Sharing
• Aren’t compatible with StoreKit Testing in Xcode

Apple’s framing makes it sound as though some of these limitations may change in the future, but it’s not a good idea to implement the Advanced Commerce API hoping any one of these will change in the near-term.

Should you use it?

The Advanced Commerce API makes sense if…

You have a very large catalog of in-app purchases that’s difficult to manage through App Store Connect

Example: Individual creator subscriptions on X. There are thousands of creators on X that now offer subscriptions. Each creator sets their own price and X users can subscribe to as many accounts as they want to. Without the Advanced Commerce API, apps like X would need to create products for each creator subscription manually in App Store connect in it’s own subscription group.

You need to offer bundled subscriptions with optional add-ons

Example: On the web, YouTube TV allows customers to purchase add-ons that enhance functionality and add additional content. Google could now offer that same functionality on the App Store with the core package and ad-ons billed and managed as a single subscription.

For most apps with straightforward in-app purchases or subscription models, the standard StoreKit implementation remains the better choice.

What this signals

While the Advanced Commerce API serves a narrow use case, it shows Apple’s willingness to evolve the App Store for developers’ needs. By providing solutions for complex business models while maintaining the App Store’s commerce infrastructure, Apple is working to make the platform more flexible for developers while preserving its core benefits.

For eligible apps, this API could significantly streamline product management and open up new monetization options. For the broader developer community, it signals Apple’s continued investment in improving the App Store’s commerce capabilities.