During his session at App Promotion Summit NYC 2025, Paddle’s CMO, Andrew Davies, told attendees that consumer subscription apps now account for roughly a third of Paddle’s transaction volume, up from “very little” two years ago. Companies are increasingly routing purchases through web-based checkouts, but, according to Davies, the primary reason behind the surge is not only avoiding Apple’s 30% commission fee — the most commonly cited reason.
“Frankly, it has not been one of the biggest drivers in many of the businesses that we serve,” Davies said of the App Store fee, acknowledging this might sound counterintuitive. Instead, he pointed to factors including improved cash flows and customer lifetime value, better customer data, and the ability to experiment rapidly with new conversion funnels and to target larger audiences beyond mobile-only buyers. For Paddle, Davies also revealed, the shift to web payments among consumer apps represents its fastest-growing segment.
The working capital calculation
One frequently overlooked advantage, according to Davies, is the acceleration of working capital cycles. When transactions occur through the App Store, companies must wait through free trial periods, initial subscription periods, and Apple’s 30-60 day payment holds before accessing funds. Web payments can reduce this cycle from quarterly to weekly or monthly.
“Some of the fastest growing consumer apps we’ve seen are using this just to speed up their working capital without needing to go and find a third party funding provider,” Davies explained.
For early-stage apps spending heavily on user acquisition, this timing difference can determine whether they need external financing to maintain growth.
“Some of the fastest growing consumer apps we’ve seen are using this just to speed up their working capital without needing to go and find a third party funding provider.”
Retention over conversion
While initial web checkout conversion rates may lag behind Apple’s streamlined process, Paddle’s data suggests that lifetime value calculations favor web subscriptions. Davies said web subscriptions typically show lower involuntary churn from failed payments and lower voluntary cancellation rates.
Code Way, a European app portfolio company, saved $500,000 in would-be cancellations by moving subscribers to web-based systems and implementing cancellation flow optimizations, according to a Paddle case study.
Winning on the web: How app monetization is changing
Source: App Promotion Summit
Two implementation models
Companies are adopting web payments through two primary approaches, according to Davies. The “web-to-app” model directs users from advertisements to web landing pages where they complete payment before downloading the app.
The “app-to-web” model — enabled by recent court rulings — allows apps to redirect users from in-app paywalls to web browsers for payment processing. Most transaction volume currently flows through the web-to-app model, with increasingly more companies shifting user acquisition budgets toward web funnels.
However, adoption patterns vary by region. European companies appear more willing to implement app-to-web flows, while American firms remain more cautious, Davies said. “It feels like in America, there’s probably a little bit more concern over Apple’s dominance in the ecosystem and what might happen, and people want to see it play out a few more times first,” he added.
“It feels like in America, there’s probably a little bit more concern over Apple’s dominance in the ecosystem and what might happen, and people want to see it play out a few more times first.”
Eastern European innovation
Unusually for the technology industry, this trend appears to be moving from east to west. Turkish and Cypriot app ecosystems are pioneering web-first approaches, with some companies launching with web payments as their primary channel rather than attempting to process through Apple initially.
Davies attributed this to government incentives in those regions and what he described as “a real interesting meeting of East Meets West with all the Russian and Ukrainian diaspora that are there as well as western capital.”
“This is one of the very few trends that is going from east to west,” Davies pointed out.
“This is one of the very few trends that is going from east to west.”
The complexity challenge
Davies cautioned that web payments introduce operational complexity that Apple previously handled, including sales tax compliance across jurisdictions, multi-currency support, fraud prevention, chargeback management, and customer support.
While payment processors like Stripe make it easy to implement web checkouts initially, companies often end up turning to more comprehensive solution providers after encountering some of the above challenges, he said.
Recent court rulings have given “a really big spotlight” to revenue generation outside app stores, Davies said, though he emphasized that major app companies have operated substantial web payment channels for years. According to Davies, the current surge represents not a new phenomenon but an acceleration of a long-standing practice, now accessible to a broader range of developers as legal barriers fall and supporting infrastructure matures.
You can catch all the App Promotion Summit NYC 2025 sessions on YouTube.
