Google Play halves service fee for app developers to 15%, but there's a catch

Google has announced a ‘significant change’ for developers that sell in-app digital goods and services on Google Play. In-app purchasing refers to the buying of goods and services from inside an application on a mobile device, like a smartphone or tablet. A classic example is gaming apps, where for a fee, the user playing the game gets extra attempts to reach the goal.

Starting July 2021, the tech giant will reduce the service fee Google Play receives from 30 percent to 15 percent, for the first $1 million of revenue every developer earns each year.

To recap, in September last year, Google said that it will enforce its Google Play rules to require developers who sell digital goods and services in-app to use its payment system. This Google Play billing policy rules applied to all Android developers, who use Google’s billing system which takes a 30 percent fee from payments. Back then Google said that more than 97 percent of apps globally do not sell digital goods, and therefore do not pay any service fee. Out of the remaining 3 percent, Google clarified that more than 98 percent of its current developers already complied with the “long standing policy”.