Apple’s App Store Mini Apps Partner Program: what app teams need to know

Apple doesn’t drop many surprises these days, but this one genuinely caught us off guard. With the new Mini Apps Partner Program, Apple is officially opening the door for apps that host third-party mini apps to access a reduced 15% fee on qualifying in-app purchases.

It’s a niche change, but an important one. If you’re building anything that resembles a platform, marketplace, or ecosystem, this is Apple giving you a clearer rulebook — and a financial incentive — to do it on their terms.

What Apple means by a “mini app”Copy link to this section

Apple defines a mini app as a self-contained HTML5/JavaScript experience that’s downloaded after install and runs inside a native host app. The key requirement: it must be developed by a separate third party, not a feature your team built and wrapped in a webview.

That definition narrows the field dramatically. Apple isn’t trying to reclassify everyday app features. They’re targeting the types of HTML-based micro experiences popularized in ecosystems like WeChat and Alipay.

For those products, Apple is now offering a structured, compliant way to operate on iOS.

The 15% headline: when it appliesCopy link to this section

If your app qualifies and you implement the required APIs, you keep 85% of eligible purchases made inside a mini app, including:

• consumables
• non-consumables
• auto-renewing subscriptions
• non-renewing subscriptions

But purchases must:

• occur inside a qualifying mini app, and
• use the Advanced Commerce API — Apple does not allow classic App Store Connect products for these flows.

There are guardrails too. For example, consumables must be scoped to the mini app that sold them, not shared across multiple experiences.

What joining the program requiresCopy link to this section

Apple ties the lower fee to a set of newer App Store technologies. To participate, host apps must support:

• Advanced Commerce API for configuring products and handling purchases
• Declared Age Range API to ensure content is served appropriately
• StoreKit IAP as the payment system
• Refund consumption reporting via the App Store Server API
• Mini-app manifests with detailed metadata for each hosted mini app

This is Apple formalizing a model that previously sat in a grey zone. Now there are rules, APIs, and predictable review expectations, but with more work required from the host.

Why platform-style apps should pay attentionCopy link to this section

If your product already resembles a platform, this update is meaningful.

Mini apps become first-class economic unitsCopy link to this section

Each mini app has its own SKUs, entitlements, and refund logic. This lets platforms handle commerce cleanly without forcing everything through a single global product catalog.

Better economicsCopy link to this section

A 15% fee makes the model more attractive for hosts and for third-party developers building mini experiences inside your app.

Clearer complianceCopy link to this section

Guideline 4.7 has been shaping this space for years. The Mini Apps Partner Program adds structure and removes some of the ambiguity around what Apple allows.

If you’re not a platform, this likely isn’t for youCopy link to this section

If your app doesn’t host external developers, creators, or partners — and you don’t plan to — this program won’t affect your roadmap. Apple isn’t creating a shortcut to lower fees; it’s creating a compliant framework for a specific app pattern.

That said, it’s still worth watching. Apple is making space for “apps inside apps” in a more formal way, and that has long-term implications for how mobile software might evolve.

Early signals from the announcementCopy link to this section

A few themes stood out as we dug into the details:

• Apple is cleaning up a longstanding grey zone. Mini-app ecosystems have been allowed but messy. This adds rules, structure, and expectations.
• This aligns with global super-app patterns. Markets with strong mini-app cultures now have a clearer path on iOS.
• Advanced Commerce API is now central. The lower fee is directly tied to adopting Apple’s modern commerce stack — a sign of where future features may go.
• This could open the door for JS-based app-building tools. There’s early interest from “vibecoding” platforms: the tools that let users or creators build lightweight, JS-powered mini experiences inside a host app. If they can align with Apple’s definition of a mini app (third-party, HTML/JS, downloaded after install), this program could become a natural fit for their emerging marketplace models.

How to decide if this matters for your teamCopy link to this section

A simple litmus test:

• Do you host (or want to host) third-party micro-apps or tools?
• Are those experiences built with HTML5/JS, or could they be?
• Does your product strategy lean toward a platform or marketplace model?
• Are you prepared to integrate Advanced Commerce, Declared Age Range, and structured mini-app metadata?

If the answer isn’t a confident “yes,” you can safely treat this as strategic context rather than something you need to act on.

But if you are building toward a platform, this is one of the clearest signals Apple has ever sent — lower fees, more structure, and a defined path to hosting mini apps at scale.