Pavel Durov Criticizes Apple Again

Earlier this month, Pavel Durov already criticized Apple and Google, arguing that they abuse their dominant market positions. He explained that these IT giants increase the price of mobile apps by 30% for all smartphone users worldwide, effectively destroying startups. Durov wrote that almost all developers who sell premium and digital services to smartphone users are working more for Apple and Google than for themselves. He especially emphasized that, while Google at least allows users to install apps from outside the Play Store, Apple doesn’t let users leave its closed ecosystem at all. According to Durov, this ecosystem exists for one purpose only—to collect a 30% fee, which is ultimately paid by either users or developers. To improve the situation, Durov believes that joint efforts from antitrust authorities and lawmakers are needed.

Now, a few weeks later, Durov has “continued the thought” and published another post on his Telegram channel, dedicated to how Apple’s policies negatively impact iPhone users. Below is his new message in full.

How Apple’s Policies Affect You as an iPhone User: 7 Reasons

1. Higher Prices.
   Apple’s 30% commission increases the cost of all apps and digital purchases for you. This fee is added on top of what you pay developers for any service or game. Even though you already paid Apple several hundred dollars more than the production cost when buying your phone, you pay them an extra “tax” for every app. In other words, you keep paying even after you’ve already paid.
2. Censorship.
   Some app content is unavailable to you because Apple censors apps in the App Store, maintaining full control to ensure it collects its 30% fee. Moreover, Apple forbids developers from telling users that certain content was hidden at Apple’s request. Apple’s attempts at global censorship can seem strange: imagine a web browser deciding which types of websites you’re allowed to visit.
3. Reduced Privacy.
   To install an app on your iPhone, you first need to create and sign in to an Apple account. After that, every app and notification is linked to your account, allowing your actions to be tracked. The main reason for requiring an Apple account to download apps is Apple’s desire to enforce its 30% tax. The result: you pay with your personal information for their greed.
4. Delayed Updates.
   You receive new app versions days or even weeks after developers release them. The reason is the frustrating inefficiency of Apple’s moderators, who often delay approving updates without clear reasons. You’d expect that with the billions Apple earns from app commissions, they’d at least hire more moderators. But even large developers like Telegram usually have to wait several days or even weeks for new versions to become available to users.
5. Fewer Apps.
   On top of Apple’s 30% commission, developers face other costs: taxes (VAT ≈ 20%), salaries, development expenses, equipment, and marketing. In a world without Apple’s commissions, many apps would be profitable, but in reality, Apple forces developers to give up a third of their revenue, making many apps unviable. As a result, many useful apps that could have delighted us today simply don’t exist—they went bankrupt or never launched.
6. More Ads.
   Since Apple makes selling additional services to users a third less attractive for developers, many apps have to show ads just to cover their costs. Apple’s policy economically pushes the entire internet industry toward selling user data and attention instead of using other, more privacy-friendly business models.
7. Lower App Quality.
   The billions of dollars developers give to Apple could have been used to improve the quality of popular apps. Today, these billions sit in Apple’s offshore accounts and do nothing for humanity, while the app creators who paid that money struggle to find resources to improve their products. The result: we use lower-quality services.

All of this sounds so outrageous that you’d think such a 30% tribute couldn’t last long. But this situation has persisted for about 10 years. In the attached Telegraph post, I explain how Apple manages to keep the public confused and maintain the status quo for so long.

Debunking 7 Myths About Apple’s 30% Commission

In addition, Durov published a separate post debunking seven myths about Apple’s 30% commission. He explains that the commission does not help maintain the App Store or create new smartphones, “since the Cupertino team no longer produces breakthroughs, and copying doesn’t require large development budgets.”

Durov also writes that developers essentially have no choice between iOS and Android: if they want to launch a socially significant service, they have to create apps for both platforms anyway.

“Apple is not a true ‘free market’ player, since the company actively uses regulatory resources to criminalize jailbreaking (that is, to criminalize installing apps from outside the App Store), which guarantees it full control over every phone sold. <…> As long as governments help Apple maintain its monopoly, they will also have to answer for the negative consequences of that monopoly,” Durov concludes.