“They open up subscriptions to all apps — which obviously working at RevenueCat and now all my apps are subscription. That was Revolution. That was App Store 2.0 — to empower developers to better monetize apps.”

App Store 2.0 in 2016 unlocked subscriptions for all apps and powered a decade of growth

Before 2016, subscriptions were restricted to narrow app categories. Phil Schiller's App Store 2.0 overhaul opened them to every app, sped up review from 14 days to under 48 hours, introduced the 15% renewal rate, and launched Search Ads. Each change would have been meaningful on its own. Together they powered an entire decade of subscription app growth — a reminder of how much platform policy shapes the economics of every app built on top of it.