If your Lovable app sells a subscription or unlocks features, the web version can keep using Stripe, but the iPhone app usually can't. Apple's guideline 3.1.1 says that to "unlock features or functionality within your app", like subscriptions or premium content, "you must use in-app purchase". The one big exception since 2025 is the United States storefront, where apps may link out to their own checkout. Everything below was checked against Apple's App Review Guidelines on October 23, 2026.

This catches Lovable founders more than most, because the web app already works. Stripe Checkout opens, the webhook flips is_pro in Supabase, done. Then the same flow ships inside a Capacitor app, and the review comes back citing 3.1.1.

What actually counts

Apple cares about what is being sold, not how.

Digital things used inside the app need in-app purchase: subscriptions, credits, premium features, content.…