Mobile stores & Capacitor — cost model¶
Planning document. Store fees change; re-check Apple/Google before paying.
Plain twin: ../business-plain/mobile-and-stores.md
Decision¶
Ship Capacitor (not Electron) so ForeignX can be a free app on the App Store and Google Play. Same Angular UI; native shell for store distribution. Creators (target demographic) live on phones.
Software cost¶
| Component | Cost |
|---|---|
| Capacitor (Ionic OSS) | $0 |
| Angular / existing frontend | $0 incremental license |
| Electron for phones | N/A — desktop only; do not use for iOS/Android stores |
Account fees (required to list)¶
| Account | Cost | Cadence |
|---|---|---|
| Google Play Console | ~$25 | One-time |
| Apple Developer Program | ~$99 | Per year |
| Year 1 total | ~$124 | |
| Ongoing | ~$99/year | Apple only |
Build infrastructure (this house)¶
| Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Home Mac + Xcode | $0 | iOS archive, TestFlight, App Store Connect upload |
| Android Studio (Windows or Mac) | $0 | Play bundles |
| Paid cloud Mac CI (Appflow, etc.) | Optional | Not required while the home Mac is available |
Revenue cut (if digital goods sold in the store)¶
If group subscriptions are purchased via Apple/Google in-app purchase:
- Often ~15% (small-business / qualifying subscription tiers) up to ~30% otherwise
- Region and program rules vary — verify at ship time
Affordable product design (preferred):
- App download = free
- Org/admin subscription = web checkout when store guidelines allow
- Use IAP only when required for the feature set under review
Hosting (unchanged by Capacitor)¶
Phone apps call the same API:
- House Docker + tunnel (cheapest pilots)
- Cloud Run (cheap managed Google; min/max instances as designed)
- GKE only much later (not for affordability)
Sequence¶
- Web + PWA
- Capacitor + Play
- Capacitor + iOS (home Mac)
- Store listing polish + Mariah-facing install instructions
Ticket¶
Track as FX mobile shell: Capacitor project, free app, web billing narrative, TestFlight + internal Play track.