Apple is preparing another round of App Store pricing adjustments, with changes set to begin on September 14 for apps and in-app purchases in Israel, Indonesia, Morocco, and the Republic of the Congo. The update is mostly an automatic recalibration of Apple’s international price tiers, but it also reflects new VAT rules in Morocco and Congo that will directly affect how developers are paid.

For everyday users, this can mean the local price of a paid app, a one-time game purchase, or a consumable in-app item may change without the developer manually touching its price. For developers, especially small teams selling internationally, it is a reminder that App Store pricing is not a set-it-and-forget-it decision. Exchange rates, local taxes, and Apple’s price equalization system can all influence what customers pay and what creators ultimately receive.

Apple says it operates the App Store across 175 storefronts and supports 43 currencies. To keep the relative value of its standardized price points aligned around the world, it periodically changes local prices using publicly available foreign-exchange data from financial sources such as The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg.

The September update applies to apps and in-app purchases whose base storefront is somewhere other than Israel, Indonesia, Morocco, or the Republic of the Congo. In simple terms, if a U.S.-based developer has set the United States as the app’s base storefront and relies on Apple’s automated pricing, Apple will adjust the corresponding prices in these four markets on its own.

That is an important distinction because the announcement is not necessarily telling every developer in those countries to raise or lower prices. It is saying that Apple’s automated conversion and equalization system is being updated. The exact result can vary by product and pricing tier, and developers can see the scheduled changes in the Pricing and Availability area of App Store Connect.

There are also protections and exceptions built into the system. Developers that have selected Israel, Indonesia, Morocco, or Congo as an app or in-app purchase’s base storefront will not see the local price change in that chosen market. Instead, Apple may alter prices in other storefronts to preserve parity with the base price.

Auto-renewable subscriptions are excluded from this round of adjustments entirely. Apple says subscription prices will not change in any region as part of this update, a useful bit of certainty for services that rely on recurring monthly or annual billing. Apps and in-app purchases with manually managed regional pricing are also left alone, rather than being moved by Apple’s automated equalization process.

The tax side of the news is more consequential in Morocco and the Republic of the Congo. Apple says it has modified developer proceeds for eligible apps and in-app purchases in Morocco following the introduction of a 20% value-added tax, while Congo is introducing an 18% VAT. Apple will update its Paid Applications Agreement to state that it collects and remits the applicable taxes in both markets.

That distinction matters because a customer-facing price and a developer’s proceeds are not the same thing. A developer may look at a familiar price tier in App Store Connect, but the amount they receive can shift when taxes are introduced or altered. Apple’s latest notice makes clear that Morocco and Congo are not merely currency-adjustment cases: they are also tax-compliance changes.

For developers, this is the practical moment to review a few basics before September 14. Check whether automated equalized pricing is enabled, confirm the app’s designated base country or region, and look at the upcoming-price view in App Store Connect rather than assuming a price tier will remain unchanged. Developers who want a specific local price can manually manage it, while those comfortable with Apple’s regional equalization can allow the scheduled changes to take effect.

For consumers, the biggest takeaway is less dramatic but still worth knowing: a price change on an App Store purchase is not always the result of a developer choosing to charge more. In global app marketplaces, local tax policy and currency movement can quietly reshape prices behind the scenes. Apple’s September update is another example of that machinery becoming visible, briefly, before it fades back into the background of buying an app.