As of September 2025, Substack still offers a clean, one-click export of your email list. But under the surface, history’s likely repeating itself.
In August 2025, Substack rolled out in-app purchases (IAP) for iOS.
They framed it as a move for ‘convenience,’ but it quietly restructured who holds the power over paying subscribers acquired via the app. Worth noting who led their Series C.
These readers now pay Apple, not the writer directly.
If a creator leaves Substack, those subscribers become free readers. The email may still export, but the monetization relationship dies at the border.
This playbook ain’t new.
Facebook gradually gutted its developer APIs after fueling early app growth through open access to friend lists and emails. By 2018, post-Cambridge Analytica, data export? Gone.
Medium, meanwhile, bifurcated its audience: “followers” were locked into the platform, while “email subscribers” could be exported, if you knew to ask. And LinkedIn? You can reach your 100,000 followers, but good luck exporting their emails, unless they opt into your newsletter.
In all three cases, platforms first empowered creators with access. Then, they segmented that access. Then, they priced or policy-gated the most valuable segments. It’s a slow boil, my dudes, not a hard shutdown.
Substack’s IAP move may be the first step toward a two-tier audience: one you own, and one you rent. If you’re not watching the small print - TOS (Terms of Service), billing relationships, app opt-ins - you’ll wake up one day with half your audience behind glass.