Apple doesn’t just handle payments—they own the customer relationship. When users want a refund, they often go through Apple, and Apple eats the cost or handles the backend dispute process. This keeps developers insulated from most chargebacks.

But Stripe is different.

Stripe puts you in control—which also means you’re responsible for fighting disputes, handling evidence, and setting up fraud detection. That’s great if you’re prepared… and painful if you’re not.