One of the questions we hear almost every day is:
"When is TheBlackTube coming to the App Store?"
The answer usually surprises people.
We intentionally chose not to release one.
That may sound strange in a world where every company is racing to launch an app, but the truth is this:
TheBlackTube already had an app.
And after seeing how the app store ecosystem works, we made the difficult decision to walk away from it.
Today, we believe it was one of the smartest business decisions we've ever made.
We Didn't Want Someone Else Controlling Our Platform
When we released our app years ago, we quickly realized we weren't simply publishing software.
We were entering someone else's ecosystem.
The app stores wanted us to use their payment systems, which meant they could take a percentage of revenue generated through the app—including memberships, digital purchases, and even donations that support our nonprofit mission.
But money wasn't the only issue.
They also expected us to follow their content policies and approval process.
That meant another company could ultimately decide what conversations were acceptable, what educational content could be shared, or whether updates to our platform would even be approved.
Think about that for a moment.
TheBlackTube exists to preserve Black history, amplify Black voices, and give creators ownership of their content.
Why would we build that mission on land owned by someone else?
Then We Watched Fortnite
Around the same time, another company was facing a very similar decision.
Epic Games—the creators of Fortnite.
Most people remember Fortnite as one of the biggest games in history.
What many people don't realize is that Fortnite became a global phenomenon before it ever launched on iPhone.
Fortnite launched in September 2017 on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.
By March 2018, before Fortnite had ever entered Apple's App Store, the game had already attracted more than 45 million players worldwide.
Think about that.
Forty-five million users.
Without the App Store.
Epic proved something incredibly important.
If your product is valuable enough, people will come directly to you.
The App Store can accelerate growth.
But it doesn't create greatness.
The Numbers Kept Growing
After expanding to mobile devices, Fortnite became even larger.
By 2020, Epic announced Fortnite had surpassed 350 million registered players worldwide.
It had become one of the largest entertainment platforms on Earth.
At that point, Epic had something most companies never achieve.
Leverage.
They no longer depended on Apple to survive.
Apple actually benefited from having Fortnite available on its platform.
The Fight That Changed the Industry
Apple required developers to use Apple's payment system for digital purchases.
In return, Apple typically collected up to a 30% commission.
Epic believed that wasn't fair.
So they gave players another option.
They introduced Epic Direct Payment, allowing users to purchase V-Bucks directly from Epic at a lower price.
Apple responded immediately.
Fortnite was removed from the App Store.
Many people thought Epic had made a terrible mistake.
But Epic wasn't thinking about one month.
They were thinking about the next twenty years.
Because they had already built one of the largest gaming communities in the world, they had the freedom to challenge a system they believed limited developers.
Fortnite spent nearly five years outside the U.S. App Store while Epic fought one of the biggest legal battles in technology.
During that time, millions of players continued playing Fortnite on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Android, and other platforms.
Epic proved they didn't need permission to keep growing.
Eventually, court rulings forced Apple to give developers more freedom to direct customers toward alternative payment methods without automatically paying Apple's commission.
When Fortnite returned to the U.S. App Store, it returned under a much different landscape than when it left.
Epic didn't simply come back.
They came back with leverage.
That's the Lesson We Took
When people ask why TheBlackTube doesn't have an app, they're asking the wrong question.
The better question is:
Why would we willingly give away control of our own economy?
Every dollar matters.
Every donation.
Every Pro Membership.
Every creator subscription.
Every LitBuck purchase.
Every affiliate commission.
Those dollars help us build better tools for creators.
They help us preserve Black history.
They help us support Black-owned businesses.
They help us reward creators.
They help us improve TheBlackTube for future generations.
Why should a significant portion of that automatically leave our community simply because someone downloaded an app?
We Chose Independence
Instead of building around an app store...
We built around our own website.
TheBlackTube.com
Today, modern web technology allows us to deliver an experience that feels remarkably similar to a native app.
You can:
- Watch videos
- Upload content
- Go live
- Receive notifications
- Purchase memberships
- Donate
- Support creators
- Earn Litcoins
- Build your channel
- Connect with the community
...all directly from your browser.
On most phones, you can even add TheBlackTube.com to your home screen, where it opens just like a traditional app.
No app store required.
We Aren't Building on Borrowed Land
This decision is bigger than technology.
It's about ownership.
For too long, Black creators have built audiences on platforms they don't control.
Algorithms change.
Policies change.
Monetization changes.
Accounts disappear.
Revenue disappears.
Entire communities can vanish overnight because someone else owns the land you're building on.
We don't want that future for our community.
We're building our own digital infrastructure.
Our own economy.
Our own platform.
Our own future.
The Long-Term Vision
Fortnite taught the world something important.
A company doesn't need an app store to become successful.
It needs people who believe in what it's building.
That's exactly how we view TheBlackTube.
We're not trying to become another social media app.
We're building an independent digital home where Black creators, families, churches, nonprofits, educators, entrepreneurs, and businesses can create, preserve, and monetize their stories without depending entirely on someone else's rules.
Some companies build apps.
We're building infrastructure.
Some companies build platforms.
We're building ownership.
Some companies rent space.
We're building a digital kingdom.
And every person who chooses to visit TheBlackTube.com instead of waiting for an app is helping us prove something that matters:
The future doesn't belong to the platforms that own the stores.
It belongs to the communities that own the land they're building on.
