Plan the Cost of Apple Account Connections
Budget $29 per month in USD per active live connection. The developer pays this rate. Sandbox connections are free. Live access depends on capacity, account approval, and completed setup. When live checkout is available, the first checkout covers one connection. Use the worksheet below to estimate your connection count and project costs. End users grant app access for free.
What one connection is
A connection is established when an Apple Account owner approves it and completes setup on a hosted Mac. Apps request scopes on a selected connection through Figment's app-consent flow; the developer app never receives the Apple Account password. On a ready connection, your app can read and search iMessages with messages:read and send with messages:send. Read the iMessage API guide for scope and connection requirements.
Public sandbox reads for Contacts, Calendar, and Reminders return synthetic data. Live native reads for those services are limited to an owner pilot. Mail, Photos, Notes, and Drive have no public Figment endpoint.
The two iMessage scopes, messages:read and messages:send, can be requested together in a single app grant or separately. Both are covered by the same $29/month connection rate.
Planning your connection count
Estimate how many active live connections your app will maintain at the same time. Billing counts active live connections. Multiple app grants on one connection do not increase that count.
| Active live connections | Estimated monthly Figment cost |
|---|---|
| 1 | $29 |
| 5 | $145 |
| 10 | $290 |
| 25 | $725 |
| 50 | $1,450 |
| 100 | $2,900 |
Sandbox connections are free throughout development and testing. Use the sandbox to test your API handling with synthetic data. Verify setup and permissions on a live connection before you depend on it.
Monthly cost worksheet
Use your provider rates and expected usage to estimate application costs. Add these costs to your Figment connection total.
| Line item | Who sets the cost | Your estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Figment Apple Connect — live connections | $29 / month per active connection | N × $29 |
| Figment Apple Connect — sandbox | Free | $0 |
| Application hosting (servers, containers) | Developer-supplied | — |
| Integration compute (background workers, job queue) | Developer-supplied | — |
| Database storage (tokens, intent rows, send receipts) | Developer-supplied | — |
| Outbound transport costs (developer-chosen infrastructure) | Developer-supplied | — |
| Total monthly project estimate | Sum |
If you send iMessages, budget for storage of the idempotency key, the exact payload, and the send receipt. Store the key and payload before the first request so you can retry without sending a duplicate.
Example budget for a team inbox
A team wants five people to connect their Apple Accounts to a shared inbox. If all five keep their live connections active for a month, the Figment line is 5 × $29, or $145. If the team's own hosting and database cost an estimated $40 a month, its total estimate is $185 a month. Replace $40 with your own provider costs.
Track active connections, monthly hosting costs, and the time your team spends on maintenance. If the inbox adds search and replies for the same five connections, keep five in the worksheet. If it adds five more active Apple Account connections, change the count to ten and budget $290 for Figment each month. Confirm capacity before you plan a rollout for the larger group.
Comparing with self-hosted options
For a self-hosted iMessage service, budget for Mac hardware or cloud rental, Apple Account sign-in, macOS permissions, security updates, and staff time. BlueBubbles requires macOS with iMessage active. See the BlueBubbles server requirements.
The $29 monthly rate covers one active live Apple Connect connection. Figment bills Mac rentals separately.
Getting started
Open the developer dashboard to register your app and create a free sandbox connection.
Manage existing connections and app grants at /apple-connect/account.
