I have submitted an app for review on the AppStore and got declined for:
"Guideline 3.1.1 - Business - Payments - In-App Purchase - We noticed that your app includes or accesses paid digital content, services, or functionality by means other than in-app purchase, which is not appropriate for the App Store"
There have been many articles saying that Apple now allows payments outside the AppStore however I think my approach is too direct
My approach: users goes to settings, taps "Subscribe" a window opens up, there are two buttons that appear. 1 for the yearly subscription and 1 for the monthly subscription. That link takes the user directly to a Stripe checkout page. How can I bypass this for my app to get verified. I am strongly against Apple Subscriptions.
Related
I have 2 scenarios for my iOS app.
The user can purchase valid coupon code from my shopping cart website and they can user coupon code to access the application.
The user can download the app from app store and on Login Screen we have webpage link where the user will be navigated to my website and purchase coupon code to access the app.
Do Apple have any restriction to allow the user to purchase coupon code out side the apple environment?
Apple give you some Guidelines that you have to follow.
Apps may not use their own mechanisms to unlock content or functionality, such as license keys, augmented reality markers, QR codes, etc. Apps and their metadata may not include buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms other than in-app purchase.
So I don’t think that your scenarios will be possible.
Edit :
iOS app is rejected because of user buy subscription without IAP
From Apple 11.13 - Apps that link to external mechanisms for purchases or subscriptions to be used in the App, such as a "buy" button that goes to a web site to purchase a digital book, will be rejected 11.13 Details
Guideline 3.1.1 - Business - Payments - In-App Purchase
Your app unlocks or enables additional functionality with mechanisms other than the App Store, which is not appropriate for the App Store.
We noticed that your app contains a payment mechanism other than in-app purchase for digital content or to unlock features or functionality within your app, which is not appropriate for the App Store. In-app purchase is the only valid in-app payment mechanism for digital content.
Note: Continuing to hide functionality within your app or other dishonest acts may result in the removal of your apps from the App Store and termination of your Apple Developer Program membership and all associated memberships.
Next Steps
To resolve this issue, please remove all external or third-party payment mechanisms and implement in-app purchase to facilitate digital good transactions, including unlocking features or functionality within your app.
If you believe your use of an alternative payment mechanism is a permissible use case, please respond directly to this message in Resolution Center with detailed information.
#sujeet,
First of all, you have not mentioned what type of product you are selling to users? If you are selling digital content i.e. any kind of plan, activation, You must have to use In-App Purchase.
Apple is providing 4 types of In-App Purchases, choose your best on from that and create a In-App Purchase Items in iTunes Connect.
Apple will not allow any kind of third-party payment system in any apps which sells degital content from app.
First of all, my app include contents which are only allow to watch or access for membership subscribed user. It include 1 week, 2 weeks, 3weeks, 4 weeks and user have to pay it via other payment gateway which was popular at our country instead of IAP.
I can't use IAP because clients(users) at my country have problem with using IAP services because there is no international credit card services or payment services such as MasterCard,VIZA,etc are not supported as well. Also we can buy iTunes Gift Cards of course. But, compare it to our price subscription list, it is really too much
Here our subscriptions prize and it doesn't include auto-renew
1 weeks subscriptions -> $0.5
2 weeks subscriptions -> $0.9
3 weeks subscriptions -> $1.3
4 weeks subscriptions -> $1.5
So compare it to Apple Store Gift cards $10, that is not possible to use IAP. And at our country, giftcards are hard to buy because there is no Official Apple Store or authorized store.
To explain you about my popular payment gateway, it was like using Apple Gift Cards. It was just purchasing PIN codes from nearest Mini-marts, cafe and other shops. You can see the detail here.
http://reddotpayment.com
At my app, I included internal web view and it leads to reddot page which include textfield for PIN codes. After user fill the pin code which they bought and click subscribe, it can now part of our membership subscriptions. That's how it goes.
But Apple didn't allow and reject my app. They respond me like that.
Guideline 3.1.1 - Business
We noticed that your app enables the purchase of content, services, or
functionality in the app by means other than the in-app purchase API,
which is not appropriate for the App Store.
Specifically, your app uses Red For pay to purchase subscription
outside the app.
Next Steps
While the payment system that you have included may conduct the
transaction outside of the app, if the purchasable content,
functionality, or services are intended to be used in the app, they
must be purchased through in-app purchase, within the app - unless it
is of the type referenced in guideline 3.1.3 of the App Store Review
Guidelines.
Was it because I do the transaction outside of the app? I mean even internal web view? What if I make the transaction inside the app with UITextField call to our API for making the purchase?
Any Suggestions?
Only two ways to solve this case.
Use their In-App Purchase
Else try to trick the Apple with Server-side control especially when they are reviewing your app for App Store Distribution approval.
Please note :
Using No.2 might get your app rejected when they detect your app is
using 3rd party payment service instead of their because they want the
money for each subscriptions as long as your app meant for using only
at your country or specific territories not international.
Because if you app meant for using at world-wide like Uber or Instagram, then you are at dead end.
Here's a scenario that's not clear to me in terms of whether it's allowed by Apple (even though I've seen other apps that actually do this):
User purchases or subscribes to a web app.
User then downloads related iOS app (i.e., it has the same functions and shares the same data with the web app) and can access the iOS app only by entering their user ID and password from the web app (so essentially the iOS app is free to download but not free to use).
According to the Apple Developer FAQ page for in-app purchases:
"Apps that unlock or enable additional features or functionality with mechanisms other than the App Store will be rejected"
"Apps utilizing a system other than the In-App Purchase API (IAP) to purchase content, functionality, or services in an App will be rejected".
"Apps offering subscriptions must do so using IAP, Apple will share the same 70/30 revenue split with developers for these purchases, as set forth in the Program License Agreement"
"Apps can read or play approved content (specifically magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, video and cloud storage) that is subscribed to or purchased outside of the App, as long as there is no button or external link in the App to purchase the approved content. Apple will only receive a portion of revenues for content purchased inside the App"
Does the last point contradict the other three?
Does the scenario I've seen where an iOS app is activated using the user ID and password from the developer's web app fall under the first three points, or under the fourth point? Why?
I presume it's also possible that the apps I've seen are violations that fell below the Apple radar, because the FAQ page also states the following:
"In general, the more expensive your App, the more thoroughly we will review it."
I'm really having trouble untangling what's allowed and not allowed and appreciate help getting a more clear understanding of these important rules.
I'm speaking from experience here, I worked for two clients who each have an app available in iTunes, Google Play, and on the web. Both apps are monetized from subscriptions which can be purchased with in-app purchases from iTunes and Google Play and via credit card on the website.
Each app from their respective app store only offer the appropriate and allowed purchase method, e.g. the iOS apps only offer in-app purchases from iTunes, they never offered credit card purchases, nor do they link to directly to a webpage to pay by credit card.
Users are required to login and the subscription status (notably the expiry date), regardless of where they purchased from, is associated to their account in the database. This allows the users to access paid content from any device without having to subscribe again with a different payment provider. e.g. The user buys a subscription on Google Play and they can access the paid content in the Android and iOS app or on the web.
Both clients have server-side receipt validation in place which checks the status of the subscription on the expiration date.
Apple and Google seem to have no problem with this and there are many notable examples of apps doing exactly this; spotify and skype are a few that come to mind and they are big players. If your app is rejected for using this same practice then those apps are in violation too.
Lets get response from apple team to the below query and update me.
1) Rejection reason: - Apps utilizing a system other than the In-App Purchase API (IAP) to purchase content, functionality, or services in an App will be rejected
Our APP does not have the option to buy credits within the application in order to redeem an item from the mobile app. If mobile app user require some credits in order to redeem an item from app means, he should buy required credits through using web application alone. Once user buy credits through web application mean, they can utilize those credits in the mobile app while doing any item redeem process.
Does apple team approve the application which have above feature (or) We should implement In App Purchase (IAP) feature in order to approve the above app by apple team? Please provide solution for it.
You are not allowed to offer any other means for buying digital goods then Apples in app purchase.
You can offer user to buy credits via your site only, but then you may not redirect the user to this page from you app.
There should not be any option within the app that allows to user to buy digital goods via your website.
If possible I would suggest the IAP.