I'm confused about the the following statement in the apple's review guidelines 3.1.1
"Non-subscription apps may offer a free time-based trial period before presenting a full unlock option by setting up a Non-Consumable IAP item at Price Tier 0 that follows the naming convention: “XX-day Trial.” ..."
Current situation:
This is my first app and not published yet. It's planned to be offered at no cost. I've already implemented a non-renewing subscription IAP item to unlock all features for a period of time. The app keeps still useful without buying the IAP item.
Questions:
What's the meaning of "non-subscription apps"?
Does it mean that I am not eligible to offer a free trial period IAP item (Non-Consumable item at price 0)?
Related
in-app-purchase using Non-consumable how to add add free trial period, do I have to make the price 0? there is no documentation how to make free trial for Non-consumable option.
I was thinking that configuring the price in apple developer account in-app-purchase and from device enable all options for 2 weeks then ask for the payment, do you think this can work with guideline?
Just another question, I added the price, but when user start to download it doesn't ask to pay before downloading right? I have to implement a button with storkit to ask a payment inside my app when free trial finish.
Introductory offers such as free trials are not available for non-consumables products. Only auto-renewable subscriptions can have introductory offers. More info here: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/storekit/original_api_for_in-app_purchase/subscriptions_and_offers/implementing_introductory_offers_in_your_app
This is not true (or at least isn’t true anymore). Quoting from Apple’s “App Store Review Guidelines”
“
Non-subscription apps may offer a free time-based trial period before presenting a full unlock option by setting up a Non-Consumable IAP item at Price Tier 0 that follows the naming convention: “XX-day Trial.” Prior to the start of the trial, your app must clearly identify its duration, the content or services that will no longer be accessible when the trial ends, and any downstream charges the user would need to pay for full functionality.
The full text is available here: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#in-app-purchase
We are integration IAP in our iOS11 app and want to give new users some start offerings with a long free trial period.
My implementation alternatives are:
Use auto-renewable subscription with a generous free trial (like 2 months for monthly subscription), and rely on Apple that a user that cancels can't restart and get 2 months again. Is this correct?
or
Make two IAPs, present the one with free trial to new users and present the one without free trails to a user that has canceled or stopped the free trail version. But users might find the IAP on App store (specially now when Apple will start feature IAP) and buy it anyway?
What is the best thing to do?
I'm managing an application with InApp Purchase and auto-renewable subscription.
As far as I know, InApp Purchase is linked to user AppStore account, and free trial can be consume only once per account.
If you present the same product after a free trial period, the user will resume your auto-renewable subscription and not benefit the free trial again.
So in my mind the first option is the best.
However if you would like to implement the second one, you should know that the new IAP management feature in your product store page allow you to show and hide the subscriptions you want.
For more information about this new feature, take a look at the WWDC video : What's New in StoreKit
Please, help me to clarify purchases types.
I have an ionic project, where a user has a possibility to post to feed. But he/she has to pay for each news he/she posts.
I know that purchases are of three types: consumable, non-consumable and subscriptions.
I cant understand what is the type of such kind of purchases?
You would be a consumable type as you are paying every time you post.
Good description from a previous post https://stackoverflow.com/a/21251768/5270656
Ref: itunesconnect.apple.com
Everything is here:
Consumable (pay everytime)
A consumable In-App Purchase must be purchased every time
the user downloads it. One-time services, such as fish food in a
fishing app, are usually implemented as consumables.
Select Non-Consumable (one time payment)
Non-consumable In-App Purchases only need to be
purchased once by users. Services that do not expire or decrease with
use are usually implemented as non-consumables, such as new race
tracks for a game app.
Select Auto-Renewable Subscriptions (will deduct money from your credit card on a cycle complete)
Auto-renewable Subscriptions allow
the user to purchase updating and dynamic content for a set duration
of time. Subscriptions renew automatically unless the user opts out,
such as magazine subscriptions.
Select Free Subscription (no payment and is still visible even you did not submitted your account detail to itunes connect)
Free subscriptions are a way for developers
to put free subscription content in Newsstand. Once a user signs up
for a free subscription, it will be available on all devices
associated with the user’s Apple ID. Note that free subscriptions do
not expire and can only be offered in Newsstand-enabled apps.
Select Non-Renewing (need to renew manually)
Subscription Non-Renewing Subscriptions allow the
sale of services with a limited duration. Non-Renewing Subscriptions
must be used for In-App Purchases that offer time-based access to
static content. Examples include a one week subscription to voice
guidance feature within a navigation app or an annual subscription to
online catalog of archived video or audio.
Apple, iOS, IAP.
The official doc says:
Product type - Users can buy - Appears in the receipt - Synced across devices - Restored
Consumable - Multiple times - Once - Not synced - Not restored
Non-renewing - Multiple times - Once - By your app - By your app
Of course consumable can be made same to non-renewing "by my app" if I want to, so what's the exact difference? Why Apple distinguish these two types identical on his side?
Ref: itunesconnect.apple.com
Everything is here:
Consumable (pay everytime)
A consumable In-App Purchase must be purchased every time
the user downloads it. One-time services, such as fish food in a
fishing app, are usually implemented as consumables.
Select Non-Consumable (one time payment)
Non-consumable In-App Purchases only need to be
purchased once by users. Services that do not expire or decrease with
use are usually implemented as non-consumables, such as new race
tracks for a game app.
Select Auto-Renewable Subscriptions (will deduct money from your credit card on a cycle complete)
Auto-renewable Subscriptions allow
the user to purchase updating and dynamic content for a set duration
of time. Subscriptions renew automatically unless the user opts out,
such as magazine subscriptions.
Select Free Subscription (no payment and is still visible even you did not submitted your account detail to itunes connect)
Free subscriptions are a way for developers
to put free subscription content in Newsstand. Once a user signs up
for a free subscription, it will be available on all devices
associated with the user’s Apple ID. Note that free subscriptions do
not expire and can only be offered in Newsstand-enabled apps.
Select Non-Renewing (need to renew manually)
Subscription Non-Renewing Subscriptions allow the
sale of services with a limited duration. Non-Renewing Subscriptions
must be used for In-App Purchases that offer time-based access to
static content. Examples include a one week subscription to voice
guidance feature within a navigation app or an annual subscription to
online catalog of archived video or audio.
Consumable items are individually purchased items. You need to buy one each time you want one. For example, in a game, if you ran out of lives and wanted to keep playing, you can buy an extra life (consumable). Once you use that life, if you need more than you need to buy another one.
Non-renewing is referring to subscriptions. It is the purchase of a subscription to something for a designated time frame, that will not automatically renew/re-charge after it expires. Example would be buying a one month subscription to a weekly magazine app that publishes new content every week. You purchase this one month, non-renewing, subscription and you get access to the app's content for a month. After the month is over, it does not automatically renew itself and will not bill you again.
I'm launching an app that I would like to offer for free each month up to a certain usage level. If the user exceeds the threshold, the app would charge them a monthly subscription. However, I don't want the subscription to automatically renew each month. Rather, I would like the usage level to reset the following month, and if the user does not exceed the threshold, the app is free for that month.
Any creative ideas about how to make this happen?
Yes, look at Apple Overview of In-App Purchase:
Non-renewing subscriptions are a mechanism for creating products with a limited duration. Non-renewing subscriptions differ from auto-renewable subscriptions in a few key ways:
The term of the subscription is not declared when you create the product in iTunes Connect; your application is responsible for providing this information to the user. In most cases, you would include the term of the subscription in the description of your product.
Non-renewing subscriptions may be purchased multiple times (like a consumable product) and are not automatically renewed by the App Store. You are responsible for implementing the renewal process inside your application. Specifically, your application must recognize when the subscription has expired and prompt the user to purchase the product again.
You are required to deliver non-renewing subscriptions to all devices owned by the user. Non-renewing subscriptions are not automatically synchronized to all devices by Store Kit; you must implement this infrastructure yourself. For example, most subscriptions are provided by an external server; your server would need to implement a mechanism to identify users and associate subscription purchases with the user who purchased them.
You can track the user usage and ask him to buy your Non-renewing subscriptions* if the usage exceeds the threshold. Then at the end of the subscription you can check it again and ask him to pay again for the next month.
I would consider using renewable subscriptions for users that know that their usage will
always exceed the threshold.