I have an application where the user will have to buy licenses firstly to create other supporting users of this application. For example, a parent will buy 2 licenses to create a kid and his caretaker account so that they can use the application with respective credentials. This application has an Android version and web portal too. All the three platforms are synced I.e. all the users can log in on these platforms.
Earlier the purchase of licenses was done from a web portal. Now we have a requirement to make the mobile application purchase the licenses and integrate the payment gateway in it.
I want to use a third-party payment gateway so that the same user can access the services on the different platforms as well. If I will plan to integrate third-party payment gateway, is there any chance that Apple can reject my application.
Also is it mandatory to use the in-app purchase in this scenario or I can use the third-party payment gateway?
You must use in-app purchases for digital goods and other payments for physical goods.
More info:
There are a couple different ways to integrate payments into your iOS
app: Apple Pay and In-App Purchases. It’s important to understand when
each option should be used.
You can use Apple Pay to sell physical goods such as groceries,
clothing, and appliances. Also use Apple Pay for services such as club
memberships, hotel reservations, and tickets for events. These
transactions will be processed through Stripe and you’ll only need to
pay Stripe’s processing fee. You can read more about Apple Pay here.
You are required to use Apple’s In-App Purchase API to sell virtual
goods such as premium content for your app, and subscriptions for
digital content. Specifically, Apple’s developer terms require that
the In-App Purchase API must be used for digital “content,
functionality, or services” such as premium features or credits. If
you use the In-App Purchase API, the transactions will be processed by
Apple, which will charge a fee of 30% of the total transaction.
Docs: https://stripe.com/docs/mobile/ios#using-stripe-and-apple-pay-vs-in-app-purchases
Related
My Application got rejected Recently with following error
Guideline 3.1.1 - Business - Payments - In-App Purchase
We noticed that your app offers a subscription with a mechanism other than the in-app purchase API.
Next Steps
To resolve this issue, please revise your app to ensure that the subscription for products used within the app is offered using the in-app purchase API, with the exception of the content specified in guideline 3.1.3 of the App Store Review Guidelines.
In-App Purchase
It may be appropriate to revise your app to use the in-app purchase API to provide content purchasing functionality.
In-app purchase provides several benefits, including:
The flexibility to support a variety of business models.
Impacting your app ranking by consolidating your sales to one app rather than distributing them across multiple apps.
An effective marketing vehicle to drive additional sales of new content.
For step-by-step instructions on in-app purchase creation within App Store Connect, refer to App Store Connect Help.
You can't sell subscription using Stripe, because it's a digital property.
More info:
There are a couple different ways to integrate payments into your iOS
app: Apple Pay and In-App Purchases. It’s important to understand when
each option should be used.
You can use Apple Pay to sell physical goods such as groceries,
clothing, and appliances. Also use Apple Pay for services such as club
memberships, hotel reservations, and tickets for events. These
transactions will be processed through Stripe and you’ll only need to
pay Stripe’s processing fee. You can read more about Apple Pay here.
You are required to use Apple’s In-App Purchase API to sell virtual
goods such as premium content for your app, and subscriptions for
digital content. Specifically, Apple’s developer terms require that
the In-App Purchase API must be used for digital “content,
functionality, or services” such as premium features or credits. If
you use the In-App Purchase API, the transactions will be processed by
Apple, which will charge a fee of 30% of the total transaction.
Docs: https://stripe.com/docs/mobile/ios#using-stripe-and-apple-pay-vs-in-app-purchases
You can't use a payment gateway other than InApp purchase to offer soft services/digital good transactions(Any functionality within the app) in your app.
I am developing an app for PDF and downloading PDF, I am using using Paytm - Third party payment gateway for payments on web view. Without using an "In-App purchase", will it affect the Apple review guidelines?
In-app currency is only used inside of your app.
3.1.1 In-App Purchase: If you want to unlock features or functionality within your app, (by way of example: subscriptions, in-game currencies, game levels, access to premium content, or unlocking a full version), you must use in-app purchase. Apps may not include buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms other than IAP.
For third party payment.
3.1.5 Physical Goods and Services Outside of the App: If your app enables people to purchase goods or services that will be consumed outside of the app, you must use purchase methods other than IAP to collect those payments, such as Apple Pay or traditional credit card entry. Apps may facilitate transmission of approved virtual currencies (e.g. Bitcoin, DogeCoin) provided that they do so in compliance with all state and federal laws for the territories in which the app functions.
Apple has no issue implementing payment process in UIWebView but you have to provide very clear explanation of your payment process to get your app approved without any objection.
As per Apple guide lines given below, If you are purchasing physical goods which can be consumed out side of the App, then you can go for other payment gateway, else your App will be rejected.
3.1.5 Physical Goods and Services Outside of the App: If your app enables people to purchase goods or services that will be consumed outside of the app, you must use purchase methods other than IAP to collect those payments, such as Apple Pay or traditional credit card entry. Apps may facilitate transmission of approved virtual currencies (e.g. Bitcoin, DogeCoin) provided that they do so in compliance with all state and federal laws for the territories in which the app functions.
So I went through the trouble of implementing a Stripe payment system in my app, and submitted the app for review a few days ago. My app got rejected and Apple notified me that you have to use the In-App Purchase API for any payment system. This just doesn't seem right - why does Stripe even have an iOS SDK in that case?
You can use Stripe in an iOS app.
Apple accepts it when the customer can buy something which is not digital. for example your Instagram pictures printed on a mug, a computer and so on.
But if you use Stripe for something like a subscription (like a "gold access" to a revue) or to buy credits for a game, Apple will refuse the app and force you to use In-app purchase.
take a look here:
There are a couple different ways to integrate payments into your iOS app: Apple Pay and In-App Purchases. It’s important to understand
when each option should be used.
You can use Apple Pay to sell physical goods such as groceries,
clothing, and appliances. Also use Apple Pay for services such as club
memberships, hotel reservations, and tickets for events. These
transactions will be processed through Stripe and you’ll only need to
pay Stripe’s processing fee. You can read more about Apple Pay here.
You are required to use Apple’s In-App Purchase API to sell virtual goods such as premium content for your app, and subscriptions for digital content. Specifically, Apple’s developer terms require that the In-App Purchase API must be used for digital “content, functionality, or services” such as premium features or credits. If you use the In-App Purchase API, the transactions will be processed by Apple, which will charge a fee of 30% of the total transaction.
https://support.stripe.com/questions/apple-and-stripe-tos-and-fees
hope it helps
Our App has just been rejected by Apple citing guideline 11.13: Your app includes an account registration feature, which is considered an access to external mechanisms for purchases or subscriptions to be used in the app.
As per guideline 11.13, our understanding is that one is not able to use external mechanisms for purchases or subscriptions to be used "in the app"? Please note however that all our PAID subscriptions options offer real world, non-digital services that's used "outside of the app" - the https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/ also specifically states that IAP can not be used to purchase physical goods or goods and services used outside of the App (guideline 11.3). The "in-app digital services" that are offered is available as part of our FREE subscription and is not what the user pays for on the PAID subscriptions.
In summary:
None of our PAID subscription services are used "in the app", in other words all the PAID
services are non-digital and is used/provided outside of the app
All our in-app digital services are FREE
Based on the rejection: If you offer a non-digital (real world) subscription - is the only option to subscribe for such a subscription via our website and does that mean the account registration feature and all links to the website on the app has to be removed? This guideline https://developer.apple.com/in-app-purchase/In-App-Purchase-Guidelines.pdf also states that IAP may not be used for a real world services such as Gym Membership, but mentions nothing about account registration limitations? Guideline 11.3 and 11.12/11.13 is very contradictory...
This really is a grey area that's has us confused....
I am a developer of apps for iPhone and iPad.
One of my apps is a companion app to an online personal finance management tool which provides its services and functionality through a website. A section of these features will be made available to the iPhone audience through a native iOS app that I am creating.
The portal allows users to use most of the features for their personal finance management free of charge. It also has a subscription model which provides the user additional features on the website and provides for expansion of some services both on portal and the mobile app.
I am planning to continue using the same subscription model on app, and will redirect users to a payment gateway if they want to subscribe for the personal finance management services through the app.
My question here is do my app falls under in-app purchase (non consumable)? Since my iPhone app is not the only medium where I could subscribe those services. I can open the web portal and subscribe and can login as normal user in my iPhone app.
I had gone through the apple in-app purchase guidelines and found this information is not clearly stated.
Any help will be appreciated.
Looks like your business model does fall under the In-App Purchase.
If you want to unlock features or functionality within your app, (by way of example: subscriptions, in-game currencies, game levels, access to premium content, or unlocking a full version), you must use in-app purchase.
Apps may not include buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms other than IAP.
You may offer a subscription inside of your app via the In-App Purchase, but you may not redirect user to your website as this would be considered "directing customers to purchasing mechanisms other than IAP".
If you were providing subscription to a monthly coffee delivery, for example, then using IAP would not be acceptable, as this would fall under "Physical Goods and Services Outside of the App".
The latest iteration of Apple Review Guidelines concerning In-App Purchase can be found here https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#in-app-purchase
You can use Paypal for this purpose as iOS sdk is also available for this as that will be supported both on your site and app.