Am creating cloud storage app with multiple user access(like Google Drive app).
I want to add expand storage feature using in-App purchase(1 year validity after that user need to renew).If it is single user i can go with Auto-renewing subscriptions.But i need to provide this feature to each login user.
Can i go with Non-renewing subscriptions
If i use Non-renewing subscriptions,i need to manage subscription date and end date in my DB
If u have any idea please share with me :)
Offering a year of service as a consumable IAP might be a valid solution to your problem, since you want to associate the purchase not with the iTunes user, but the user of your service. The issue with subscriptions is that they need to be restorable across all devices for the iTunes user, which is not what you want -- you don't want someone to auth with your system with a different account and restore subscription. Rather, you want to associate a user authenticated on your system with your content, which you could do through a consumable.
You've probably already looked at it, but Apple's IAP documentation can be found here.
Related
Our app was rejected in App Store because we were using 3rd party solution for subscription and was decided to use In-App Purchases ( Auto-Renewable Subscriptions). I went through several tutorials and it seems that the subscription has to be created in App Store Connect and only then it will be available to use in app and that's the problem for us.
Our app is something like news app where user can subscribe to some author. List of authors comes from server therefore hardcode every subscription for each author is not the way to go.
So, Is that possible to somehow implement what I want with In-App Purchases? Thanks.
There is no option to create subscription dynamically. Your case is a draw back of iOS subscription platform. I have pointed out this problem to Apple subscription team but they were not ready to accept this and forced us to implement in-app subscription, so we had to restrict the number of subscription in app.
Only possible option is to create a number of subscription groups, lets say 10 groups representing each author.
authorSusbcription1,authorSusbcription2,...authorSusbcription10
I know it's not a viable solution since the number of authors is indefinite. But we don't have any option as of now. You can restrict 10 authors subscription in the app and then prompt users to buy from website if it's exceeds 10.You can show some alert that doesn't violate the in-app rule. For example, "Further subscription is not available in this app" instead of mentioning about your website. Track this user and use an API to send an email to this user asking to subscribe via website.
Unless Apple fix this drawback, we have no other options..!
Dynamic Auto-Renewable Subscriptions creation (and dynamic in-app purchase creation in general) is not possible. Alternatives would be to sell credits to authors (but this is non-auto renewable). Another possibility is to sell tiers of subscriptions that grant access to a number of authors.
I am implementing In-App Purchases first time in my application and new to In-app purchases Store Kit.
I have few doubts regarding In-app purchases:
What happens if a user purchased a subscription and logged out from the application and another user logs in and trying to purchase the same?
Does iTunes allow the second user to use the First user's purchased product?
If it allows how can we handle the second user's subscription?
What details we will get post Successful/Failed transactions from itunes to save in my database?
For a non-renewing subscription then it is entirely up to you to track expiration and determine what content a user has access to and when.
For example, say your subscription gave access to "the word of the day". If the subscription was active for the month of January, then the user would receive access to new words each day in January. The user should continue to be able to see January's words even after the subscription expires, but no new words.
If they resubscribe in March then they would now get new words throughout March.
You need to track all of this on your server against the user account.
Non-renewable subscription IAPs act much like consumable IAPs. The "Restore purchases" Store Kit function does not restore non-renewable IAP items.
To answer your specific questions:
If a new user logs in to your account system in the app (but the same iTunes account is still active on the device) then a second purchase will succeed and you need to update the subscription start and end dates for the new active account on your server.
You also need to cater for the following:
- The original account logs back in; In this case the original subscription entitlements need to be available
- The original or second account log in to another device; Again, the accounts subscription entitlements need to be available.
No, since non-renewing subscriptions are not restorable, the second user cannot "use" the first user's subscription.
You handle each account in your system independently.
Information about the mechanics of the purchase process are described in the In App Purchase Programming Guide
here's my straightforward question:
is it allowed for my iOS application to force users to log into my custom account management system, so I can link them to my backend when they want to purchase a non-renewing subscription?
Here's the backstory:
I have a non-renewing subscription. For a good amount of users I can see that the Apple receipt does not contain information about this subscription; the in_app array is empty. This is correct according to the API:
https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/NetworkingInternet/Conceptual/StoreKitGuide/Chapters/Products.html
The in-app purchase receipt for a consumable product or non-renewing subscription is added to the receipt when the purchase is made. It is kept in the receipt until your app finishes that transaction. After that point, it is removed from the receipt the next time the receipt is updated—for example, when the user makes another purchase or if your app explicitly refreshes the receipt
For some users, I can still see the purchase in the receipt, but let's consider that a bug from Apple and follow their API documentation to the letter.
(More on why this is a bug here https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/22345)
In order to restore the user's purchase, I'd need something to identify him with. I could create a unique token, store that on the iCloud keychain and use that across the devices to detect the purchase belongs to that Apple account, but since my application supports account creation, I'd rather just use that mechanism. Else I'm using two different methods of purchase detection side by side: iCloud keychain token or a user account.
Thing is, I'm not sure I am allowed to force users to make an account before making a purchase. Is this something Apple would reject the app submission for with a message like "Your users must be able to buy stuff without going through your lengthy account registration process" ?
From Apple :
Non-renewable subscriptions. Subscriptions that don’t involve
delivering episodic content. Examples include access to a database of
historic photos or a collection of flight maps. It’s your app’s
responsibility to make the subscription available on all of the user’s
devices and to let users restore the purchase. This product type is
often used when your users already have an account on your server that
you can use to identify them when restoring content. Expiration and
the duration of the subscription are also left to your app (or your
server) to implement and enforce.
https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/NetworkingInternet/Conceptual/StoreKitGuide/Chapters/Products.html
So its your app's responsibility to check that user has valid subscription or its over and let them purchase it again !
For this you will ask user to first make account or login into app so by this way you can track their subscriptions.
I am working an app that has In app purchase function.
And i need some unique user information when they make some purchases in order to store it on my Database for some reason.
So how can i get some info like email,username or userId from the purchased user?
Thanks!
You cannot obtain this information from the Apple purchase flow, so the answer depends on what you are trying to accomplish.
If you are selling a non-consumable item, such as a game unlock, Deepak's solution will work for you -- by providing a "restore" button in you application the user will be able to connect to their iTunes account from any of their devices and re-obtain the item.
If you are selling a consumable item, such as in-game currency, you should have the users register with your backend service and be authenticated when they make their purchase. Once you have verified the purchase you can write it to your database and you will be responsible for restoring their state regardless of the device they log in on.
Note that if you combine these approaches it would be possible, though unlikely, that a user could share a non-consumable purchase by using the same iTunes account but different accounts on your system by performing a Apple restore action. If you are managing your own inventory on a server, I recommend using consumables.
So the short answer is, if you want that information, you have to ask for it from the user.
[Answer is valid if you have users registered with your system]The transactions can be restored based on user who has logged into your system ,please refer to link here then you can map the information from your system to the product you are selling via in-app purchase.
I am stuck with one of the in-app purchase rejection issue in my app and need some help on this.
What this in-app for?
In our app we have options for user to become premium user. A user can become premium user to enjoy some benefits and it is tied to time. There are two in-app products which defines them
One month premium service.
One year premium service.
Since these are time based service, user expects these service should be made available for that user once he/she purchase the product for the specified time, from all his/her other devices. In order to track whether the user is premium service user or not, once the purchase is done, the app writes a entry in server about premium service. So when user uses other device and logs in, he/she can enjoy the premium service without any issues. For this reason I created the above mentioned products as "consumable", thinking that it is controlled by our server there will be no issues. But apple came back with rejection and asked me to change the products to "non-renewing subscription".
Here is what apple says about this
We found that the Purchasability Type for one or more of your In App Purchase products was inappropriately set, which is not in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines.
"Premium account service for 1 month and 1 year" IAPs are set to Consumable.
However, based on product functionality, it would be more appropriate to use the Non-Renewable Subscription In App Purchase type because the service offered by your application requires the user to make an advance payment to access the content or receive the service.
The Purchasability type cannot be changed once an In App Purchase product has been created. Therefore, you will need to create a new In App Purchase product with the correct Purchasability Type. To create a new In App Purchase in iTunes Connect, go to Manage Your In App Purchases, select your app, and click "Create New". The current product will show in iTunes Connect as "Rejected".
Non-Renewable Subscription content must be made available to all iOS devices owned by a single user, as indicated in Guideline 11.6 of the App Store Review Guidelines:
11.6 Content subscriptions using IAP must last a minimum of 7 days and be available to the user from all of their iOS devices
If you choose to use user registration to meet this requirement, please keep in mind that it is not appropriate to require user registration. Such user registration must be made optional. It would be appropriate to make it clear to the user that only by registering will they be able to access the content from all of their iOS devices; and to provide them a way to register later, if they wish to access the content on their other iOS devices at a future time.
For more information about Purchasability Type, please to refer to the iTunes Connect Developer Guide.
Now I have created new in-app products which are non-renewing. But this works the same way as I mentioned earlier, i.e. the server keeps track of whether user is premium user or not, expiry date. When user goes to other device and does login, the app comes to know whether user is premium or not and based on that app works.
But I have couple of questions on this,
Should I need to provide the "Restore" button in the app? If so what is the purpose and how it works?
Since the user can access this service only after doing login to the app (it is different from app store account). Will these two logins make any issue?
Please share your valuable inputs.
It is highly unlikely that the user will end up in a situation where they won't be able to use your app unless they restore their purchases, however it is still possible. Imagine your server goes down for a day and during that day some user purchases a subscription, gets a new iPhone, installs your app on the new device and then wipes their old iPhone. I can think of a couple of other, equally unlikely, but still possible situations (Apple receipt validation server going down, etc) in which the purchase receipt will get lost in transit. It's best to provide the button, and if Apple thinks that you need it in your app, you will have a hard time convincing them otherwise.
If by "two logins" you mean user having to log in to your system and then log in to the App Store to purchase the subscription, that should not be a problem.
I recommend you make the changes Apple requested to the Purchasability Type and then re-submit. If you need to clarify a lack of a restore button put it in the notes for the reviewer