I am completely new to this so please bear with me.
I am developing a service and as part of that service I'd like to give users the option to upgrade their account to get some additional features in return for a small monthly fee.
The service is mobile-first and will run on iOS and Android, as well as a website with some of the features you can get from the app, account management, that kind of thing.
I don't really want to have to encourage people to use the website to signup as the app is supposed to be mobile first. Equally I need their account across any device they wish to use to recognise that they are a premium user.
My question is related to how IAP's work for this monthly subscription:
Do IAP's apply here or can I just use my own sign up and credit card processing? The user isn't buying any downloadable content, just the ability to access a couple of small features on the app.
If they do apply, how would my website or the Android app know that the user has purchased a subscription on iOS?
Thanks in advance
IAP do apply in this case, but please be aware that it might be against some policies to buy some service on iOS and use it on android and vice verso.
About the process itself, you can use non-renewable subscriptions or renewable subscriptions and communicate the electronic receipt to your server to verify it with apple/google servers and keep your client status on server (active/paid or not active/not paid). And you only authenticate with your server and get the status, while on client make the decision to show the option to buy/extend subscription.
Related
my name is Antony Basta and I am the developer of an app called SecuriKey. SecuriKey allows any old apartment building intercom to be controlled from an app. Users can create entry codes that work once, up to a certain date, or are instantly revokable. There is no need for any new or additional hardware – it works with the buildings existing intercom.
Currently, the app is using Stripe for subscriptions and it was initially approved 2 months ago for the App Store. I pushed an update a few weeks ago and Apple Rejected it because I am not using In-App Purchase (IAP). I submit an appeal, mentioning that we offer a consumable service that takes place outside of the app (guideline 3.1.3(e)), it is effectively a "Reader" app since we provide VoIP numbers to our customers (guideline 3.1.3(f)), and SecuriKey requires hardware to function – that is, it will not work without a physical intercom (guideline 3.1.4). Additionally, we do ship physical goods to our customers (NFC tags and Security Signs) monthly and require monthly service personnel to service the building using the physical goods for our own back end workflow. A lot of back and forth has occurred between the review team and at the time of this post, the app is still being reviewed by the board. I thoroughly believe we fit within all of the mentioned IAP exception guidelines – but that's a conversation for another day.
As I wait, I began to delve into using IAP for this product. I was able to jerry-rig the IAP platform to feed Stripe the necessary data through the notifications apple sends when a subscription is made, and I am able to create an account and collect a payment. But there's one huge oversight. This is a cross-platform app. Meaning, roommates or family members who use different mobile operating systems, can be logged into the same account. A user may sign up from the iPhone but his/her roommate/family member may have an android that also has access to the service under the same account. Thus, the android user will not be able to change the IAP subscription plan from the android side of the service. Furthermore, a web-portal is being developed, and using IAP will not allow us to modify the subscription via the web-portal either.
Has anyone ever dealt with something like this? How can you use IAP for a cross-platform application and allow android users to modify the subscription (Whether it be canceling, upgrading, or downgrading)?
If Apple says you have to use IAPs, you should leverage IAPs and not a payment service provider like Stripe.
I'm confused with what
I was able to jerry-rig the IAP platform to feed Stripe the necessary data through the notifications apple sends when a subscription is made,
means but does not sound like the right thing to do.
Thus, the android user will not be able to change the IAP subscription plan from the android side of the service. Furthermore, a web-portal is being developed, and using IAP will not allow us to modify the subscription via the web-portal either
Your user will have to use Apple's Platform (i.e. an Apple device that they are signed into) to cancel the IAP subscription.
How can you use IAP for a cross-platform application and allow android users to modify the subscription (Whether it be canceling, upgrading, or downgrading)
You can't. Take a look at the IAP experience for subscription services like HBO Max. Accounts are all ultimately provisioned through the same system, but the funding source may differ. When you attempt to manage your subscription, the website or android app could inform you that the subscription is billed via Apple, and send you to a page like this: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202039.
If the user has no Apple devices, they can contact Apple Support:
If you don't have an Apple device or Windows PC
You can cancel Apple Music on the web.
You can cancel Apple TV+ on the web.
If you want to cancel a different subscription from Apple, contact Apple Support.
We run a SAAS Web app and are going to be launching our app in Apple’s app store (up to now we’ve had a mobile Web app).
We want to offer the ability to purchase a subscription in app due to the ease of use for our customers. No problem, we know how to do that.
The question we have is whether there is an easy way to keep our web app's db updated with the user’s current subscription status so if they access our Web app we know whether their subscription is valid.
Ideally it would be great if Apple offered a web hook option where they would post an update to a url on our server. From what I've read this isn't an option.
We can always post the data to our server from the iPhone app when the user logs in, but if the user doesn’t log in on the iPhone for a while the subscription status recorded on our server will be out of date.
How are other people handling this? Are we missing something?
Update:
The closest I've found is this thread: https://forums.developer.apple.com/message/70707#70707
The app gets a receipt the first time it buys a subscription or
restores a subscription. The app can send that original receipt to
anyone's server. Anyone's server can then use that orignal receipt to
verify the current subscrition anytime it wants. You can't do that
with a non-renewing subscription but with a non-renewing subscription
the user must purchase the extension from the iOS device each time
period.
Followed up with this:
https://hetzel.net/2011-04-01/server-side-auto-renewable-subscription-receipt-verification/
And from Apple it sounds like they definitely do not make any provisions on their end for synchronization:
Cross-Platform Considerations
Product identifiers are associated with a single app. Apps that have
both an iOS and OS X version have separate products with separate
product identifiers on each platform. You could let users who have a
subscription in an iOS app access the content from an OS X app (or
vice versa), but implementing that functionality is your
responsibility. You would need some system for identifying users and
keeping track of what content they’ve subscribed to, similar to what
you would implement for an app that uses non-renewable subscriptions.
Late to the party, but I think this is a relevant reply to this question:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/47537279/543423
Hopefully this is helpful to someone :)
Case:
Our iOS app offers selling of custom made recipe packages that would be created for each user specifically. For example - user buys package of recipes, but for each user this package would be created individually, based on users preferences and needs, by someone from the app team. This package should be created in 5 days for example. If app team fails to create this package and deliver to end user in 5 days, automatic refund should be triggered and end user should receive money back that he spent on this in app purchase, thus invalidating purchased custom package.
Problem:
Is this kind of scenario even possible in Apple / iOS world? Can app developer trigger refund process of one specific purchase that end user made? If user isn't satisfied with specific purchase, could app developer trigger this is refund process if he has reference to transaction receipt?
P.S. We aren't really selling custom recipe packages, this was just an example scenario to help to understand this refund scenario case. ;)
EDIT:
If such scenario isn't possible via Apple refund, are there some examples of this kind of purchase model, implemented in some other way? It's hard to wrap my mind that only way for end user to get refund for something is to write Apple and that also needs to be done by user itself.
If you get paid using Apple services (in-app purchases) then NO, it isn't possible for an Apple Developer (business or individual) to refund App Store customers.
The only option is to direct customers to iTunes Store Customer Support as officially stated in the iTunes Connect screenshot below:
To increase the chances for your customers in getting refunded you could provide them with an e-mail stating that you would like them to receive a refund which they could show to the iTunes Support employee.
As a colleague stated, an option would be to use an external payment processor like PayPal which would allow you to manage refunds, but I think this will greatly increase the work needed since you will need to manage almost everything regarding payments on your own.
Also note that this option is highly restricted by Apple to only physical services or goods and sometimes Apple does not approve apps providing services through third-party payment processors. So.. you should be very careful what path you choose to take.
If the recipes you're providing to your customers are in digital format and users receive them in your app, you can be 100% sure that Apple will force you to use the in-app purchase system.
If such scenario isn't possible via Apple refund, are there some
examples of this kind of purchase model, implemented in some other
way?
In some cases you can use payment through PayPal (for example). We did it in our application where we had to take money of users and return it after a certain period. Check if you case is suitable for using third-party payment systems. Because (for example) Apple will restrict your app if you want to sell in-game content via Paypal, not with in-app purchase.
One very simple alternative would be to have your users buy virtual currency in your app that they can then spend on their recipe-package-orders. Since you are managing their virtual currency account balance, you can easily refund, give volume-discounts, etc. as you please. The only thing that will still be hard then is to have users return their virtual currency to get back their actual money.
There is no api for allowing users to refund a purchase (otherwise guess what can happen).
More info here
I am developing an app for a client, where he wishes the app to be able to have users to sign up and try out the app for 14 days, after which they have to make a purchase to continue using the app.
My client does not want to absorb Apple's 30% cut for using Apple's in-app purchase mechanism. Initially I suggested implementing a 3rd party payment gateway, but it seems that Apple does not allow app that unlocks app functionalities via a 3rd party payment gateway.
My question is this: if we submit the app that allows users to sign up and login, but only use the app for 14 days without any form of payment mechanisms in the app to allow the user to continue using the app, will the app be rejected? As I was thinking to just have the payment gateway on a website, and during user sign-up, send the user an email informing them that they can go to the website to make a payment.
I know that Apple rejects trial/demo apps, but this is technically a full fledged app where users that purchased via the website will be able to login and perform full functionality. I will also provide Apple with a test account that is fully functional.
Thanks!
Short answer: Apple will reject you if you allow signups and block functionality after a trial period without allowing IAP. Period.
I have first hand knowledge of this, shameless plug in 3..2..1.., Simple In/Out offers a 45 day free trial, after which users are blocked from using the app. In the early days, we escaped Apple's ban hammer by being small and using a blessed trial account that never expired. Apple would review using test account, never see rejection or blocked alerts and prompts to sign up on our website. That did change one day after requesting an expedited review. We got a lot more scrutiny and they rejected us for essentially steering users to our website for subscribing.
The IAP for trials and subscriptions other than magazines is pretty terrible. It is essentially designed for magazines, and that's it. So beware going in. What we eventually did was allow users to subscribe in the app using IAP. Our server manages who is subscribed and who isn't. It also manages which subscription they have (IAP or our own). There is a lot of weird receipt checks you need to do to manage the subscription from Apple. The user is also stuck if they want to change to a bigger/lower subscription plan. Which kinda works for us because the only way to do it is email us, in which we can convert from IAP (-30%) to our own (-2.5% for card processing).
The moral of this story is that if you plan on allowing users to create accounts inside your app, then you will most likely be obligated to offer subscriptions via IAP. If you want to avoid IAP, then you will also need to strip any references to your website from your app and description. They will bust you on meta if you try and steer them around the IAP process. Once we added IAP, we were allowed to point everyone to our website for "more information" in which we are able to convert more users to our own subscription rather than IAP. Right now, our number of our own subscribers vs. Apple is about 75:1. So we don't lose much over the signups we get from Apple.
I believe this should be perfectly fine as long as the 14 day "trial" is a fully functional version of the app.
Your model seems similar to Spotify. Pay for subscription on their website, but use the service in the app.
These resources may help:
https://news.layervault.com/stories/9695-how-do-apps-like-lyft-uber-airbnb-skirt-apples-30-cut-on-each-transaction
http://www.quora.com/How-does-Apple-define-digital-content-when-taking-its-30-cut
I am looking to start selling an app on the Apple app store however currently the app uses our own servers to generate a license to the customer once they have purchased it. How can our existing licensing system which uses our own servers be implemented if a customer purchases the app from the App Store instead?
The application license will be a yearly renewable one. Therefore, so far, from what I have read, the app on the App Store could just come with an auto-renewal option (opt-out of course) so that would take care of the subscription cycle but how can our own server issue the customer the one year license which they could then renew from iTunes using the auto-renew function of the App Store?
I am sorry if this is not clear but it would go like this:
Customer downloads application from app store with a one year auto
renewal subscription.
Customer pays.
The app store verifies the
payment.
Once payment is verified it contacts our server to create a
license for that purchase and for one year.
That license is sent back
from our server to the purchased app to unlock the subscription.
Please correct me if my understanding on how this works is wrong but if anyone can point me in the right direction or give examples of how an application on the app store can successfully issue licenses from their own server then I would be very grateful.
As an example, look at "Aviation Exam". They let you buy subscriptions on-device as in-app purchases, or on their own website. In each case the details are synced to a user's account on their own server, so the same exam can be used from any device.
Look at the Apple documentation for how in-app purchase subscriptions work on iOS. Then your app can send details of a purchase to your servers, and download further information.
Edit; after discussion in comments:
If you want payment to go via Apple then it has to be via App Purchase or In-App Purchase. In-App Purchase specifically supports the idea of buying a subscription for a limited time. This is explained at the second link above.
If you want the user to create an account on your server you can either have a page in the app for them to input their details, or you can bring up a web page served from your website. Either way, the info can go to your server and it can create an account.
The key thing is, if payment went via Apple then inside the app is the only place you know this. The app can send this info to your server. You need some common identifier (i.e. a user-name) that is known to your server and to your user, then the user keys it in to your app and it can all be matched up.
There is nothing complicated here, to a decent software developer. All they need is an existence proof such as I gave at the top, and they can figure out how to link the info together.
Edit 2
Some tutorials for in-app purchase listed at: In-App purchase server model
Lots of low-level detail at: Verify receipt for in App purchase
If you prefer to handle payment yourself, not via Apple, then the situation is very different. Now, your own systems have to keep track of what has been bought, when subscriptions run out, etc. To begin with, the app won't know this at all. However, once you identify the user by having them enter credentials (username/password), you can fetch all the details from your back-end system to the app and proceed as above. Again, this is all visible in the example I gave at the beginning, which supports both Apple and non-Apple payments.
One thing to note: if you handle payment yourself then Apple isn't getting its 30% cut, which is the usual App Store commission, so they may not like this. The guidelines say:
11.1 Apps that unlock or enable additional features or functionality with mechanisms other than the App Store will be rejected
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
That's pretty clear-cut, but since there are apps that rely on subscriptions or content purchased elsewhere, they don't seem to follow these rules in every case. Even the Amazon Kindle app was allowed back, once they took the 'buy' button off.