This question already has answers here:
How do I manage building a Lite vs Paid version of an iPhone app?
(6 answers)
Closed 8 years ago.
I have made a free version of an app (not in the app store yet) with ad banners and some features.
But I want to make a paid version of this app as well with no ads and more features.
Do I duplicate the app and make 2 separate copies of the app (free and paid) and submit them separately to the app store or is there a way of coding the paid version in to the current free version
I think it may have something to do with targets but i'm not sure
help would be appreciated
You should have a single app if you ask me, however, if you do so, you will need to differentiate paid users from free users. You most probably have a database or will have a database where you store which user have paid for the app. If so, then you can authenticate your users and display the free version for users who have not paid for the app, while you can display the paid version for users who have paid.
Related
Short Version:
My freemium iOS app sends the app receipt to my server for validation and to check wether a users is eligible for subscription introductory offers. I noticed that there are a lot of receipts with no IAPs inside. This would mean that many users have been using the free trial version for years, which is quite unlikely.
So when is IAP informatioin added to the receipts?
Long Version:
My app has been offered in the iOS App Store for several years using a Freemium Model: User can download the app for free and test it for an unlimited time with limited features. A non-consumable in-app purchase can than be uses to remove these feature limits.
In theory users can use the app indefinitely without any purchase just using the test feature set. However, the due to the limitations this is highly unlikely.
Recently I have updated the app to offer subscription. To check if users are eligible for introductory offers the app receipt is send to my server for validation.
I noticed that there are a lot of receipts with no IAPs inside. Even for receipts with original_app_versions which are several years old. This would mean that many users have been using the free trial version for years, which is quite unlikely (due to the very limited feature set).
So when is IAP informatioin added to the receipts?
The new app version send the receipt to my server on the first start. There are three possible cases:
The app was never used before and this is the first installation of the app ever.
original_app_version == current version
Of course on the first start there are no IAPs, so nothing unusual in this
This an updated of an earlier version which was installed before
original_app_version < current version
The app / App Store hat plenty of time to include possible IAPs in the receipt
An earlier version of the app was used but than uninstalled. Now the current version has been re-installed
original_app_version < current version
Since has just been installed it might be possible that the IAPs are not included in the receipt yet?case.
So, only the 2. and 3. case interesting here. Why should previous non-consumable IAPs be stored in the 2. case since the app has been installed and running for a long time?
On the other hand it quite unlikely that thousands of previous users have now re-installed my app and thus resulted in case 3. Even if this really the case, is there anything the app can do to manually trigger the store to add previous IAPs to the receipts? Or does the user have to restore previous purchases first?
EDIT:
As far as I understand the Appel docs it does not really matter what information is stored in the receipt which can be found on the devices. When I upload this receipt to my server it acts like an token when being send to Apple for validation.
Apple than responds with the latest receipt information available (if the receipt/token was valid) in clear text.
Thus it shouldn't really matter how long the app was installed on the device or wether it was a new install or a re-install: Apple provides the latest information available. Thus if there ever was an IAP it should be included in the returned information. Right?
But this would mean that there are thousands of users which have been using a very, very, very limited trial version over years which seems very, very, very unlikely...
Is there any other explanation?
Closed. This question does not meet Stack Overflow guidelines. It is not currently accepting answers.
This question does not appear to be about programming within the scope defined in the help center.
Closed 6 years ago.
Improve this question
I'm developing iOS application for my customer. At final point he asked me to share "preview" of an app via link before he could pay me for it. How do I do that?
How do I show my iOS app to someone, is there any other way aside from uploading it to AppStore and therefore making it public and needing developer account (I don't have at the moment)?
If I upload an app to AppStore, is it possible for my customer to "steal" and save it (through installing to jailbroken device for example and copying app with file manager), I suppose this is how users of jailbroken devices download and install paid apps for free using torrents?
What is the common practice of doing this, I mean demonstrating app in development to customer? On my own device? Bringing laptop with Xcode installed and using customer's device?
1 - How do I show my iOS app to someone, is there any other way aside from uploading it to AppStore and therefore making it public and needing developer account (I don't have at the moment)?
The recommended method is to use testflight or Diawi if you can get an account from client?
If not, then you are limited to very few options, either arrange a physical meeting and demonstrate the app to the client, or make a video call and share the screen with the client while on call.
2 - If I upload an app to AppStore, is it possible for my customer to "steal" and save it (through installing to jailbroken device for example and copying app with file manager), I suppose this is how users of jailbroken devices download and install paid apps for free using torrents?
Though i didn't get what you are asking here, but let me make things clear on what i understand. Customer won't be able to steal the app, it will be downloaded from the AppStore using TestFlight. And what's he going to do with the app ? you have the source code, so i guess don't worry on this.
3 - What is the common practice of doing this, I mean demonstrating app in development to customer? On my own device? Bringing laptop with Xcode installed and using customer's device?
As already mentioned in point 1, you can not install the application to any non jailbroken device untill you have the Apple development account. Once you have it you can create the ipa file and distribute it using any distribution services, like Apple's own Testflight or Diawi.
Closed. This question does not meet Stack Overflow guidelines. It is not currently accepting answers.
This question does not appear to be about programming within the scope defined in the help center.
Closed 9 years ago.
Improve this question
I'm making a game on iOS, and I'd like to know if it's possible to make a "pre-order" on my app.
Example : I want to release my game on May. Is it possible to publish it on March but just for "pre-order" ?
It's a good way to see if the app is appealing or not.
The iOS app store has no such functionality. You can only make it available or not, there is no "pre-order" status.
No, it's like "demo", "beta" policy and so on. You cannot do this in AppStore.
No, that's not possible.
You can only release apps that are fully functional.
That's why you can't release beta apps.
This is not possible. If you want to "test the waters" and/or build "hype" best thing you can do is create a landing page website with a good app description/image and see how many people are willing to leave their emails on your entry form.
Then on launch day you email blast those people.
If the app doesn't work or look like a beta, you don't have to call it a beta in the description sent to Apple. If your app is complete and good enough for Apple to approve it after it's submitted, you still don't have to release it immediately. When in the approved but unreleased state, you might be able to use up to 50 iTunes redemption codes to allow further reviewing of your app.
Before you can update the unreleased app, you might have to release it for a couple hours at 3AM in only Monte Carlo or equivalent.
You can use a service like TestFlight to release a Beta to a limited number of people (I think you can release to a max of 1000 with TestFlight)
More information on TestFlight here - http://www.testflightapp.com/
Apple inc. has strict guidelines for App submission and it review.
You can have a look at this.
You requirement for pre-order app submission violates oint 2.9: Apps that are "beta", "demo", "trial", or "test" versions will be rejected.
This link will give you more insight on the process.
So you have to either cut-short the game of yours and submit it as full-functional app. Apple doesn't care how much level your game has. And in later on-releases you can add the levels and updates. But make sure you adhere with the guidelines and do not display the "demo/trial/etc".
This question already has answers here:
Closed 10 years ago.
Possible Duplicate:
iPhone app without AppStore
I work for a software company which creates bespoke applications for customers - currently just ASP.NET internal applications. Due to the growth of mobile, we've been considering creating mobile apps for our customers. These apps would be extremely specific to a customer so we would not want these in any app stores.
While with Android this is obviously relatively simple, but seeing as the distribution of iOS apps is restricted to the App Store (as far as I know!) we would be unable to create iOS apps. Am I missing anything - i.e. is there a way to distribute apps without using the App Store?
There are two schemes designed for this scenario.
First, there's Enterprise. This is (kind of) like delivering ad hoc builds. There are restrictions but it doesn't go through the App Store or a review processes.
More recently, there is also a special B2B channel. Your customers download from the App Store, but the app isn't public. Other than having to go through review, the other disadvantage is that the scheme is not available in all countries. This may not be a problem for you, of course.
A lot of clients I work for want the "publicity" of being in the app store but don't want everyone to have access. The way around this is to create an app that requires a login, with credentials that you control server side.
Consider building an HTML5 app. This way you can distribute it yourself (and the user can easily add it to their device as a link (which looks like an App icon).
I would like to put a free version of my ios app on appstore. This is a data driven app that remembers events on certain past dates. Can I limit the time of past event to ,lets say, 2 weeks? And if the client want to see the events added more than two weeks ago, he has to upgrade to full (for a fee) ? Is this possible, or will the app be rejected by the apple review process?
You'll probably be able to get away with this. You'll likely want to use an In-App Purchase mechanism to unlock archived events as opposed to having separate free and paid versions of the apps on the app store.