Well, I am working on app, which is a basically free app to download, but the user has to sign-up through the app through an auto-renewable subscription.
Also every time when the user tries to log-in, my app will check for the subscription.
When the user tries to sign-up with the same user and but on another iOS device (with the different iTunes account), he/she has to buy the subscription again, as the device has the different iTunes account.
Along with that, if the user has bought the subscription from an Android device, he/she has to buy it again for the same username, if he/she wants to use it on an iOS devive and vice versa.
Now I am wondering whether this subscription model will be approved by Apple or not.
Or should I just change the subscription model to non-renewable subscription.
Thanks in advance.
-Shoan
Do you really want the user to pay for his subscription multiple times? Probably not...
You should manage the account on your server. If the user buys from the store when logged in, update your server data to reflect his extended membership. And it's your server that decides whether the subscription is still valid or not.
It really shouldn't matter which iTunes account or device he uses to buy/extend his membership.
Related
I'm working on an iOS app where a user must sign up/sign in to an account for my app. To be able to use my services I want users to pay via in-app purchases (auto-renewing in my case). This would then tie their IAP to their account (they created with us) to be able to use on any other iOS device.
Case 1:
For example if a subscription was bought on phone A for an account, when signing on to phone B (using the same account) shouldn't make the user pay again.
Case 2:
Or if a subscription was bought for account A on a phone, when signing up for account B on the same phone should make the user pay for account B.
Basically I want an in-app purchase to tie to my account (rather than a apple device/Apple account which is how it works to my understanding.)
I understand that their are receipts which is probably part of the answer to my question. Or if this a limitation to in app purchases what other ways can this be done (other than using Apple's IAP)
The answer to the title of the question:
When a purchase is made there is an update received in the app, the next time it is launched which contains a transaction_id (original_transaction_id for renewals), you should associate this transaction id with your app user id.
Case 1: Apple provides an option to "Restore Purchases" in your app. Since, the same account is used, your app servers would already know that a user has already paid and the app shouldn't prompt the user to pay again. However, in order to receive the upcoming renewal updates on phone B, you must "Restore Purchases" which would let Apple link the previous purchase on this device as well. Once the restore is done, the users purchase receipt will be available on the device and all subsequent actions should be taken based on the content validation of the receipt.
Few points here:
Apple will reject your app, if it doesn't provide this option to the user.
Even if your app is buggy, and you failed to restore purchases, user wouldn't be charged again. The purchase would fail saying you already have purchased this.
The above case is completely based on the assumption that the user is using the same Apple Id on both the devices(same application user id doesn't matter).
Case 2: I am not sure if that is anyhow possible. Since it's the same device, the user uses the same AppleId(unless he signs out and changes apple id in App Store) and Apple will restrict the repurchase. At best you may restrict the account B with the subscription content but if your application allows multiple accounts on the same device use case(e.g Instagram), I am not sure if there's a provision for the same.
I tested the same scenario for a music service app I use. Have an active subscription, logged out and signed up with other email (app), but the purchase was denied alerting I have already purchased. However, it was allowing me upgrade and downgrade options. I didn't opt for testing them so not to mess up my account.
P.S: There are a lot of other caveats/gotchas to take care of. Some of them:
In case 2, apple restricts the repurchase but it doesn't restrict if the user chooses an option other than the current active subscription, which will upgrade/ downgrade the subscription. Based on how you have implemented things, it might even change the subscription for user A immediately or next time the user logs back in or on next renewal thereafter.
In both the cases discussed here, user uses the same Apple Id, but consider the cases - same Apple Id different app id AND different Apple Id and same app Id. (See this)
For case 2, you should always refresh receipts or restore purchases(if there's no receipt available) for a fresh user login. The receipt has a original transaction id which you should have linked the first time the purchase was made with user A. Based on the receipt, you can either choose to let user B access the content or restrict. However, you cannot let the user pay for the new account(I suppose so).
Helpful Links:
Restoring Purchases
Receipt Validation
We want to use auto-renewable subscriptions in our app (iOS/Android). But I don't understand what is the best way to sync these subscriptions between devices and platforms.
We are using user email for authentification but it seems that all subscriptions are linked to user's Apple account.
Does it mean that I can't sell subscription to some user if another user (from the same device) already bought one on this device because this device is already subscribed?
What is the best way to sync subscriptions between platforms? Should I write some server code to check subscription status for the current user? But, again, right now I don't have any information about user except his/her email. Of course, it is possible for me to put subscription status on our server but what to do with this case:
user A bought auto-renewable subscription on iPhone from the app;
user A cancelled this subscription via subscription management (app doesn't know anything about it yet)
user A logged-in on Android device, and he is subscribed because I don't have any information about him/her cancelling his subscription yet.
I understand that I am able to check his/her subscription status from my server, but his/her in this case means I am able to check his/her Apple account status, not his/her account in my app. So, for example, if I have two/three/million users on the same Apple device (first is a paying user, and the second cancelled his subscription) it means that I will always get the good receipt from Apple, right?
It's possible that my understanding of how it works is not very good, or, maybe, I can't see the good working pattern here, but I don't understand how to create convenient subscriptions that would work for iOS/Android both.
At the same time I know it's possible because of Wunderlist and dozen other apps with this functionality. Could someone please describe high-level logic behind that?
If your app offers auto-renewable subscriptions, you can receive server notifications from the App Store about key events by setting up an optional URL that links to your server.
https://help.apple.com/itunes-connect/developer/#/dev0067a330b
In my app I have items to show just for users that are pays for subscription. User can log to app by e-mail and password and can logout and on same device can log different user.
My problem is that Apple Id in phone is still same. So when different user logged in he could restore purchase even that he didn't pay anything.
So my question is how can I fix it? How can I connect Apple account to my custom account? Or at least somehow when trying to restore IAP check that this Apple account already have this subscription but different user was logged in. How other apps do this? Thanks
Edit:
I want to use Auto-renewing subscription in my app and I just don't know how to connect it to my custom account system.
When a user makes an IAP, you will not know the Apple Id used to make the purchase. What you will know, however, is the transaction id for the purchase. What you will want to do store the transaction id of the original purchase with your custom account.
When a user restores, you will determine if the SKPaymentTransaction's originalTransaction's transactionIdentifier matches the custom account. If not, then you can assume this is a different user. You can read more about that here:
https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/NetworkingInternet/Conceptual/StoreKitGuide/Chapters/Restoring.html
Note that the receipt contains a field called the original transaction id. This is what you would use for subscriptions to track the original transaction id. This is because each time you auto renew, a new transaction id will be generated for the auto renew. The receipt will actually contain all the purchases.
On your server, you would want to save the original transaction id and potentially the receipt. Essentially the more metadata your store around this, the better off you will be if you have to do any form of double checking transactions.
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
I am implementing a digital magazine project for a client. Auto-renewable subscriptions for a period of 3/6/12 months have been included as a feature. My question is while using in-app purchase, is there any way for the server to map the user?? Anyway to identify a particular user is using it? I have done extensive research and know that apple doesn't allow the user's apple-id to be mapped?? Is there any other way to identify a particular user?
The problem arises for subscription. If an user has undertaken a subscription for let's say 3 months, then my app has to show DOWNLOAD button for all the 3 months instead of the regular BUY button. But when a new magazine is launched on to the storefront, how would the app know that this person is subscribed or not and convert the BUY to DOWNLOAD?
When a user buys a subscription, you should store the receipt on your server. This receipt, in a way, becomes your way to identify the user's account. Whenever you want to check the status of an account, send that receipt to iTunes for verification and it'll respond with the latest receipt for that subscription, along with the expiration date. Since you've made a note of which specific device that receipt came from, you can provide the proper UI to that user.
Now, if the user installs your app on a new device they can tap a Restore button that you've provided in your app. That button will call restoreCompletedTransactions which will send all the Auto-Renewing receipts for that user's Apple ID to the device.