We are building a solution with a cloud Backend and an iPad application connecting to that Backend, strangely Apple rejected the application because the payement had to be done from the web and they are suggesting using In App-Purchase, my question here is :
Can the admin (the manager in our case) purchase multiple subscriptions to each of its employees to be used in separate devices from within the application, and is that OK with Apple IAP guidelines.
(We investigated the guidelines but we think a similar situation is not listed).
Thank you for your time.
In App Purchases are active on the account, not the device. This means that if someone purchases a subscription with a particular Apple ID any other device that is using that Apple ID can (must) access that subscription as well. So if all the devices in your scenario use the same Apple ID then the manager purchases it once and then the other devices can use the 'restore' function to load the subscription onto those devices as well.
If each device has a different Apple ID associated with it then the subscription will be charged to each individual person's Apple ID.
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.
As we all know that once we purchased apple subscription plan from a device with Apple id the same will be resume on other device if have login with that same Apple id.
But here we need that every time the user will login on different device with the same Apple id or different Apple Id, we want's the to user purchase the subscription plan. e.g., If user has purchased 2 Subscriptions then he will be able to use app on two different devices So for that we created multiple subscription products.
Can someone help how we can create multiple products for same functionality So that Apple can approve it.
That would go against Apple's guidelines for allowing users to restore their in app purchases on any new or existing devices.
https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/NetworkingInternet/Conceptual/StoreKitGuide/Chapters/Restoring.html
Users restore transactions to maintain access to content they’ve
already purchased. For example, when they upgrade to a new phone, they
don’t lose all of the items they purchased on the old phone.
I am implementing In-App Purchase in my app and test around the existing apps to get some ideas. But I found a scenario which I am quite confused on it.
I have installed an iOS app and purchased the particular levels. Later I uninstall this app, sign out from existing iTunes store account and sign in again with another apple id, then reinstall that app again (same app). Here i can again i need to purchase the particular levels.But my doubt is In-App purchase method we can use based on the purchase Apple ID or Device token ?
If the user can purchased with Apple ID ,then the user can login with another device they no need to purchased again but one user can purchase app and user can login to another users Devices is the one problem..!why because another users no need to purchase.
And if we set the Device token, based on the in-app purchase user can only login that device only ,they can't login another devices with same Apple ID,here it is a problem.
I am quite confused on it... so is the purchased items tied on device if we use multiple apple ids on same device?
I understand that I can restore my purchased items on different devices using same apple id. But how about multiple apple id on multiple devices? If I have 2 apple id associated on an device, I use one of them purchased item, but later I use these 2 apple id login to another device, am I still need to pay again to download items I have purchased on previous device?
Please let me know if my questions are not clear... I hope someone can give some idea on sharing purchased items against different devices and apple ids.And which one use the in-app purchase.
Any suggestions and comments are welcome. Thanks a lot.
IAPs fall into two categories - consumable, and non-consumable.
Non-consumable purchases (purchase level 10-15 of a game, upgrade to pro, etc) are synced across devices by the system, and are restored by the system. They are tied to the Apple ID.
Consumable purchases (purchase 5 gold coins) are NOT synced or restored. Your application needs to remember that the purchase has been made, and store information about that so that a backup and restore correctly restores the user's state. If the user uninstalls and then reinstalls, they have lost any previous consumable purchases (but they will retain all non-consumable purchases, and your application can query for these). You can, of course, sync all information about consumable purchases to your own server, but you would then need to have the user create an account with you. This would allow you to sync consumables between devices.
The Device ID (which you can't get, anyway) has no relevance.
See https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/NetworkingInternet/Conceptual/StoreKitGuide/Chapters/Products.html for more discussion.
If the IAPs are non-consumables (or autorenewables) they can be 'restored' by the user (i.e. the app would execute a restoreCompletedTransactions or refreshReceipt). I believe that the username/password log-in required to restoreCompletedTransactions (or refreshReceipt) must be the same username/password as the person who downloaded the app onto the device. Given that requirement, I still believe that a single 'purchaser' can share their single purchase of a non-consumable IAP on many devices.
I intend my app to gain access to my server after the in-app purchase is complete. This access requires real work, and data & traffic ($$).
A typical client might own anywhere up to a couple of hundred devices (and I assume on one account, for their simplicity).
Thus I only get the one payment across many, many devices interacting with the server.
I'm not trying to be stingy - but can I prevent multiple devices sharing the same purchase (in my case server access)?
Or do I implement another method for selling access?
You'll have to implement another method. Apple's guide explicitly states that:
Users can restore products that they previously purchased—for example, to bring content they’ve already paid for onto their new phone.
If the same iTunes account is associated with more than one device then Apple requires any purchases to be available on all those devices.
#Tommy is correct - regarding non-consumable IAPs. However, you could implement a non-recurring subscription in-app purchase instead and give each device a unique identifier. When the user attempts to access the server, you could see if that identifier is in your database (if the user has purchased the IAP), and determine whether or not they need to purchase a subscription. Even though you may not want a subscription-based service, you could probably make a membership for a very long period of time like 10 years (it's not required to be selected in iTunes Connect) and handle it that way. Only issue is that you need to figure out a way to give each device a unique ID that won't change.
Further to the #Tommy answer, in the February 3, 2014 version of Apple's Getting Started with In-App Purchase on iOS and OS X it says:
There are a handful of important guidelines to keep in mind as you design your application:
- You must make your In-App Purchase items available to all of the devices registered to a user
and
Users view the items they purchase as theirs to keep and permanent. Therefore be sure
purchased items are available in all instances of your app running on all the devices the user
owns, even after your app is deleted from a device, reinstalled, or downloaded to a new device.
and
For Non-Renewing Subscriptions, [blah, blah, blah]..
Additionally, your application must include a mechanism to deliver the purchased Non-
Renewing Subscription In App Purchase to all iOS devices owned by a single user.
Looks like there is no way to restrict items to a single device :(
I wish to implement IAP within my iOS app, offering a push notification service for a period of time. This seems to fit under the category of non-renewing subscriptions. One requirement from Apple is
You are required to deliver non-renewing subscriptions to all devices
owned by the user. Non-renewing subscriptions are not automatically
synchronized to all devices by Store Kit; you must implement this
infrastructure yourself. For example, most subscriptions are provided
by an external server; your server would need to implement a mechanism
to identify users and associate subscription purchases with the user
who purchased them.
However, I don't want this subscription to be shared across all user's devices (as there is extra cost for pushing notification on additional devices). Does my app's requirement violate the Apple's requirement above? Has anyone experienced any issues similar to what I will do?
Any subscription MUST be restorable to any device that is associated with the user's Apple ID. The subscription is to the Apple ID, not the device. You will be rejected unless you comply completely to this rule.
There's nothing you can do; Apple is very strict on this provision.