Is there some new subscription mechanism requirement on iOS? So far we handled the subscriptions without involving Apple, but this (https://developer.apple.com/appstore/in-app-purchase/subscriptions.html) is saying something different:
If you offer auto-renewable subscriptions, you can also use other
methods to acquire digital subscribers outside of your app. You can
sell digital subscriptions on your website or provide free access to
content for existing subscribers. In these cases there is no revenue
sharing since Apple was not involved in the transactions. Developers
keep 100% of the revenue. If you would like to make a subscription
offer outside of the app, the same (or better) subscription price must
be offered inside the app for users who wish to subscribe from within
the app. In addition, you may not provide links in your apps which
allow the customer to purchase content or subscriptions outside of the
app.
I understand the In-app purchase is mandatory for one-time payments, but so far we were not forced to offer subscriptions over In-app purchase mechanism...
BR
STeN
My historical understanding as well as my understanding of that specific text is that, yes, they require you to offer the IAP subscription inside your app since you're offering it outside as well. I think you've just gotten lucky so far that they haven't noticed.
Related
I am having the below concern when implementing auto-renewable subscription - in-app purchase inside my app.
I am finding the difficult scenario on offering the poems under auto renewable subscription.I have referred this url.By reading this i am got confused that whether i can offer poems via Autorenewable subscription or not?
Please let me know.
Whether Apple lets you do auto-renewing subscriptions or makes you do non-renewing subscriptions is less about your content and more about how it is delivered. I assume you have already read the information in the iTunes Connect Developer Guide. You should also watch the WWDC Video from 2012 about Supporting Subscriptions (it is 308) and it will give examples about when to use what kind of subscription.
I have recently done an app with subscriptions and we were initially rejected for auto-renewing and told to use non-renewing subscriptions. As best I can understand, you will use auto-renewing if you are creating original content on a set, regular basis and have built your app so that there are logical units (like a monthly newsletter or magazine). In my case, the user was subscribing to a series of blog entries that are updated every few days. However, the entries are presented in a single table view listing sorted by date and not separated into any kind of daily or weekly units.
Again I cannot tell from your question how the poems will be presented, but my suggestion would be to review the above documentation and if you are not 100% sure that you clearly fit into one of the auto-renewing subscription categories, submit your app with non-renewing subscriptions.
I have a question about payments through an app. Are there any type of payments you can do without apple applying their 30% cut?
from my understanding, apple's stand is if your application generates any new revenue, that apple is entitled to 30% of the revenue since they are providing the service and hardware that gets you that new revenue.
we are a subscription based service (we sign customers up outside of the app either though our website or in person). we use the app to access our data in a mobile form.
we recently began offering a new service where we need to charge them per usage (its outside of the subscription fee). this is a service for existing customers and the app has not attracted a new revenue source. all services available in the app are available through our website or in person.
we sell a service and access to our database, no physical goods. the new service will be available through the application, but not used in the application.
we would process the payment on our own servers (do not use services like paypal). they can always make a payment through our website or in person. we would either store their credit card information on our servers or prompt them to enter it.
it is a matter of convenience for our customers to do a payment through the app.
will apple insist on taking their cut do you believe?
EDIT:
how do credit card companies handle payments in their apps? are they paying apple 30% per payment you make to your card? or are they an exception to the rules? does apple believe that allowing big credit card companies to accept payments w/out taking a cut help apple in the long run as an attraction?
If users pay to unlock digital content within your app then you must use In-App purchases, for which Apple will take their 30% cut.
If however the unlocked services are for 'real world' goods or they are not accessible within the app then you must use another payment method with no cut taken.
Overview of In-App Purchase
Ask yourself if you need to include the payment side of things in the app. While Apple has gotten a bad rap for taking a cut from services, a lot of that depends on what type of service you are offering. Netflix isn't giving up 30%. The big reason for this is they don't allow you to collect payments through the app. If you venture down the road of trying to skirt around Apple's in-app payment, you are likely to get burned. There are ways around it for sure, but eventually they can catch on and require you to implement IAP for signups.
There is nothing wrong with requiring users to handle the business end of things on your website. This will avoid any ruffled feathers with Apple.
I think you should use the same mechanism what Groupon is using. They collect the information from Mobile app and feed the data to there payment server and they are good to go i think.
In an app that is free, but has in-app subscription purchases I would like to allow a user with a paid subscription to receive x number of free months on top of the paid subscription if he refers someone that purchases a subscription.
For this to work it would have to be possible to track some sort of unique token through the Apple App Store in order to reliably assign credits.
To "Refer a friend" the app would allow the user to send an email to one or more people. This email would contain a link to the app store that also contains a unique key that I would generate to track the lead.
Is this possible?
Our app just got rejected yesterday regarding this kind of functionality.
We had an application which includes yearly subscriptions to access premium features. We also had a way for users to refer 5 friends to get a free access for life to our services. Apple rejected the app stating that this was against their rules for IAP.
Specifically, they referred us to the section 11.1 of the guideline which states :
Apps that unlock or enable additional features or functionality with mechanisms other than the App Store will be rejected
Unfortunately, apple doesn't offer that functionality. One option is to offer 2 different subscriptions - paid and free.
Hide the free subscription portal until they refer someone - then allow them to see the free subscription option.
A couple problems:
The user will have to manually cancel auto-renew on their current paid subscription and then manually sign up for the free subscription.
I don't think you will be able to disable auto-renew on the free subscription option, so it would probably end up being permanent.
You could skip the free subscription official IAP and just make your own time-limited "back door" letting the customer continue downloading subscription content without verifying their App Store receipt. This would still have problem (1) above with the customer needing to manually cancel their auto-renew and then repurchase the subscription when their free time runs out.
My gut tells me this is going to be REALLY hard to pull off in a satisfactory way.
It would be much easier to reward one-time exclusive content for referrals. E.g. Give X for the first, Y after 5 referrals, Z after 10 referrals, etc. This is actually an easier value proposition to present to the users too; make a nice icon or something with an "Invite Friends to Unlock!" call to action.
I want to submit a free app with In-App purchase in the Appstore which can be available in all geographies and not restricting to any particular geography.
However,I do not have financial account for all geographies,say, i just have a account in US .So, as i am making the app freely available for all geographies but do not have financial accounts for all geographies,how can a user outside US buy any enhancement through In-App purchase? Does Apple restrict such transactions any way? Or, does Apple reject such applications?
Supposedly,If this app gets approved by apple and goes to app store and any user outside US downloads this app and tries to buy any enhancement using In-App purchase, how will the financial transaction happen?
I may be way off here but doesnt apple handle all the payment transactions themselves? I thought they processed everything, took their 30% cut then gave the developers their share. If that is case, they probably handle the international transactions and give you your share the same way they would any local transaction. It wouldnt make sense for you to have to have accounts all over the world in order to sell an international app.
Also, I dont believe this would have any effect on weather the app is approved or not. Apple wants as many people doing in-app purchases as possible so they can make as much money as possible.
We have developed an application that allows a user to download audio content. The use of application itself is free, but we charge for the content. In our current business model, we accept payments using premium-rated SMS (which increases the in-app user's balance), however, Apple rejects the app since they do not allow this model for their applications.
Is there any other way (except In App Purchase API) we can accept the payments with?
Apple will only accept in-app purchases for this type of business model. Even then, you still have to submit each and every "in-app update" for approval at least a week prior.
Like Liam said, they want their piece of the pie too and they also don't want people slipping something past them (for instance, highly offensive content, pornography, etc.)
Per Apple:
You can create In App Purchases on both Free and Paid applications. Every product you want to offer in your store must first be registered with the App Store through iTunes Connect. When you register a product, you provide a name, description, and pricing for your product, as well as other metadata used by the App Store and your application.
There's no other way with this type of business model. More info here around page 116
Another option would be offering the same service via an ordinary website and then offer the app to allow users accessing their existing accounts. Take dropbox as an example - they offer paid memberships which you purchase on their website. The dropbox app itself is free but lets you access your dropbox account, for which you paid elsewhere.
In your case maybe you could offer "credits" for purchase (payable by premium-rated SMS) on your services website which the user could then spend by accessing his account from within the app.
This is less "direct" (requires the user to visit your website to pay for the content he will download later) and I wouldn't even bet on apple's approval (if the website appears to be merely a place for buying credits without further functionality, they'll propably reject the app too for circumventing in-app purchase), but then again, there are (propably) no alternatives. However, I'd talk with apple about this option before implementing it, to avoid wasting time and money. After all, in-app purchase is the way apple wants people to go if they want to spontaneously purchase content using only their device, so they'll defend it.
The easiest was to look at this is to work out why they refused the application, which is because it is not in their interest. You are selling a product to their customer and they are not getting any commission. In order for them to accept the app I would imagine that you will need to provide an in app purchase mechanism, but you could do this in addition to the Premium SMS as long as the app doesn't send the message