I'm trying to write an app that has two auto-renewable subscriptions: one regular, one premium. Suppose a user has the regular subscription, is there a way to convert it to a premium subscription and have it be auto-renewable?
Your response is very much appreciated. Thanks!
Because Apple manages much of an Auto-Renewable subscription once it has begun, you have limited control over it. You can always have a user buy a new subscription to your premium account, but I don't think you can force a user to stop auto-renewing on the regular account without removing it from iTunes Connect (or asking them to manually cancel it themselves).
Related
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.
I am planning to use subscription (auto renew) type of in-app purchase. My idea is to allow one subscription per device. (i.e.) if someone purchase the subscription on iPhone, he shouldn't be able to use same subscription on iPad. Instead I want to force user to new subscription for other device. But from in-app purchase what i understood is that, if user subscribe for a particular item, if he tries to purchase the same thing again, app store allows to user to restore already purchased item.
As per my current setup, all the downloads will happen from a separate server and I am going to keep all the receipts and content in that server. In order to implement this particular thing, what should I do in my application? Could someone help me on this?
Also if I want to limit download of data from server using in-app purchase for only 3 device? Beyond 3 I want user to make payment via in-app purchase again? How will I do this?
Thanks
Apple's In-App Purchase Guidelines state that you must support restoring subscriptions to all of a user's devices (see page 7).
Also consider if your content is episodic (such as a TV show or magazine) because that's a requirement for using auto-renewing subscriptions. For things like time-limited access to a certain feature, like voice guidance in a navigation app, you'd need to use non-renewing subscriptions.
i have a news reader app. i want to add IAP to my app.
i added Consumable Purchase. when the user purchases i write expire date to nsuserdefaults.
when it expires i show purchase screen again.
but apple rejected it,
it says:
However, based on product functionality, it would be more appropriate to use the 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.
...
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:
....
first i tried to use Auto-Renewable Subscription, but my app doesn't have any content to be downloaded.
then i tried to implement Non-Renewing subscription. but people say that it is deprecated.
i want to allow users who buyed app to use it on other devices too.
but i can't get AppleId (Apple doesn't allow it either).
I'm really stucked.
how can i add monthly subscription to my app?
can anyone give me some advice...
I've been through almost the exact same thing. Here's what you do:
First off, although Apple's documentation seems to suggest that Non-Renewing Subscriptions are deprecated, they are not. In fact, that's what Apple steered me towards when they rejected my app for using Auto-Renewing subscriptions.
In terms of syncing across multiple devices: I tried using a unique identifier that I stored on the user's iCloud account to identify a user (like what #Yorxxx suggested), but Apple rejected the app again, saying that the guidelines state that I need to provide an optional username/password system to allow a user to restore their subscription onto all their devices.
A few notes about Non-Renewing Subscriptions:
You set and track your own durations and expiration dates.
You essentially have to administer the service from your own server, since you'll need to sync a user's subscription across all their devices.
There is no prompt asking the user if they want to send the developer their contact information.
restoreCompletedTransactions is useless with Non-Renewing Subscriptions.
If I were you I would store the persons username on iCloud if they give you one. That way, when they install your app on a new device, you can prompt them that they already have an account and if they log in, their existing subscription will by synced to that device.
The app we are creating delivers information which updates on a daily basis, how to provide a free taster is unclear to me. Can you help?
Info on Non-Renewing Subscription from p149 of the iTC developer Guide, p151 states Inn-App purchase cannot be free.
https://itunesconnect.apple.com/docs/iTunesConnect_DeveloperGuide.pdf
■ Non-Renewing Subscriptions have been used in the past for services with a limited duration. An example of this would be a magazine or newspaper that requires users to renew their own subscriptions. Non-renewing subscriptions can still be offered, but auto-renewable subscriptions are now preferred for the following reasons:
When creating an auto-renewable subscription, you can easily set up the various durations that you want to offer. Non-renewing subscriptions do not have this feature, so you must provide the information some other way. As this is often done in the display name, you end up with a separate listing for every possible duration. By contrast, auto-renewable subscriptions allow you to have a single listing where the user simply chooses one of the durations that you offer.
Because a non-renewing subscription requires a user to renew each time, your app must contain code that recognizes when the subscription is due to expire. It must also prompt the user to purchase a new subscription. An auto-renewable subscription eliminates these steps.
As part of iOS, an auto-renewable subscription will automatically be delivered to all devices associated with the user’s Apple ID. To make device-syncing available for a non-renewing subscription, you would have to create your own delivery system.
You could sell your app for free on the store. Then offer a non-renewing subscription, but only show the option to the user after a month has passed (or whatever period you choose). You should administer the subscription from your own server so that you can verify receipts, and keep track of expiration dates even if a user deletes your app and re-installs it. Using your server will also give you a way to sync the subscription across all the devices a user owns (which is required by Apple. They essentially insist that you implement an optional username/password system to allow a user to restore their subscription to other devices).
Warning: Don't use the words 'trial' or 'demo' in your app or description. This is against Apple's policies. Also, don't make your app dead if the user chooses not to buy a subscription after a month. This will also likely get you rejected. You should continue to provide some functionality.
Distribute a free lite version with function limit, or try in app purchase.
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.