I have an app that I plan to introduce soon, but I still have a couple of questions even after reading everything I could find. Maybe I'm just missing the obvious. The App requires a service subscription, because of the server monitoring and analysis required in the background.
I'd like the original App purchase to include a one year subscription to the service and then allow the user to renew (preferably I'd like to use the auto-renew option) towards the end of that period.
Can I just note the in the iTunes Store App description that the purchase includes a one year subscription, then prompt with a renewal notice after that period?
I've seen some comments about offering the App for free with limited usability, then doing an In-App Purchase, but I'd like to avoid having customers downloading the app, going through the initialization steps, but then not subscribing.
Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Can I just note the in the iTunes Store App description that the purchase includes a one year subscription, then prompt with a renewal notice after that period?
Yes.
Related
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.
Can I use In-App Purchase to rent a song from a my webserver, play it once, then ask the user to pay for playing it again. My doubt comes from the developer guidelines, where it is stated in section 11.9 that:
Apps containing "rental" content or services that expire after a limited time will be rejected.
How long is a "limited time"?
The in-app purchase type SUBSCRIPTION this can be the solutions.
Subscriptions are one-time services that must be purchased again once the subscription period expires.
like
1. One-month subscriptions
2. Location service subscriptions
Find more for the same over here
This will be help full to you.
Limited time means any definite amount of time.
If you say You can rent this song for 1000 years, the limited time is 1000 years.
Your app is likely to be rejected if you include this mechanism.
I think using consumable product in the in-app will do the trick.
basically you can... according to all of the comments above i will give you a better idea that will not be rejected.
make your in app purchase as a auto-renwable purchase and provide a lot of movies to your subscribers.
I have a question regarding in-app payments for iPhone apps. I thought the only difference between auto-renewing subscriptions and non-renewing subscriptions was obviously the self-renewing thing.
But as I read through the documentation it seems that there are other important differences. This is how I understood it:
Auto-renewing:
user can disable auto-renewing (so it might behave like a non-renewing subscription)
is restored after a device reset
is automatically transfered between different devices on the same iTunes account
can only be bought once (as long as the subscription is still valid)
Non-renewing:
the developer must handle license restoring after device resets
user can buy the subscription more than once at a time
Is this correct?
I seems like auto-renewing subscriptions are way better for my app, even though I don't need the subscription to necessarily renew automatically.
But, as an additional question, when I added a new product in iTunes Connect, I had only the choice between "Consumable", "Non-consumable" and "non-renewing subscription" - but no auto-renewing subscription?!
Best regards
I think you get the differences globally.
Some corrections however:
is restored after a device reset
is automatically transfered between different devices on the same iTunes account
Not really, it's up to you, in your application, (usually in the dedicated "store" part of your application) to propose a restore subscription so that the user will be able to get back his subscription on this iOS device (this may be needed if he resets the device as you said, but also if he deletes the application and reinstall it).
The restore action (triggered in your code via StoreKit) will automatically prompt the user for his iTunes password, so this cannot be done automatically without user acknowledge.
user can disable auto-renewing (so it might behave like a non-renewing subscription)
yes this can be achieved from the settings in the iPhone, in the "store" part, and then display for apple ID properties: the user will get a view with all his on going subscription + a switch to disable the auto renewing.
when I added a new product in iTunes Connect, I had only the choice between "Consumable", "Non-consumable" and "non-renewing subscription" - but no auto-renewing subscription?!
I also had this at the beginning, the reason for that is that you didn't acknowledge a part of the contract (Amendments) that is specifically related to autorenewable subscription. As far as I can remember, go to the Contracts, Tax, Banking part of itunesConnect and you should have something to agree on, then you'll be able to create auto-renewable in app purchase.
a subscription is not synced with iTunes instead it is saved on a apple server somewhere. It is stored in your account (indeed thats not correct, it can be synced but I mean it's not only stored on the device). "Consumable" are such things like ammo in a shooter game. You can buy them more than one time and but this would mean that "Non-consumable" and "non-renewing subscription" are nearly the same.
Did you read the customer help also additionally to the developer documentation?
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4009
I have an iPhone/iPad application that offers a monthly subscription to a service. Although, this service is totally useless during 2 months in the whole year.
Is there any way to either suspend all my users subscription for 2 months, or give them a 2 months refund every year so they don't pay for a useless service ?
After a good talk with an Apple employee, it is not possible to suspend an auto-renewable product.
Also, 0$ subscriptions do not exist outside NewsStand apps for the moment.
In order to solve our problem, we will have to delete the in-app product in iTunes Connect. This will automatically cancel all active subscriptions we have so the users will not be charged for nothing.
A big downside to this solution is that we will lose all current subscribers, so next year we have to build up a new subscriber bank from scratch.
Maybe you can give two months for free to your users instead of refund them.
Have you found any better alternative, since posting your answer about canceling all subscribers every year?
In addition to 1-year subscriptions, apple lets you do other terms as well, including 1-month subscriptions, for both renewable and non-renewable subscriptions.
Maybe you could make your in-app UI look as if the user is signing up for a long-term subscription, but behind the scenes, your app only sends a 1-month non-renewable subscription request to apple. Then, each month, your app automatically requests another 1-month subscription, and another... just skip the months you want to skip.
The user fills out the subscription form in your UI 1 time. Your app logic remembers how many times to start a new 1-month subscription.
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.