testing an in app purchase? - iphone

i developed a application with in app purchases..when user buys the subscription it gets stored on my server..after testing it few times i deleted the data from server to test it again but when i buy it the sandbox environment says u
you already purchased this.TAP OK to download it again for free
also i have used this test account on my previous application?? does it means i will have to create a new test account for this application?? also by mistake i used this account on apple store..i read somewhere that doing this will make your test account invalid...is it true?? should i create a new account for it??

For first question -
Since you are using the non-consumable model "you already purchased this.TAP OK to download it again for free" This is the valid behavior... StoreKit maintains the information whether you have purchased the app already or not. If you purchased already you can download data for free.
In your code, you need to check whether the data is present in the server, if it is present then don't download else download it.
InAppPurchase products are tied with the application... If there are two applications like HDversion and liteVersion... You need to create different ProductID's for inAppPurchase.

Related

Replacing several app into one in app store

My customer previously distributed commercial Apps A, B, C, D into app store sometime ago which several has bought installed. Now they changed their mind and decided to create one container App 'X' in which A,B,C and D are included and now as in-app purchase items. In future through this app they will add more apps like 'E','F' etc.
Assuming Apple approves this container app, i would like to understand how below scenario will work.
I can 'Remove' A,B,C and D 'from sale' so that it no longer shows in app store.
Per apple a non-consumable purchased item should be there to download any number of times under the account in which it was purchased
If i am an user who already purchased A,B,C and D and now also purchasing 'X', and if i delete A,B will it be available again to download even if it is not currently available in app store (due to my 'Remove from sale')?
Whether Re-releasing as container app is recommended or not, that is what customer is ordering us to do.
I would like to know how above scenario will work. Any idea?
If i am an user who already purchased A,B,C and D and now also purchasing 'X', and if i delete A,B will it be available again to download even if it is not currently available in app store (due to my 'Remove from sale')?
Ans : No it will not be available for further download.
For iCloud Stuff, iCloud manage only your account purchase info. Actual downloading is done from Apple Store only.
Your purchased content is automatically downloaded from the iTunes Store, App Store, or iBookstore based on iTunes in the Cloud availability by country.
Refer this iCloud: Restore your iOS device from iCloud
I dont recommend to release container app because user who had already purchased the app they again have to spent money to unlock the In-App which is not good. But if your customers are fine with that then your choice.
One Suggestion, Instead of re-releasing the container application you can assign URL Schema for each application so that user can go other application directly from one application if it fines with you.

Add In-app Purchase Item after app available on App store without updating app

I uploaded one of my app before couple of weeks and it is available on the App store now. It has 2 In- app purchase. In app purchase logic is totally from remote server as we wanted to add new pack without updating binary file so we did everything on server side.
So, here is my actual question. Now I want to add new pack. so here is my confusion/question.
I made on inventory.xml file for all the In app purchase id for validating in app id. and I am displaying only those Items which are valid from App store.
Also, when user purchase any pack I am downloading contents from the server and they will have new pack after successful purchase.
So, how do I make it available to Apple for submission purposes without also making it available to the general public? That is, if I add the new pack to the inventory.xml file which lists all the packs, everyone will be able to see it before Apple even approves it. But if I don't add the new pack to inventory.xml, then Apple will have nothing to look at in order to approve it.
Thanks in Advance.
When you submit new in-app purchases to Apple, you upload screenshots and descriptions of the new content to iTunes Connect. That should be all they need for review, and you can wait to update your inventory.xml file until they have approved the new content.
I found answer for this question from other sources. So I am posting it here what I have found and I believe that is the correct answer. This is my opinion it may be wrong..
So, in my situation I can add new item in my inventory.xml file as well as in iTunes account and put it new item for the review.
The reason why General public (users) will not see my new pack because I have only show valid products which I got from SKProductResponse. So in the review process it will not be valid product and it would not show in the list of available items to the users.
Now, We and Apple tester can see it because we both are using In-app test user account to test new items and I believe In-app test user account returns all the product as valid.
So, from this flow I decided to move forward with this and hopefully it should work.

How to redownload an in-App purchase application programmatically

I am able to implement in-App purchase successfully. I am also able to purchase a product through in - App purchase.I am storing purchase information in NSUserDefaluts.So if next time user tries to purchase same product again i am able to handle it locally.My problem is if a user deletes the application from the device,How do i handle the re-downloading of the application without charging for the same product again.I know that if an application has been deleted from the device having in App purchase it has to be downloaded again.Can anybody show a sample code for the same?
Thanks
Aditya
Hi
Thanks for a prompt reply.I have implemented the same as you have suggested.What i'm wondering is if i delete my app and install it again , i am asked to purchase it again.Do i have to pay again for the upgrade or is it handled from the apple server(i.e if i upgrade the same product again am i charged again?).Is there a way to know it was upgraded without asking to upgrade again?
The StoreKit api takes care of this and gives you, on request, a list of identifiers of the purchased items. Once you got those, it's up to you to re-download the products again(if not already bundled inside the app).
Excerpt from the StoreKit API help:
-(void)restoreCompletedTransactions
Asks the payment queue to restore previously completed purchases.
Your application calls this method to restore transactions that were previously finished so that you can process them again. For example, your application would use this to allow a user to unlock previously purchased content onto a new device.
When you create a new product to be sold in your store, you choose whether that product can be restored or not. See the In App Purchase Programming Guide for more information.
The payment queue will deliver a new transaction for each previously completed transaction that can be restored. Each transaction includes a copy of the original transaction.
////Comments pseudo code////
// Reinstall App:
// Restore already purchased transactions...
// Does the NSUserDefaults have the Purchase History??? -
// YES: Load the Table View of Items remaining for sale, Else -
// NO: Get the restoreCompletedTransactions list from Apple
// and create a container to hold previous transaction purchases.
// Fresh new App install:
// When a user makes the first IAP. Add it to the container and NSUserDefaults
// This container will be added to the NSUserDefaults when at least one purchase has been made.

Can you automate the new product registration in iTunes Connect (In App Purchase)?

I am considering using In App Purchase for our iPhone app. But since we will offer a larger quantity of content items (>10 video items each day added), I would like to automate the new product registration in iTunes Connect.
Is this possible ?
If not: how long does it typically take before Apple approves a new registred product in iTunes Connect ? Since the content looses quickly it's 'freshness' (news broadcasts...), it is crucial to be able to have new content available ASAP.
Would you recommend using In App Purchase for this scenario or would you recommend developing our own payment & account system ?
As far as I know, it is not possible to automate it, unless you develop your own script (in AppleScript, for example, to operate safari and I am not sure if it will work as expected.
A new app will be reviewed and approved typically in 7 days. In-app purchases will go live when the app is approved.
In-app purchases can operate in two ways:
you include the content inside the app
you put the content on your severs and include the mechanisms to make the magic work. When the user buy the app, Apple server will communicate with yours and vice-versa, and a signal must be sent to Apple servers, during the process, so they will know the content was delivered. You will have to read the docs, as this is too complex to explain here.
I automated the input of a large number of in-app purchases using the Firefox extension iMacros. The free version is absolutely sufficient for this.
You have to create a CSV file containing all the data, then record the workflow in iTunes Connect and press start!

Transferring ownership of an iPhone app on the app store

My team and I have an app which we're going to be submitting to the store pretty soon, but we know that we'll be selling the app to another company in the near future. Does anyone have any experience with moving an app's ownership to another account?
Specifically, when I sell an app to another company...
How do we move the app to their account (what's the mechanism)?
Can my users still get updates (released by the new owner) without having to re-buy/re-download the app?
Starting June 11, 2013 this has officially become possible.
Here's the official note:
Dear developer,
Apps can now be transferred from one developer to another within iTunes Connect, for example after an acquisition or when a distribution deal expires. Transferring the ownership of an app does not affect the app’s availability on the App Store. All ratings and reviews will be transferred and your customers will continue to have access to all available app updates.
To transfer an app, go to the app’s App Summary page in the Manage Your Applications module on iTunes Connect and click Transfer App. Make sure that:
• Your account is active
• You have accepted the most current version of your contracts
• Your app has at least one approved version
• Your app is in the Ready for Sale, Invalid Binary, Rejected, Developer Rejected, or Developer Removed from Sale state
• Any associated In-App Purchases are in the Ready to Submit, Ready for Sale, Rejected, Developer Removed from Sale, or Approved state
• You know the Apple ID of the recipient’s Team Agent and their Team ID.
For more information on app transfer, see the video tutorial on iTunes Connect. To find answers to common questions about app transfer, see the FAQ on iTunes Connect.
Regards,
The App Store team
UPDATE: THIS ANSWER IS OUT OF DATE. IT APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN CORRECT AT THE TIME IT WAS WRITTEN. THERE IS NO NEED TO DOWNVOTE IT, BUT DON'T BELIEVE IT EITHER!
Official answer is No. From the iTunes Connect FAQ:
I sold my app to another developer and can no longer distribute on the
App Store. Can I transfer the app to
the new developer's iTunes Connect
account?
At this time, apps cannot be
transferred to another developer
account. If you would like the app to
be sold through another developer
account, you will need to remove the
app from sale in the current iTunes
Connect account and upload the app
under the new iTunes Connect account.
Uploading the app to a new iTunes
Connect account will disable current
customers from receiving automatic and
free updates of your application. All
customer reviews, rating and ranking
information will also be reset.
Additional resources that confirm this, from FutureTap developer Ortwin Gentz, back when he purchased WhereTo? from Sophiestication Software:
transferring an iphone app last episode
carved in stone transferring an iphone app
Follow Up: After all: it is possible (as of late March 2010).
I haven't read all comments or other threads about this issue, so this might be obsolete, but it seems it's basically related to the iTunes-related structure of the appStore.
You can't be part of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones Bands...
Anyway, eventually, a colleague managed to get things sorted out, and we got our App (which was running under my private, single Dev account) running under a new, enterprise account. We kept our ratings, our #1 place in our category in the appstore, and all in all it went smooth (after several hours of phone-calls with apple).
As far as I can recall, the main problem was those help-desk folks were knowing things were going to change, but they didn't know by when and how. Probably due to iPad coming and related timelines involved). Anyway. It's possible, and it's pretty easy. Send your request, wait a couple of weeks (might be days by now), and you'll have the transfer. One issue though: They may have some bug in their migration code, because apple mixes firstname and lastname of the dev / master account after migration. well, who cares.
I had my own experience with this, and the answer I got from Apple Developer Relations (Although it took a month to get an email response and 6 weeks for the follow up phone call) was (in short) that they currently don't offer any way to transfer individual applications from one developer account to another.
He did so by saying that there was a single "Option" for doing this sort of transfer, which is to delete the app from the account that it is currently on, and then resubmit to the Apple store from the new account under the same name (but it would have a new appstore id). I pointed out (and he acknowledged) that this would delete any existing user reviews, ruin the upgrade path for existing users, break iAds, in-app purchases, and game center integration. So it really isn't a solution at all.
He also said that it isn't possible to transfer ownership of all your apps to another existing account (they seem to lack the granularity to move individual apps). However if I wanted to give up all my apps to another individual it could be possible by creating a corporation (probably S-Corp, although he didn't advise), transferring ownership of my account to the S-Corp (which would be allowed if I were a part owner), and then selling the s-corp to the new owner. (Yikes right?)
The method I plan to go with is the following (I'll update with my success), In my specific case I have a paid application that (.99) that I'm trying to transfer to another owner:
I will create a lightweight application using the same AppID that is designed to inform users that the Application has changed owners, and provide a link to the app store where they can download the new application. When launched will upload a hashed form of their UDID to a server (which I will now have to maintain) listing them as a previous customer.
I will upload this new lightweight app to my existing account as an upgrade to the other existing application (so that when users update, they will instead be marked as an existing customer, be presented with a message explaining the situation, and a link to the new app)
I will convert my paid app to being a light application that has some functionality, but requires an in-app purchase of .99 to get the full functionality. Additionally, this new app will check with my server to see if the UDID is in the existing customers database, and if so give them full functionality (without having to do the in-app purchase).
... ARGHH! :) It's an ugly experience for the customers and a whole hell of a lot of work for the developer... but the only option provided by Apple. (Although, I'm not sure that it will even work, as it's entirely possible that they will reject my lightweight "update" application from the store, and thereby prevent the hack upgrade path as well)
UPDATE: Too much work for the person that I was trying to give the application to. Ended up not proceeding with the plan. Think that it could probably still work, and would love to hear from anyone who tries it or pulls it off :)
iTunesConnect now allows App Transfers given certain app restrictions (no iCloud or Push Notifications apps are allowed currently. Local Notifications are ok, of course.)
See the iTunesConnect FAQ on App Transfers... https://itunesconnect.apple.com/WebObjects/iTunesConnect.woa/wo/10.0.0.9.1.0.9.1.5.10.1
You can only initiate or accept a transfer if your iTunesConnect login has the "Legal" role permissions.
AFTER THE TRANSFER:
The teamId and bundleID will not change at all. Nor will any of the in-app purchase Ids.
In my company's developer account, I now see an app with EXACTLY THE SAME TeamID.BundleID as I saw in the source code that was purchased from the other company (and that source code was delivered separately, not via Apple)...
ex. BundleID = com.<some-other-company>.<purchased-app-name>
This bundleId is now listed among my other apps listed in iTunesConnect's Provisioning Profiles. I simply created new Development and Distribution/AdHoc provisioning profiles for my newly purchased app. Then I downloaded the new provisioning profiles into Xcode, just like for any of your own apps.
Quite painless. Thank you Apple.
What Lou Franco said.
Where To example is really good to consider, as they eventually had to settle for the fact that all existing customers need to buy the app again. Apple simply does not have the background infrastructure to change ownership.
Another bad consequence of the inherited made-for-music-sale-machine that iTunes originally was. Songs apparently don't change owners.
See here, for Where to resolution: transferring an iphone app last episode
Since now, this is now possible using iTunesConnect.
Apps can now be transferred from one developer to another within
iTunes Connect, for example after an acquisition or when a
distribution deal expires. Transferring the ownership of an app does
not affect the app’s availability on the App Store. All ratings and
reviews will be transferred and your customers will continue to have
access to all available app updates. To transfer an app, go to the
app’s App Summary page in the Manage Your Applications module on
iTunes Connect and click Transfer App. Make sure that:
Your account is active
You have accepted the most current version of your contracts
Your app has at least one approved version
Your app is in the Ready for Sale, Invalid Binary, Rejected, Developer Rejected, or Developer Removed from Sale state Any
associated
In-App Purchases are in the Ready to Submit, Ready for Sale, Rejected, Developer Removed from Sale, or Approved state
You know the Apple ID of the recipient’s Team Agent and their Team ID.
From what I understand, this can be done, but it requires manual intervention by the iTunes Store team, can take months to go through, and may involve some periods when your app is not on sale under either account. If you know who your customer is going to be, just put it under their account to begin with. If not, remember for the future that flipping apps is not an easy thing to do, and adjust your business model accordingly.
It is possible since June, 2013. You can transfer an app to another developer very easy - here is an official FAQ from Apple (available for registered developers).
Besides the already mentioned things I recognized, that certain issues may arise which are nowhere mentioned in the AppStore Guidelines or the documentation.
I found out several issues with apps having subscriptions (which are as of Jan 2015 not transferrable). After trying to transfer an app I found out via the FAQ in the iTC Developer Support Center aka Help Section the following things (Link to FAQ section)...
You cannot transfer apps that contain or use:
iCloud entitlements in any version of the app
Passbook entitlements in any version of the app
A SKU that matches the SKU of one of the recipient's apps, including previously-removed SKUs
In-App Purchase product IDs that match the In-App Purchase product ID of one of the recipient's apps, including previously-removed In-App Purchases
Approved auto-renewable, non-renewing, or free subscription In-App Purchases, including previously-removed In-App Purchase subscriptions Sandboxed Mac apps that share the Application Group Container Directory with other Mac apps also cannot be transferred.
To transfer any of these types of apps, the recipient must create the app as a new app. Current customers, ratings, and reviews cannot be transferred to the new app.
Also the usual requirements are:
To transfer an app, make sure that:
The transferor and the recipient have active developer accounts and accepted the most current version of all master agreements that are currently in effect
The app has at least one approved version
The app is in the Ready for Sale, Invalid Binary, Rejected, Developer Rejected, or Developer Removed from Sale state
Any associated In-App Purchases are in the Ready to Submit, Ready for Sale, Rejected, Developer Removed from Sale, or Approved state
You know the Apple ID of the recipient’s Team Agent and their Team ID If the app uses iAd, the transferor and the recipient must have accepted the most current version of all iAd contracts.
Hope that helps avoid mishaps before you try to transfer an app.
As ownership transfer is currently not-supported and an "exception process", it makes sense not to count on it as your mode of operation.
The big problem you're facing is: the app is tied to a developer account and you want to keep YOUR developer account after you transfer the app.
Hence, why not set up a NEW developer account, the sole purpose of which is to be the holder of this one app and, when you sell the app, you can just transfer the developer-account credentials to the new owner.
At that point, they can update the name, address, company name, bank info, etc.
Of course, your transfer contract will have some verbiage explaining how, in the interim, any moneys you get from Apple will be fwded to the new owner (put a time limit -- like 90 days -- on this so they don't take forever to update the info.)
I've not tried this, but it seems like a viable solution. Again, the problem is that the app is tied to developer account and you don't want to transfer yours. Hence, this Just Makes Sense™.
Recent update from iTunes Connect:
I sold my app to another developer and can no longer distribute it on the App Store. Can I transfer the app to the new developer's iTunes
Connect account?
No, you can’t transfer the app to another developer account on iTunes
Connect. To add the app to another account, remove the app from the
current account and upload it to the new iTunes Connect account.
Note that uploading the app to a new iTunes Connect account will
disable current customers from receiving automatic and free updates of
your application. All customer reviews, rating, and ranking
information will be reset. You will not be able to reuse the app name
and SKU in the old account. If you have uploaded a binary or used the
app with the iAd Network, your Bundle ID will not be reusable either.
Guess I'm late to the party but Apple just added a button to iTunes Connect to do just this. Sign into your iTunes Connect account, go to 'Manage Apps' and click on the app you want to transfer. In the section on the top right, there's a button to transfer your app now.
Cheers!
As far as I know there is no way to transfer apps to a different user/company. I think the app should be in your customers account from the beginning. Otherwise you probably have payment problems too (people paying you instead of your customer).
Why not just sell the app to a customer before releasing it. If they want to see it running before it is released, just sent them a version built with an ad-hoc certificate.
The are additional considerations:
If you just can switch ownership of the Application behind the scenes, thus changing the contract, but not the application itself, you might be fine.
But if you're just going to transfer your source code, the future owner of the app will have to sign it with his own certificate, which will basically render the app as a "new" one.
Users will lose their settings (if your app did some configuration persistence) and they'll lose the app history in the appstore (ranking, etc.).
As per a new announcement from Apple today (just after iOS 7 release) this has become possible .
It says "Apps can now be transferred from one developer to another within iTunes Connect, for example after an acquisition or when a distribution deal expires. Transferring the ownership of an app does not affect the app’s availability on the App Store. All ratings and reviews will be transferred and your customers will continue to have access to all available app updates."
Something helpful:
Apple site documentation with new itunesconnect UI released in Sep,5,2014
Transfer code using github
Note: Use agent role account, and maybe you should click "Agreements, Tax, and Banking" to request Contracts first.
I don't believe that you can transfer ownership to another account. But a simple solution would be to add URL schemes to your app to allow data to be transferred from your app to a new app that your customer would release with the same source.
The new app would have to be free though (maybe the lite version?), so your old customers wouldn't be forced into buying it again. The only real downside I can see of this is that the new app would basically be starting over again from a marketing perspective, which is no minor thing of course!
Mobile Orchard had an article on data migration from Lite to Paid versions of an application that may be of interest:
Lite-to-paid iPhone application data migrations with custom URL handlers