Auto-Renewable Subscription (Apple)
BUSINESS
Auto-renewable subscriptions provide access to content, services, or premium features in your app on an ongoing basis. They automatically renew at the end of their duration until the user chooses to cancel. Subscriptions are available on iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS.
Great subscription apps justify the recurring payment by providing ongoing value and continually innovating the app experience. If you’re considering implementing the subscription model, plan to regularly update your app with feature enhancements or expanded content.
Many types of apps can take advantage of subscriptions, including apps that offer new game levels, episodic content, software as a service, or cloud support. Other appropriate subscriptions include apps that offer consistent, substantive updates, or access to libraries or collections of content. You can offer subscriptions (a type of in-app purchase) alongside other in-app purchase types.
Get business guidance for auto-renewable subscriptions.
Billing Grace Period (Apple)
BUSINESS
Billing Grace Period lets subscribers whose auto-renewal failed due to a payment issue continue accessing your app’s paid content for a period of time while Apple continues to attempt to collect payment. There won’t be any interruption to the subscriber’s days of paid service or to your revenue if Apple is able to recover the subscription within the grace period. Without enabling Billing Grace Period, the subscriber’s days of paid service are paused until Apple is able to collect payment.
The duration of the grace period can be configured in App Store Connect, and the options are based on your subscription’s standard duration. You can also access Billing Grace Period settings with the App Store Connect API.
Consumable In-App Purchase (Apple)
BUSINESS
Consumable in‑app purchases that are single use and can be purchased again.
Use them to provide different types of consumables, such as lives or gems used to further progress in a game, boosts in a dating app to increase profile visibility, or digital tips for creators within a social media app. They’re frequently offered in apps and games that use the freemium business model.
Family Sharing (Apple)
BUSINESS
Apps that offer auto-renewable subscriptions and nonconsumable in-app purchases can enable Family Sharing, which will allow users to share their purchase with up to five additional family members. You can choose which of your in-app purchases to allow Family Sharing for in App Store Connect.
Whether or not a user’s purchases are automatically shared with their family members depends on the type of in-app purchase, the user’s sharing preferences, and if the purchase was made before or after Family Sharing was turned on in App Store Connect. Users have the option of turning off Family Sharing in their subscription settings at any time.
| Auto-renewable subscriptions | Non-consumable in-app purchases |
|---|
New Users | Family Sharing is enabled by default depending on the preference set by the purchaser in Manage Subscriptions. | Family Sharing is enabled by default if the following conditions are met:
- user has purchase sharing enabled.
- the user's family members are sharing payment.
- the app is not hidden from the user's purchase history. |
Existing Users | Users must opt-in to Family Sharing from within their manage subscriptions page. | You can unlock access to the in-app purchase using receipt validation or App Store server notifications if the following conditions are met:
- user has purchase sharing enabled.
- the user's family members are sharing payment.
- the app is not hidden from the user's purchase history. |
Introductory Offer (Apple)
BUSINESS
You can set up introductory offers for your apps that contain auto-renewable subscriptions in App Store Connect. An introductory offer is a limited-time discounted price or free trial for the initial period of a subscription.
When you set up an introductory offer, it automatically appears on your app’s product page on the App Store for eligible users. You can also display introductory offers within your app. When displaying offers in your app, use receipt validation to ensure that you’re only showing offers to people who can redeem them. Learn about implementing introductory offers.
There are three types of introductory offers: free trial, pay up front, and pay as you go. You can choose the length of the introductory offer based on the standard subscription duration.
Non-Consumable In-App Purchase (Apple)
BUSINESS
Non-Consumable are In-App Purchases that are purchased once and don't expire.
Provide non-consumable or premium features. Examples include additional filters in a photo app, extra brushes in an illustration app, or cosmetic items in a game. Non-consumable in-app purchases can offer Family Sharing.
Non-Renewing Subscription (Apple)
BUSINESS
A subscription which users can purchase to access a services or content for a limited duration, such as a season pass to in-game content. This type of subscription doesn't renew automatically, so users need to purchase a new subscription once it concludes if they wish to retain access.
Offer Codes (Apple)
BUSINESS
Offer codes provide a free or discounted price for auto-renewable subscriptions for a specific duration. You can create codes for a maximum of 150,000 redemptions per app, per quarter.
There are two types of offer codes:
- One-time-use codes: Unique, one-time-use codes generated in App Store Connect and redeemable through a redemption URL, within your app on iOS 14.2 and iPadOS 14.2, or later (if your app supports the presentCodeRedemptionSheet method), or by entering the code in the App Store code redemption flow. These codes are useful for small-scale distribution or when code access needs to be restricted. They expire after a maximum of six months from the date they’re created.
- Custom codes: Uniquely named custom codes — for example, SPRINGPROMO — each of which can be redeemed through a redemption URL or within your app on iOS 14.1 or iPadOS 14 or later (if your app supports the presentCodeRedemptionSheet method). You can set a maximum redemption limit and choose whether or not to set an expiration date. Custom codes are ideal for large campaigns that require mass distribution.
Customer eligibility is determined by you in App Store Connect and can include new, active, and expired users. Consider your offer’s eligibility requirements before creating and distributing offer codes.
Learn about offer types and which one to choose.
Get business guidance for auto-renewable subscriptions.
Promotional Offer (Apple)
BUSINESS
Apps with auto-renewable subscriptions can provide a discounted price for a specific duration for existing and previously subscribed customers on iOS, macOS, and tvOS. You can use these offers to help win back subscribers who canceled their subscriptions or promote an upgrade to a higher-ranked subscription at a special price. Customers can accept the offer even if they've already accepted an introductory offer.
To get started, generate keys for in-app purchases, create a promotional offer on your app's in-app purchasepage for each product, and choose a duration and offer type (pay as you go, pay up front, free). You can have up to 10 active offers per subscription.
Once you've created offers in App Store Connect, use Xcode 10.2 or later to implement the StoreKit APIs to allow these offers to be accepted by customers running iOS 12.2, macOS 10.14.4, and tvOS 12.2, or later.
Get business guidance for auto-renewable subscriptions.
Learn how to set up promotional offers with the App Store Connect API.
StoreKit (Apple)
TECHNOLOGY
Use StoreKit to support in-app purchases for a safe, secure purchase experience. The StoreKit framework and in-app purchase APIs handle purchases end to end, including retrieving product information, processing payments, and delivering the product.
Learn more about StoreKit
StoreKit Configuration File (Apple)
TECHNOLOGY
The file that holds the In-App Purchases and Subscriptions for an iOS, MacOS, TVOS or WatchOS app.
