![Initiate StoreKit
func application(_ application: UIApplication,
didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions:
[UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
PurchaseController.shared.setup()
return true
}](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/tacow-subscriptions-markpavlidis-190516160652/85/App-Store-Subscriptions-Condensed-Edition-18-320.jpg)
![Initiate StoreKit
class PurchaseController: NSObject {
func setup() {
// Register Observer
SKPaymentQueue.default().add(self)
}
func paymentQueue(_ queue: SKPaymentQueue, updatedTransactions
transactions: [SKPaymentTransaction]) {
//Handle transaction states here.
}
}](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/tacow-subscriptions-markpavlidis-190516160652/85/App-Store-Subscriptions-Condensed-Edition-19-320.jpg)
![Fetch Products
func setup() {
// Register Observer
SKPaymentQueue.default().add(self)
// Register for product refresh
refreshObserver =
NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(forName:
UIApplication.didBecomeActiveNotification, object: nil,
queue: .main) { [weak self] note in
self?.fetchProducts()
}
}](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/tacow-subscriptions-markpavlidis-190516160652/85/App-Store-Subscriptions-Condensed-Edition-20-320.jpg)
App Store Subscriptions - Condensed Edition
- 1. App Store Subscriptions Condensed Edition Mark Pavlidis mark@pavlidis.ca mark@groksoftware.net @mhp TACOW Presentation 2019-05-14
- 2. Agenda Why: Choose a Subscription Business Model? Who: Am I To Know? What: You need to know to get started? How: Do you avoid some pain points? Where: Are we having beers?
- 3. Why Choose Subscriptions? Fastest growing business model on the App Store Over a 80% of all apps are free, up from 67% in 2014 Generated $10B in revenue in 2017, estimated $75B in 2022 App Store Revenue (%) 0 20 40 60 80 100 2010 2012 2015 2018 Paid Free+IAP Free+Subscrption
- 6. Why Choose Subscriptions? PAID SUBSCRIPTION Periodic impulse in revenue Slow build to the sum of the impulses every 3-4 months recurring Launch Apple Design Award App Store Feature
- 7. Why Choose Subscriptions? Recurring Revenue Higher price points and fewer customers Build meaningful relationships with good customers Dont hold back big features for new major versions Apple said so Everybody is doing it
- 8. Why Choose Subscriptions? Are subscriptions right for me? O鍖ering ongoing value Is the model right for the potential customers Do you have ongoing infrastructure costs Popular Categories: Content, Utilities, Dating, Productivity, Creative
- 9. Who Am I To Know? First implemented Non-Renewing Subscriptions in 2011
- 11. Who Am I To Know? First implemented Non-Renewable Subscriptions in 2011 Auto-renewing plans for Flixel hosting service in 2014 Included the app unlock in 2015 before it was legal Worked around a number of limitations that have since been added to the App Store (i.e., price changes) Lucky for you there are still lots of limitations and workarounds
- 12. What Are The Basics Create your Auto-renewing plans in App Store Connect Initiate StoreKit at launch and fetch products Show localized plans in-app with the conspicuous disclaimer ALWAYS END YOUR TRANSACTIONS Provide a mechanism to restore subscription and non- consumable IAPs
- 16. Subscription Groups Made up of subscriptions of di鍖erent levels and durations Helps ensure multiple subscriptions are not active Rank the subscriptions in descending order by most access Ranking de鍖nes rules for upgrade, crossgrade, downgrade
- 18. Initiate StoreKit func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool { PurchaseController.shared.setup() return true }
- 19. Initiate StoreKit class PurchaseController: NSObject { func setup() { // Register Observer SKPaymentQueue.default().add(self) } func paymentQueue(_ queue: SKPaymentQueue, updatedTransactions transactions: [SKPaymentTransaction]) { //Handle transaction states here. } }
- 20. Fetch Products func setup() { // Register Observer SKPaymentQueue.default().add(self) // Register for product refresh refreshObserver = NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(forName: UIApplication.didBecomeActiveNotification, object: nil, queue: .main) { [weak self] note in self?.fetchProducts() } }
- 21. Fetch Products func fetchProducts() { guard productsRequest == nil else { return } // productsRequest = SKProductsRequest(productIdentifiers: productIdentifiers) productsRequest?.delegate = self productsRequest?.start() } } extension PurchaseController: SKProductsRequestDelegate { func productsRequest(_ request: SKProductsRequest, didReceive response: SKProductsResponse) { products = response.products } }
- 22. Localized Pricing open class SKProduct : NSObject { @available(iOS 3.0, *) open var localizedDescription: String { get } @available(iOS 3.0, *) open var localizedTitle: String { get } @available(iOS 3.0, *) open var price: NSDecimalNumber { get } @available(iOS 3.0, *) open var priceLocale: Locale { get }
- 23. Localized Pricing extension SKProduct { /// - returns: The cost of the product formatted in the local currency. var regularPrice: String? { let formatter = NumberFormatter() formatter.numberStyle = .currency formatter.locale = self.priceLocale return formatter.string(from: self.price) } }
- 26. Start Purchase func purchase(_ product: SKProduct) { let payment = SKPayment(product: product) SKPaymentQueue.default().add(payment) }
- 27. Purchase Completes Once the transaction state changes to .purchased you can store the subscription transaction to unlock What about if a renewal occurs? What if the user deletes the app? What if you have more than one app or a web service? Can use the receipt instead of restoring the transactions
- 28. Complete Transactions Once veri鍖ed on-device or sent the receipt to your server call SKPaymentQueue.default().finishTransaction(_:) If you dont StoreKit will keep posting the transaction Apple is more likely to refund the transaction if you dont
- 29. let receiptURL = Bundle.main.appStoreReceiptURL Receipt is in PKCS Cryptographic Container & ASN.1 encoded Need to build a static OpenSSL, asn1c, etc to verify it Bundle Apple Root CA Certi鍖cate Not provided by Apple on purpose no single point of failure On-Device Receipt Validation
- 30. Server Side Receipt Validation If you can, have your server manage receipt veri鍖cation Send the BASE64 binary encoded receipt data and store it Server sends it to Apple server that responds with JSON payload of the receipt and a latest version of receipt data JSON includes additional information about subscription state
- 31. Server Side Receipt Validation If you have multiple apps/platforms you must use this method App Transport Security is required Di鍖erent endpoints for Production and Sandbox environments https://buy.itunes.apple.com/verifyReceipt https://sandbox.itunes.apple.com/verifyReceipt Dont call from the device Status code to indicate if you should use the other environment
- 32. Additional Receipt Fields auto_renew_status indicates if the customer has cancelled auto_renew_product_id renewal product could be di鍖erent price_consent_status when you change the price is_in_billing_retry_period indicate past due to user expiration_intent is voluntary, billing, price increase, etc. original_transaction_id your primary key to the subscription
- 34. Managing Server-to-Server Your server can receive push subscription status updates General App Information > Subscription Status URL Only one endpoint, so you have to forward sandbox requests Di鍖erent data structure containing partial change data Delivery is not guaranteed Poll all receipts daily to ensure auto-renewal and cancelations are synchronized
- 35. Ways to Increase Conversions Promoted In-App Purchases Auto-renewing Subscription O鍖ers Introductory O鍖ers NEW: Promotional O鍖ers Handling Past Due user experience
- 36. Promoted IAPs Can promote up to 20 IAPs Give customers browsing the App Store a one-tap buy button Needs unique images Shows up in search results (n.b., ASO marketers) Another reason you need to initialize StoreKit at launch
- 37. Promoted IAPs func paymentQueue(_ queue: SKPaymentQueue, shouldAddStorePayment payment: SKPayment, for product: SKProduct) -> Bool Always return false now or risk rejection Hold on to the SKPayment Display Product, PRICE, and Conspicuous Disclaimer Have the user sign-in/up if necessary Then add the payment to the payment queue
- 39. Subscription Offers Introductory O鍖ers Free Trial, Pay as you go, Pay up front Unique by (Territory, Plan) Displayed on Promoted IAP on the App Store SKProduct.introductoryPrice
- 41. Subscription Offers Promotional O鍖ers Up to 10 o鍖ers per plan to existing or churned subscribers You decide which are shown Not displayed on the App Store avoid IAP pollution Requires a server to determine eligibility & generate signature SKProduct.discounts
- 42. Past Due User Experience On-device or before last year you dont know user is past due Apple used to cancel after 24 hours, now it is 60 days Up to you how to limit access Clearly inform the user that they are past due Show a button that opens https://apps.apple.com/account/billing
- 43. How Do You Avoid Some Pain Cancelled is not what you think it means Converting a Paid app to Free+Subscription New App Auto-Renewing Subscription Propagation Have I mentioned the Conspicuous Disclaimer?
- 44. What Cancelled Means Another reason to poll nightly is that a transaction in the receipt can change cancellation_date_ms, cancellation_reason Means refunded and you should remove access immediately
- 45. REALLY 錚?
- 46. How To Know If Churned On-device: if the latest transaction in the receipt end date is in the past now Server-side : check pending_renewal_info for expiration_intent
- 47. Converting Paid to Subscription
- 48. Converting Paid to Subscription Sandbox Prod iOS Prod macOS
- 49. REALLY 錚?
- 50. New App with Subscriptions Turns out that auto-renewing subscriptions arent added to the production environment until the app is live Most of the time this propagates to all stores quickly But
- 51. New App with Subscriptions Activation of the In-App Purchase identi鍖ers may lag up to 48 hours following the activation of the application
- 52. REALLY 錚?
- 54. Summary Why: Choose a Subscription Business Model? Who: Am I To Know? What: You need to know to get started? How: Do you avoid some pain points?
- 55. Available for consulting after WWDC
- 56. References Auto-renewable Subscriptions In-App Purchase and Subscriptions Implementing Introductory O鍖ers in Your App Implementing Subscription O鍖ers IAP Propagation Critical Bug Tech Note
- 57. App Store Subscriptions Condensed Edition Mark Pavlidis mark@pavlidis.ca mark@groksoftware.net @mhp TACOW Presentation 2019-05-14