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In App Purchase - iOS

In App Purchase - iOS Setup

In App Purchase (or IAP) allows developers to charge users for specific functionality or content while using an app. Implementing IAPs is particularly compelling for several reasons:

  1. It's an extra way to earn money, in addition to simply selling the app for a fee upfront. Some users are willing to spend a lot more on extra content or features.

  2. An app can be offered for free, which makes it a no-brainer download for most people. Free apps will typically get many more downloads than paid apps. If users enjoy the app, then they can purchase more content or functionality later.

  3. You can display advertisements to the user in a free app with an option to remove them by purchasing an IAP.

  4. Following the initial release of an app, new paid content can be added to the same app instead of having to develop a brand new app to earn more money.


Checking Your Agreements

Before you can add IAPs to an app in iTunes Connect, you must do two things:

If you have not done this, usually iTunes Connect will give you a warning like the following:

If you see something like the above, follow the steps to accept the appropriate agreements.


It's also good to double check the Agreements, Tax, and Banking section in iTunes Connect:

If you see a section entitled Request Contracts containing a row for Paid Applications, then click the Request button. Fill out all the necessary information and submit it. It may take some time for your request to be approved. Sit tight!

Otherwise, if you see Paid Applications listed under Contracts In Effect, then it looks like you've already done this step! Nice job!

⚠️

Apple can take days to approve these IAP-related agreements after you submit them. During this time, you won't be able to display IAP products in your apps even if you implement everything correctly in code. This is a common source of frustration for folks implementing In-App Purchases for the first time. Hang in there!


Creating In App Purchase Products

When offering IAPs, you must first add an entry for each individual purchase within App Store Connect. If you've ever listed an app for sale in the store, it's a similar process and includes things like choosing a pricing tier for the purchase. When the user makes a purchase, the App Store handles the complex process of charging the user and replies with data about such operations.

There are a whole bunch of different types of IAP you can add:

  • Consumable: These can be bought more than once and can be used up. These are a good fit for extra lives, in-game currency, temporary power-ups, and the like.

  • Non-Consumable: Something that you buy once and expect to have permanently, such as extra levels and unlockable content.

You can only offer In-App Purchases for digital items and not for physical goods or services. For more information about all of this, check out Apple's full documentation on Creating In-App Purchase Products (opens in a new tab).


Open In App Purchases

While viewing your app's entry in App Store Connect, click In App Purchases. To add a new IAP product, click the + icon to the right of In-App Purchases.


Choose a type and fill in the details

Select Consumable or Non-Consumable depending on your requirement, then fill out the details for the IAP.

  • Reference Name: a nickname identifying the IAP within iTunes Connect. This name does not appear anywhere in the app.

  • Product ID: a unique string identifying the IAP. It's best to start with the Bundle ID and then append a unique name specific to this purchasable item. For example, for the bundle com.w2niapdemo.com, you could create the product ID com.w2niapdemo.com.iapdemoproduct.


Set the price

On the next screen, scroll to the price schedule section and select the appropriate tier.


Add a localization and save

Scroll down to the Localizations section. If there's a default entry for English (U.S.) already in place, then click Save.


Confirm the product

Click Save at the top of the screen. You've created your first IAP product.

App Store Connect may flag missing metadata for your IAP. Before you submit your app for review, you are required to add a screenshot of the IAP at the bottom of this page. The screenshot is used only for Apple's review and does not appear in your App Store listing.

Now you are ready to integrate IAP in your app. Click here to learn how to integrate it into your website.

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