How to create a promotion code for iOS in-app purchases

Question

As of about May 2014 this year, searching Google for "ios in app purchase promotion code", yields lots of news sites reporting the same thing - Apple seem to be working on allowing promotion codes for testing in-app purchases as evidenced by a screenshot from EA games.

My question is; does anybody know how to do this yet? I logged into the new iTunesConnect interface but can't find any link and nothing appears in the Apple docs from what I can find.

Ideally I'm looking to create a code for a monthly subscription but they may only be allowed for consumables. With the lack of actual info on IAP promo codes my guess is that the feature hasn't been officially made available yet and that EA games were invited by Apple to test it out.

Vitascope

I am almost certain this was done using iTunes Connect but ever since the interface was revamped the feature is no longer visible. – Absentee

Oh gosh... Apple gave me a headache with this same issue. They definitely didn't allow it as of January of this year and clearly had "no in-app purchase promo codes" stated in the review guidelines; and though everything I'm seeing online about in-app purchase promo codes post-May seems specific to EA, the review guideline no longer mention in-app promo codes: developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines So perhaps it's worth giving it a try. – Schexnayder

Actually, I take that back -- I think this line in the docs is the "rule" Apple uses to reject IAP promo codes and I think it's still the same: "Apps utilizing a system other than the In-App Purchase API (IAP) to purchase content, functionality, or services in an App will be rejected" – Schexnayder

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because It is not about programming. – Hargreaves

Answer 1

As @Christoph Wimberge notes this is old news. Apple is now supporting this.

You cannot officially get promo codes for IAP currently. See here https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/ios/documentation/LanguagesUtilities/Conceptual/iTunesConnect_Guide/Chapters/ProvidingPromoCodes.html . If you're testing then you should be creating Sandbox Testers under Users and Roles. Depending on how you handled the IAP this could well serve as a promo code of sorts. So, for instance, if you're using the IAP to set a flag in NSUserDefaults or a plist file then this will work as a promo code. You will have to instruct the user to log in as the test user for the purposes of the purchase. Even if you delete the test user once the flag is set the user can use the IAP so long as they don't completely remove the app and assuming you don't change the way IAPs are handled like using App Store digital receipts to confirm purchases. Of course, if you're worried about crackers then you're probably not going to store successful IAP as a flag especially in User Defaults where anyone can just change the value willy nilly. But for apps that aren't games this probably isn't a huge worry. Hope that helps.

Bolton

Apple announced promo-codes for in-app purchases yesterday, here is the press release: developer.apple.com/news/?id=10282016a. You can generate up to 100 codes per item, up to a maximum of 1000 codes per app. – Whortleberry

Answer 2

We were told by Apple today that they never allow users to type in codes, use Q-codes, or other gateway key to access anything. Instead, she said we should use a members-only webpage (i.e., login required) to accept redemption codes and associate the content through our backend. When the user returns to the app, the content would be available.

Soembawa

John I see what you're getting at, but if the user goes to a webpage to redeem a code, what ties that code to their device? In other words, I don't understand what approach would support "when the user returns to the app the content would be available" - I suppose if you have a login on the app, that would do it. But in our case, we don't. – Tamarin

So, does this mean a URL scheme based method of redeeming a promo code ought to be acceptable by Apple? e.g., something like that described here. – Stylet

Answer 3

If Apple enabled codes for IAP, you could offer sales of the codes from another platform, which would then unlock the IAP. Apple would be doing all of the work, but reaping none of the rewards. In addition, all of a sudden, you've created a knock off market for promotional codes, like g2a.com does for Steam keys.

While Apple might have the functionality, it seems exclusive to EA for now.

Currently, you'll need to figure out how to support promotional items outside of the app store.

Consumedly

Wouldn't the same be true of promo codes for full, paid apps? – Nietzsche

@JamesWhite, you are limited to 100 promo codes for each app. Is that what you really want? 100 promo codes per IAP? – Consumedly

How do they not reap the benefits? If Promo codes get users to try the premium features and presumably pay for them later then more money is spent on app products of which apple gets 30%. By not doing this and forcing developers to create their own systems they are really losing money. – Soup

With a max of 100 (or so) promo codes this is not a problem. – Tuddor