Common subscription for Android and iOS App

Question

We are developing a Point of Sale app available on iOS and Android platforms.

Our business model is such that, each user will have to pay us a customised cost based upon the number of his business outlets on half yearly or quarterly basis. Once the user will pay us that cost than he could use our apps on any number of devices, on any platform.

I want to know if it's compulsory to process subscription charge for iOS App through Apple In App Purchases. Or we can process subscription offline and show user a alter message to renew subscription directly from our portal if a user's subscription expires.

Herpes

Why is this tagged Android? The question itself has nothing to do with Android, only iOS – West

You can arrange payment through your web site, but your app cannot include any link to that web site or provide any mechanism for the user to pay for the subscription in the app that isn't IAP – Incense

@LunarWatcher I was not sure, If google too has a strict IAP policy or not. – Herpes

Answer 1

You can accept payment through your website for the membership, but then you'll have to make sure you don't offer this as a way to pay for the subscription inside your app.

Apple's rule basically states that if you have a digital product in your app (in your case, your subscription), the only way to pay for it should be via Apple's in-app purchases. If instead of using in-app purchases, you redirect the user to pay using any other method, your app risks getting rejected.

Frimaire

Answer 2

This is what my team found in developer Apple guidelines regarding similar situation:

3.1.3(b) Multiplatform Services: Apps that operate across multiple platforms may allow users to access content, subscriptions, or features they have acquired elsewhere, including consumable items in multi-platform games, provided those items are also available as in-app purchases within the app. You must not directly or indirectly target iOS users to use a purchasing method other than in-app purchase, and your general communications about other purchasing methods must not discourage use of in-app purchase.

So it is like confirmation of @siddharth-gupta statement.

Note: this Apple statement for April 2019 -> and can always change. To avoid potential rejection/ban Always verify it with current official Apple Documentation

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