CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidxamaringoogle-playin-app-purchase
maplemale
maplemale

Reputation: 2036

Android in-app Product Price Storage / Display

I have an app with dozens of Products for purchase. I am locally storing (SQLite) a list of ProductIDs which match live ProductIDs on google play, and allowing the user to purchase them from a list. I am using this plugin in Xamarin: https://github.com/jamesmontemagno/InAppBillingPlugin

What is a typical (any really) approach / model for ensuring I correctly inform the user of the cost before any interaction assuming that the prices may change?

I could store the prices locally in the database with the products, but that seems highly misleading to the user if these prices change later. I can (and will) of course release new versions of the app and can ensure I sync up the DB prices. But, I can see prices changing much more frequently and not necessarily coinciding with app releases at all. Also, I see the problem of old versions and I don't want to force a user to update their version if they don't want to.

I could always retrieve them from the store and/or refresh them every time the app loads but that has its own drawbacks and potential annoyances for the user, not to mention seems unnecessary if they aren't planning to purchase anything during that app session and/or are using the app offline (will be a common occurrence given the type of app)

Upvotes: 1

Views: 67

Answers (1)

Nick Fortescue
Nick Fortescue

Reputation: 13842

A common model is refresh them from the store, but do this in a best effort fashion in the background. If this succeeds, great.

If this fails, do it again just before displaying the list. The user will have to be online anyway to purchase.

For an even better user experience, in the event of failure warn the user prices may be out of date and have a UX affordance to refresh them.

Upvotes: 1

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