CODEWITHSUNDEEP
iosin-app-purchasesubscription
DOOManiac
DOOManiac

Reputation: 6284

In-app auto-renewing subscriptions: Change term/length?

I've got auto-renewing subscriptions working in my app, and I have three terms users can pick from:

After they're purchased one subscription, which is set to auto-renew, is there a way to set a different tier for their auto-renew choice the next time their sub expires? For example, they're on a 1 year subscription right now, but they want to go monthly after it expires.

I know this can be done in Settings -> Store -> Apple ID -> Subscriptions, but that's kind of a pain to get to. And we can't even send them directly to the settings since Apple removed those preference URLs in 5.1.

So is there an API to do this?

Thanks.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 3061

Answers (1)

Andrew
Andrew

Reputation: 8563

If I understand your question the answer is yes. You can offer a new duration to a user before the auto-renewal of their next term. If they buy that new term, it will go into affect and be charged at the end of the current term. If they don't then they'll remain on their existing plan (or the subscription will end if they've turned off Auto in Settings).

ARS = Auto Renewing Subscriptions
NRS = Non Renewing Subscriptions

Side Note: If you haven't already submitted and you're not a magazine or newspaper your app may be rejected for using ARS. They may insist you use NRS. This isn't well-documented by Apple but it happened to me and to Marco Arment of Instapaper among others.

As a developer you can't control whether a user's ARS will auto renew or stop at the end of a term. Only the user can do that through the Settings app. The developer also can't see whether the user has turned off auto or not (you just have to wait and see if it renews). And as a developer you can't manually switch a user to a different plan. But you can offer them different durations for purchase that will go into affect at the end of their current term.

Yes, directing a user to the Settings app is frustrating and it's the only way for them to manage their ARS. The only thing you can do in the app is offer new time-intervals for purchase.

Manually-renewing subscriptions give you more power, as a developer.

Upvotes: 2

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