Maybe this has been discussed before, but I couldn't find a thread so here we go:
I have seen that it is common practice to have a free and a paid version where the free version has a smaller feature set and upsells to the paid version.
However, Apple seem to frown on "demo" apps and crippled free apps. Also, I have read that you can't pressure or nag the customer into purchasing.
So, it appears there is a fine line between a free promotional app and a demo in the eyes of Apple.
If I may ask, has anyone had experience with the above? How much can you reduce the feature set and how blatant can the ads for the paid App be within the free app?
For my Movie Clock app I have a paid version and a "lite" free version with in app purchase. The only difference is that the paid version allows you to set unlimted movie alert reminders while the lite version only allows you to set 1 with the ability to upgrade to set unlimited (for the same price as the full version)
Initially apple rejected this idea and it was only have speaking with them in the resolution center that I was able to convince them to allow both versions to exist. So not sure if that story helps you, but you may need to "fight" for the reduced feature set app version!
I believe apple are no longer keen on the lite and paid model as separate apps, due to congesting the app store with too many similar apps.
Your choice now is a free app with an in app to unlock more functionality, or a paid fully featured app. Not both, unless you talk them into it somehow.
I don't know which brings more revenue, I suspect it varies per app and how much you decide to include in the free part of the free app.
Can anyone confirm lite with upsell to paid is no longer acceptable?
I believe apple are no longer keen on the lite and paid model as separate apps, due to congesting the app store with too many similar apps.
Your choice now is a free app with an in app to unlock more functionality, or a paid fully featured app. Not both, unless you talk them into it somehow.
I don't know which brings more revenue, I suspect it varies per app and how much you decide to include in the free part of the free app.
Can anyone confirm lite with upsell to paid is no longer acceptable?
This would be quite bad.
Our current App which is doing well is a paid App. To drive sales we are considering a free App, but if this is not acceptable we have no options basically. We can't convert our paid app to free without hurting our paid users.
Has anyone been in this situation? Ho did you handle it?
This would be quite bad.
Our current App which is doing well is a paid App. To drive sales we are considering a free App, but if this is not acceptable we have no options basically. We can't convert our paid app to free without hurting our paid users.
Has anyone been in this situation? Ho did you handle it?
Yeap, I'm in the same exact situation. I'm not worried as much about the paid users as much as losing the ranking and starting from zero when switching to the free category.
But I'm more curious about whether or not it will actually drive up my sales or not.
Putting the app free with iAP to unlock full functionality would be an option, but if you already had lots of sales, it would be a problem, how many costumers do you already have?
What I would do in this case is first submit an an update that will somehow mark all bought copies as 'paid' (maybe save it in the user preferences or a file or something).
Then release a second update with iAP and put it free. This update would detect the copies that were marked as bought and automatically unlock itself. In theory this works
Putting the app free with iAP to unlock full functionality would be an option, but if you already had lots of sales, it would be a problem, how many costumers do you already have?
What I would do in this case is first submit an an update that will somehow mark all bought copies as 'paid' (maybe save it in the user preferences or a file or something).
Then release a second update with iAP and put it free. This update would detect the copies that were marked as bought and automatically unlock itself. In theory this works
And what if the user skips the last update before that? SOL?
And what if the user skips the last update before that? SOL?
Yep, the solution is far from perfect
Ideally you should release it as a separate app, but Apple seems to refuse to have those now, but you could always try to submit a lite version, if you already have a full version, making a stripped down version of it should be fast.
Yep, the solution is far from perfect
Ideally you should release it as a separate app, but Apple seems to refuse to have those now, but you could always try to submit a lite version, if you already have a full version, making a stripped down version of it should be fast.
Did you know of someone who had a lite version of their game get rejected as of recently?
Do you have any data saved that can be checked against a version? If so you could unlock the paid features automatically and then update the version value.
Do you have any data saved that can be checked against a version? If so you could unlock the paid features automatically and then update the version value.
I'm not sure if there is any way to do this without screwing some end users over. Say someone downloads my app version 1.2 but never launches it. If they update the app to 1.3 where the IAP/free changes are made, there is no way I can make a distinction on whether or not they should have that IAP unlocked or not.
I'm not sure if there is any way to do this without screwing some end users over. Say someone downloads my app version 1.2 but never launches it. If they update the app to 1.3 where the IAP/free changes are made, there is no way I can make a distinction on whether or not they should have that IAP unlocked or not.
I have thought of that too, but you can also screw existing users that paid when they redownload the app, AFAIK there is no way to know if a user paid for your app or not. It would be nice if Apple could provide a feature like that, this way you could run free promotions that could trigger ads or IAP for users that downloaded the app when it was free.
Yeap, I'm in the same exact situation. I'm not worried as much about the paid users as much as losing the ranking and starting from zero when switching to the free category.
But I'm more curious about whether or not it will actually drive up my sales or not.
How much can you upsell in a free app?
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