My app is currently on sale as a one off purchase of 59p, i'd like to be able to change this to a a 59p monthly subscription charge (i'd grandfather all existing customers so it would only be new users who would be charged the subscription based price).
It's been suggested to me that you cannot do this once an app is live - as in you have to decide whether you want it to be a one off price or a subscription based pricing structure from the outset and you cannot change once you have selected one or other options.
Is there any way around this ? Very keen to hear any of your thoughts and programatically how this could be achieved so I can feed this back into my developer.
It's up to you, but you will be alienating all of your existing users who paid once. Even if you somehow grandfather them, the next time that user does a restore or deletes the app then decides to reinstall it from iTunes, it will not magically work for them since they didn't buy your subscription.
My advice is to phase out and abandon your app. Release a new one that is subscription based. On the same day that the subscription app is released, remove your old app from sale. Have both apps point to the same data source, so the "grandfathered" users still have a functioning app. The people from that point forward who would be new buyers will have to fork $$$. Most people who already have your app won't notice. There will be some who might have something to say in your reviews. All in all it's the best compromise.
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iOS IDDQD: God mode for iOS Development!
Father of Kill Stats XD, the premiere stat keeping application for iOS, tracking all of your fps games. Kill Stats XD on the App Store
I have quite often thought about this, my app has been in the top 10 charts for around a year now and over the time I have added a lot of extra features to the app which I am now thinking should have been paid add-ons as not everyone wants the extra functionality.
iOS IDDQD idea of introducing the new app and phasing the old one out is quite interesting but it's quite worrying about loosing my chart position.
Would love to hear of anyone else's experience with this sort of thing switching an app to subscription based or add-on based.
In that case, raise the price on the existing app a few dollars and then phase it out over a couple of weeks. Give people a chance to either buy the more expensive one that will work indefinitely, or to subscribe to the cheaper one. If you do indeed have a top 10 app, you will get a lot more backlash then someone with just a few users. Giving up your chart position is just a compromise against being scorned by your users who already paid once and believe they own your app! (not saying they're right. There is no rule that says they are right. I would actually side with you, especially if you are furnishing a service or running a backend.)
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iOS IDDQD: God mode for iOS Development!
Father of Kill Stats XD, the premiere stat keeping application for iOS, tracking all of your fps games. Kill Stats XD on the App Store
Update App to Subscription Based
Linear Mode
