Non-renew subscription and receipt?

And I think you can also use:

if([[NSUbiquitousKeyValueStore defaultStore] synchronize]){

// get the expiration date

}else{

//alert - you need to log into iCloud to copy your subscription from one device to another

}

Thanks for the idea but alas it seems synchronize returns true if the sync from DISK works.

I tried this with the iPad in airplane mode and then also with the iPad logged out of iCloud - it always returns TRUE.

Oh well...

Appreciate the thought indeed.

Stu

Use the ubiquityIdentityToken by adding the iCloud documents capability.

I was debating doing that but it adds another layer of complexity support wise.

It's possible for the user (via the iCloud tab in Settings) to disable iCloud document storage on a per app basis. If they turn off access for my app, the appearance is the same as if they are not logged in - the ubiquityIdentityToken is then nil. I could provide an alert that says "You must be logged in to iCloud and have the app enabled in Settings etc" - I'll think about this approach.

In the meantime I'm going to handle this as follows:

• Store the data I need in the iCloud key/value store (KVS) - if the user is logged into iCloud (and from polling my test users, it seems at this will be the typical case) then I'm done and data will automatically get propagated to the user's other devices the moment they run the app. No app receipt refresh etc required.
• On the first purchase, remind the user that they must be logged into iCloud to access the subscription on their other device(s)
• On my support web pages for the app, include an FAQ about accessing a current subscription on other devices

For the case where the user has purchased a subscription but on a device not logged into iCloud, once they login, then the data will be synced with the cloud version of the KVS.

I debated adding a receipt refresh if the app runs on a device AND the key for the required data is not present in the KVS. This would be in a situation where the user purchased a NRS on another device that is logged into iTunes (otherwise no purchase) but not into iCloud, then runs the app on a second device. Refreshing the receipt could result in an un-expected dialog for the user to login to iTunes. Something which in the past I suspect would have caused the app review team to reject the app.

Perhaps the best of both solutions (iCloud versus receipt persistence) would be for the big A to add a way of detecting that the KVS has been sync'ed with the cloud - and if not, then refresh the receipt with the persisted records of past NRS purchases?

It's a complex set of cases to handle given the conflicting requirements in the StoreKit documentation.

Hopefully the documentation will get updated, be consistent and then there is a single recipe to follow.

Stu

I actually think that the [[NSUbiquitousKeyValueStore defaultStore] synchronize] call returning YES is a bug and if that were fixed then you can simply detect that it returns NO and alert the user that to copy a subscription they need to log in to their iCloud Account for the app.

That said, there is a security issue you should consider. A user can 'share' their subscription with 100's of people if they create an iCloud Account that is a group iCloud Account - for example, one iCloud Account for all members of the XYZ Corporation. It is unclear to me whether this can actually be done but here's another feature that I do - in my key-value file I record a device identifier for each device that copies one of the subscriptions. For any subscription, when that number gets to 5 I tell the user to contact me to get additional subscriptions. This limit is not unreasonable because 1) over a one month period few people have more than 5 active iOS devices owned by them and 2) Apple limits the number of devices that can synch to iTunes to 5 and 3) I have a back door means of pushing any needed subscription to any person who contacts me. App Review has not objected to my limit of 5, although that doesn't mean they won't.

Why do I have deja vu all over again? I'm in a maze of twisty little passages all alike...

Argh!

Ok, I believe the only way that a corporate account can be created is via the Volume Purchase Program ) see http://www.apple.com/business/vpp/and one of the pages I found in searching (http://www.apple.com/ipad/business/it/deployment.html suggest that each deployed device has to be activated with the users personal Apple ID.

I couldn't find a way to create a shared iCloud account for a business - that's not to say it can't be done, simply that I haven't found it.

Given that the "Find my iPad" function is tied to the iCloud login, I suspect that the problem of sharing an id across a large number of devices is pretty unlikely.

There is no perfect security model as far as I can see. A truly (motivated and unscrupulous) user could **** break their device and then hack my app. Given that my app requires a (not inexpensive) piece of hardware to be operational, I guess that will help limit theivery.

Stu

We do need Apple to include purchase history of non-renewable subscriptions in App Store receipt, to handle the case where user requests App Store for refund. Currently there is no API or StoreKit notifications to allow us to be informed when a purchase is canceled. If I'm not wrong, there is a cancellation field in the App Store receipt. So if you care about purchase cancellation, the only way is to rely on the history of non-renewable subscription purchases embedded inside the receipt.

Rich,

Do you mean that changes has been reverted back and now non-renewing receipts are getting purchase history?

My users started facing this issue since yesterday (Nov 19th 2015). Receipts do not contain purchase history, even in sandbox as well.

I just checked in the sandbox and I got a receipt for all past purchases (many) for a non-renewing subscription after making a single new purchase.