Just making sure I cover this concretely before we invest time on implementing this.
Lets say we have a physical product like a Toaster. It has IoT features; Feature 1, Feature 2, etc. We create an app to use those features. A user can choose to subscribe to 1 or more features for this toaster on the app.
Would that be considered a Physical product?
Nope. It is virtual.
The purchase of the toaster is physical.
Additionally, 3.1.4 speaks directly to your issue:
https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#physical-goods-and-services
Thank you for the clarification. That snippet of guideline actually has a good example of our scenario.
"In limited circumstances, such as when features are dependent upon specific hardware to function, the app my unlock that functionality without using in-app purchase."
Since this is for a really big client, is there a way to contact Apple itself to get a definitive answer on our specific scenario (which I'm not sure I can disclose). We have an Enterprise account and would like a direct response. I've looked through their "Contact Us" and wasn't quite sure whether this warranted "Code Level Support" or would that suffice?
The only group which can answer this question authoritatively is App Review - appreview@apple.com.
rich kubota - rkubota@apple.com
developer technical support CoreOS/Hardware/MFI
