Discontinuing consumable IAP Products

Question

almon OP

Created Sep ’17

Replies 2

Boosts 0

Participants 2

Hi I have the following scenario:

- Version X of the app has Consumable Product A available for IAP.

- Upcoming update, Version Y of the app has Consumable Product B available for IAP and does not support Product A. We want to discontinue support for Product A in Version Y of the app.

Questions:

- Under Apple guidelines, what are our obligations to support Product A in Version Y?

- What happens if someone updates from Version X to Y and tries to restore? Is that a scenario we have to support (unconsumed Product A’s)?

Thank you in advance!

Boost

Answer 1

PBK OP

Sep ’17

Accepted Answer

1) Under Apple guidelines, what are our obligations to support Product A (a consumable IAP) in Version Y?

I don't believe Apple guidelines speak to this issue. Your users who still have a quantity of Product A will be disappointed. Is there any way you could allow the new version to continue using already purchased Product A but not be able to buy any more?

2) What happens if someone updates from Version X to Y and tries to restore? Is that a scenario we have to support (unconsumed Product A’s)?

No, you cannot restore a consumable IAP. But when you update the app you don't lose any files so there is no reason why the consumable should disappear if it was retained in a file (e.g. NSUserDefault). If the user deleted the app and then reinstalls (the new or the old version) then they lose all consumable IAPs and would need to repurchase. That's common practice.

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Answer 2

almon OP

Sep ’17

Thank you. And yes, I realized that when updating the app, since we don't lose any data in NSUserDefault, we can do a routine to convert any unused Product A into an equivalent Product B.

Thank you!

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