14 DAY TRIAL // Apple has officially announced a new Subscription service for iOS Apps, allowing devs to offer an easy one-click experience for Auto-Renewable digital subscriptions in their iOS content-based apps on the App Store.
Announced yesterday via an official news release from Cupertino, Auto-Renewable Subscriptions allow users to purchase In-App content.
According to Apple, the purchase is automatically renewed at the end of the period unless the user chooses to cancel the subscription.
Using In-App Purchase provides a simple standardized way to implement these auto-renewable subscriptions for the developer’s content.
Apple encourages devs to log in to iTunes Connect to learn more about how to use In-App Purchase in their iOS apps to implement Auto-Renewable Subscriptions for their content.
In tandem with the newly-announced service, Apple also needed to update the App Store Review Guidelines to reflect the change.
“Before submitting your iOS apps for approval be sure to review the updated App Store Review Guidelines which provide rules and examples across a range of development topics, including using Auto-Renewable Subscriptions for your content-based apps,” Apple tells developers.
iTunes Subscriptions allow customers to review and manage all of their subscriptions from their personal account page, including canceling the automatic renewal of a subscription.
All payments are processed by Apple, while the company will keep the same 30 percent share that it does today for other In-App Purchases.
“Our philosophy is simple—when Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple earns a 30 percent share; when the publisher brings an existing or new subscriber to the app, the publisher keeps 100 percent and Apple earns nothing,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.
“All we require is that, if a publisher is making a subscription offer outside of the app, the same (or better) offer be made inside the app, so that customers can easily subscribe with one-click right in the app.”
The CEO added, “We believe that this innovative subscription service will provide publishers with a brand new opportunity to expand digital access to their content onto the iPad, iPod touch and iPhone, delighting both new and existing subscribers.”