in-App purchases for authenticated users only

Question

Created Sep ’22

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We currently have a food app on the app store which already asks for user authentication to access some functionnalities/content (shaker mixes, specific recipes, add comments, customize a recipe etc...). In this app we have recipes organised in bundles we call packs (all meat recipes, recipes for children etc...)

In order to make the app a bit more profitable, we want to add premium packs that can be bought (non-consumable). We also wanted to allow only logged in users to buy such packs to avoid complexity in managing anonymous users. The question is : Is this kind of practice allowed or is it subject to rejection during review to force users to sign-in before making a purchase ?

The same question goes for a feature of meal planification that we wanted to monetize as well via a subscription. For this feature, the sign-in would be hard to escape as the meals are synced on user profiles and need to be accessible accross all user devices.

We didn't find anything prohibiting such practices in Apple guidelines but found some posts that would indicate it is in fact forbidden by Apple .

Any help or previous experience would be appreciated :)

Thanks in advance

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Answer 1

App Store Commerce Engineer OP

Apple

Sep ’22

From a Commerce/StoreKit perspective you can associate these purchases (original transaction ID's) to an anonymous account without requiring users to create/sign in to an additional account. And if you implement our Proactive restore best practice, you can identify this users purchases on any of their devices. As mentioned in the session, you can leverage other features like CloudKit or iCloud Keychain to further assist this experience. In general any additional steps or friction implementation before a purchase that doesn't add value or functionality may impact the customer buy experience.

For any policy questions, please refer to the App Store Review guidelines.

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Answer 2

bioche_ OP

Sep ’22

Thank you for your quick response !

In general any additional steps or friction implementation before a purchase that doesn't add value or functionality may impact the customer buy experience.

I think we can manage to avoid user login when buying packs but we will have more trouble for the meal planification feature as it needs to be linked to the user profile. I understand it adds friction and will potentially deter users from buying but is it a reason for rejection on Apple's side ?

Thanks Again

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