In-App Purchase Required?

Hello,


I am trying to determine if an in-app purchase will be required within the app we are developing. We provide continuing education courses in video format. Someone would watch the course, evaluate the course, and take a short exam about the course. Those who pass the exam are also entitled to a CE certificate that is automatically emailed to them and then printable for their records.


Would this type of scenario require the purchase to be in-app or would I be able to implement my own payment system when somebodt wants to buy one of our courses?


Thanks in advance!


Ken

Replies

Where, exactly, are the videos consumed?

The videos would be watched within the app....just like Amazon or Netflix.


Thanks!


Ken

IAP should be ok to use, but not required, I think, assuming you don't mind the 70/30 split- see Section 11: Purchasing and currencies, specifically 11.13 & 11.14

Thanks KMT! I'd prefer not use IAP, but trying to figure out if IAP would be required with what we are selling.

You need to define what you are 'selling' through a system other than IAP.


If the user can see the video and take the exam without making a purchase but is not awarded the certificate unless (having passed the exam) they make the purchase, and the certificate is a real world certificate, then you may use a different payment system. In fact, you cannot use the IAP system (11.3).


But if they need to make a purchase in order to see the video or take the exam then you have a problem. You can use a different payment system only if you satisfy the terms of:

11.14 Apps can read or play approved content (specifically magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, video and cloud storage) that is subscribed to or purchased outside of the App, as long as there is no button or external link in the App to purchase the approved content. Apple will only receive a portion of revenues for content purchased inside the App


If the exam is within the app and you are charging to take the exam then you fall outside of 11.14 and will be rejected as per 11.1 and 11.2

This is an issue I'm also running into. I don't see much on the forum regarding apps and integration with an LMS like Moodle or D2L. We want to sell online courses, and are a large educational institution, but want to build and deliver some of the courses as native mobile apps, as our multimedia and interactivity performance needs are far beyond what we can do via the web. We'd like to have prospective students buy the courses the same way they always do, through the institution's web site, and offer the apps for free, with successful enrolment in the course unlocking the course content in the app. Looks like that's going to be a problem though:


11.1 Apps that unlock or enable additional features or functionality with mechanisms other than the App Store will be rejected

11.2 Apps utilizing a system other than the In-App Purchase API (IAP) to purchase content, functionality, or services in an App will be rejected


But apps like Lumosity and NHL Gamecenter Live use a subscription model so you can "unlock" content in the app by signing in. The IAP is there, and the price is higher than through the website to cover Apple's 30% (Spotify does this also), but if you know about it, you can buy the subscription for a cheaper price on the website, outside of the app. Could this be a method we could use? I understand that we aren't allowed to use a link, button or any other method of encouraging the user to leave the app to purchase anything, but we can instruct the student on how to best buy the product from the institution website when they create a user acount and student ID with us.


That leads to another question: Would students be required to be able to create an account in the app, or merely sign in, and the account creation (which we would prefer for our LMS, CMS, student records, etc.) would have to happen at the institution website. Would Apple reject that? If someone else out there has figured out a way to integrate native mobile apps with educational institution learning management systems, I'd love to hear about it.


Another option is to build the apps as enterprise apps, use OTA distribution with a link inside the LMS so that students can only get to the link once they've purchased and been enroled in the course, and download the app to their device for free. There has to be a solution out there that works for Apple, us, and the student, without being a hassle.

>Would students be required to be able to create an account in the app


Some may be under the new device assignment distribution method/not have their own Apple ID, so you may need to come up with a scheme that covers both?

I am also wanting more information on this but I can't find Section 11 of the guidelines. The link above only has 5 sections. Am I being a dummy?

The guidelines were rewritten. Most of 11 is in section 3.

Thanks for your help on this PBK. I found the new guidelines Section 3.

In terms of

  1. 3.1.3 “Reader” Apps: Apps may allow a user to access previously purchased content or content subscriptions(specifically: magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, video, access to professional databases, VoIP, cloud storage, and approved services such as educational apps that manage student grades and schedules), as well as consumable items in multi-platform games, provided that you agree not to directly or indirectly target iOS users to use a purchasing method other than IAP, and your general communications about other purchasing methods are not designed to discourage use of IAP.

We are offering digital courses that will be consumed in the app Our app is primarily a reader app because the majority of our courses will be purchased via our website through corporate accounts, and then the user will be able to access their courses on their iphone. As the employer often pays for these courses, many courses will be purchased via their desktop while at work and then accessed via their mobile while outside of work.

We need the functionality to purchase on the Web and then to be able to access the previously purchased content on their iphone.


My question is - can we be a reader app and still allow users to purchase additional courses within the app using the same external payment gateway (Stripe).


If we agree to not directly or indirectly target users to use any specific purchasing method, would we be able to use the same payment gateway (Stripe) for our App that we are using for our website?


I hope you can give me a reply on this (I see of lot of the forum questions just get left hanging without a response). If you can't give me an answer, please let me know.

Many forum posts are left hanging after they receive a reply......

You define a reader app incorrectly. It's not a reader app because of how you are making the purchase. It's a reader app if the only thing the app is doing is 'reading' it - displaying it in a window that allows the user to scan through the content. You write that the content is "accessed". Does that mean the user interacts with the content in some way that depends on code in the app like answering questions in the app based on the content. If so, I don't think that's a reader app. Note that Apple was specific about what the content can be.


But if it is a areader app - you can't "directly or indirectly target iOS users to use a purchasing method other than IAP, and your general communications about other purchasing methods are not designed to discourage use of IAP." That means you can't direct users to make the purchase (other than through IAP) from within the app. That means you can't direct users to Stripe from the app.

Thanks for clarifying PBK. I apologize if my tone came across a bit frustrated. I have been struggling to get answers to my questions about how to design this so that our app does not get rejected and I am quite concerned about the restrictions.


I am really stuck now though and unsure on how to proceed in designing our iphone app. Do you have any advice on how we can structure this given the information I have provided about how courses are most likely to be purchased through corporate accounts via our website and then consumed and interacted with on the app?

Hi Mike,


We have a model very similar to yours. Regarding your model "We'd like to have prospective students buy the courses the same way they always do, through the institution's web site, and offer the apps for free, with successful enrolment in the course unlocking the course content in the app."


I am curious to know what the outcome of this was and whether Apple allowed this.


Thanks.

Yes:

1) Move the entire system into IAP. Have the app allow a user (even a corporate user using the same app) to purchase one or more 'Tokens' good for downloading and interacting with a course content. (Could be $0.99 for one Course Level 1 Token, $9.99 for 30 Course Level 1 Tokens, $2.99 for one Course Level 2 Token, etc.). Create a system for transferring (not 'gifting') a Token from one device to another device perhaps through a shared space in iCloud that requires a log in or through a UUID assigned to each Token. Each token is then redeemable on your website for the content in the course. Your website monitors the UUIDs to be sure they are used only once.


or


2) This is a grey zone solution. Allow the corporate user to purchase content separately and outside of IAP. In the app allow the user to purchase content only through IAP and thereby have the 'right' to access your content. In the App allow the user the OPTION of logging into their corporate account (it's not required because they can purchase the content directly through IAP). In their corporate account allow them the ability to credit the app with the 'right' to access your content based on the corporate purchase through your website - but in NO WAY allow the user, once logged into their corporate account, the right to make a purchase outside of IAP. This satisfies the guidelines because logging into the corporate account is not required and because your app is functioning 'as a reader app' as far as its use of the corporate-purchased content is concerned. It may be violating the guidelines if App Review 1) decides that the app is doing more than 'reading' the content and also 2) notices. I'd argue here that it is just a reader app so if app review doesn't notice the back door your hands remain clean and if they do notice the back door you have a good argument to make. Besides "how am I to allow users to operate with an iPhone in one hand and an Android in the other?"


.

Thanks so much for your time and comprehensive response PBK. This is quite a bit more complex than I had ever imagined.


I have a (last, I hope) question that may play into this, but it is more proprietary and I don't want to put it out on a public forum. Is there any place I can ask direct questions in a confidential private discussion?


Thanks again, I really appreciate your help with this.