I want to add an android in-app payment method, so I followed instructions by this page using AIDL
I successfully added it and tried to do an effective payment using my personal google account. The payment was successful but I didn't receive the money.
I know that, implementing this type of purchase, a user can buy add-on app features or simply make a small donation. Isnt' it? Is there a better method to do that?
As Google say in billing testing: To test your Google Play Billing implementation with actual in-app purchases, you must use a test account. By default, the only test account registered is the one that's associated with your developer account.
Money not charged if you account equivalent to you Google Play account.
Also you can try to use more convenient library from google for in-app billing
Related
I've developed an Android app and need clarity on what is required to offer it, via Google Play Store, as a subscription app (i.e. offer use of the app for a monthly fee). For now, no in-app purchases or in-app subscriptions are planned; the only subscription is for use of the app itself. All of the documentation I've read about subscriptions from the Google Play Store seems only to discuss in-app subscriptions.
My questions:
1) Is an overall app subscription treated/processed the same as an in-app subscription (i.e. via the app)?
2) If not, what portions of the Google documentation/guides on subscriptions do I implement? Everything that isn't expressly mentioned as being for in-app subscriptions/purchases?
3) Do I need a back-end server to manage/track app subscription info, or can subscriptions at the app level be managed via Google Play Console?
4) Is there a guide/example/tutorial somewhere that clearly explains how to implement what seems like a basic solution, a subscription app with no in-app purchases?
Examples of what I found during research:
Create a subscription - Play Console Help indicates:
Create a subscription
Using Google Play Billing, you can offer in-app products that charge users for content or services on a recurring basis, known as subscriptions. Subscriptions can include items like a collection of apps, games, or other content for a recurring fee within your app on Google Play.
In Google Play Console, subscriptions are only mentioned (from what I can see) under Store presence->In App Products->Subscriptions
I reviewed other questions on SO related to subscriptions, but virtually all appear to be focused on in-app subscriptions. One exception was Implementing a Yearly Subscription. Per the answer from GNUzilla, I understand the need to create a payment profile in Play Console. The second part of GNUzilla's answer references the now deprecated AIDL interface, so I instead reviewed the guide page for its replacement, Use the Google Play Billing Library | Android Developers. However, this also appears focused on in-app subscriptions. For example,
Enable the purchase of an in-app product
...
To start a purchase request from your app, call the launchBillingFlow() method from the UI thread. Pass a reference to a BillingFlowParams object containing the relevant data to complete the purchase, such as the product ID (skuId) of the item and product type (SkuType.INAPP for a one-time product or SkuType.SUBS for a subscription).
Is an overall app subscription treated/processed the same as an in-app subscription (i.e. via the app)?
There is no such app subscription feature Google has implemented. It always will be in-app subscriptions. User will download the app free/paid and login/signup into the app then the developer will show the subscriptions plan based upon the business case.
If not, what portions of the Google documentation/guides on subscriptions do I implement? Everything that isn't expressly mentioned as being for in-app subscriptions/purchases?
In-App subscriptions. Check here https://developer.android.com/google/play/billing/billing_subscriptions
Do I need a back-end server to manage/track app subscription info, or can subscriptions at the app level be managed via Google Play Console?
Yes, you need the backend for managing the real-time notifications. If you don't want to have the backend then you will miss lots of scenarios like your app don't what is the current subscription status. It is also good from a security point of view to verify the purchase in the backend.
Is there a guide/example/tutorial somewhere that clearly explains how to implement what seems like a basic solution, a subscription app with no in-app purchases?
You can check google documentation here. In the future, I will also publish the blog regarding this.
So I'm planning to create an app that licenses and sells original photos in my android app where as users can directly purchase from other user these items and get a direct link from the app after purchase, the users who purchase another user's photo can upload the photo into other apps like IG/FB/Twitter/etc. As per google pay SECTION 2: Permissible Payment Transactions Terms of Service I cannot use Google pay to sell digital goods....however in-app billing is only for digital content limited to the scope of my app...can someone please clarify what the hell is going on with google ?
To answer your question, like what you have mentioned above, In-app billing is only limited to your app, if you allow the user to use the digital photo outside of your app, it is not allow.
You are looking at Google Pay ToS, which is not designed for mobile in-app purchases. For in-app purchases, you will be using Google Play Billing (https://developer.android.com/google/play/billing/billing_overview). Sorry for the confusion.
I want to test in-app billing with Google Play Store, however it seems I need to pay 25$ to register a test-app just to make this testing possible (https://developer.android.com/google/play/billing/index.html).
I've looked around a bunch and can't find any alternatives but most threads I find are out-dated, so I want to know if there is an option available at the moment that allows me to make a test-ID for billing without having to pay the registration fee for the developer console (https://play.google.com/apps/publish/signup/).
A Developer account is required to test IAB since you are interacting directly with Google Play. There are "Static Responses" which you can call without uploading your app to the Developer Console, but to use those your test device must be logged into a developer account. More info can be found in the docs:
http://developer.android.com/google/play/billing/billing_testing.html
So yes, you must pay the $25 and register a developer account. But why wouldn't you anyway? If you are learning to code Android, chances are you have the intent of releasing an app at some point. So why not just opt in now and get access to all the Developer tools you need?
I need to integrate google play in-app purchases with my server-side billing.
Any way to get list of in-app purchases via some Google Play API to my server without client app in between?
Tried to find anything relevant in documentation and all I found is status check API which gives you status of specific purchase, but I need to get list of purchases too.
Okay, it's possible via Callback functions in Integration tab of Settings page but only if you have classic Google Checkout account.
If you just registered as Android Developer — you have a different type of account and those options are unavailable for you.
No way to sign up for classic account as Google Checkout is being substituted by Google Wallet and no way to change account time once you are registered.
sarcasm on:Thank you, Google!:sarcasm off
I would like to implement in-app billing in my android app, but I am not sure how should I create for a developer payload. I don't have any information about user, only unique identifier created in the app to recognize it.
Is it possible to restore the purchase when the user buy a product, then uninstall the app and install it again? How to test it, because I didn't get any events when I tried to test it?
Yes, you can check the completed purchase after uninstall app and install it again.
All purchased items stored on the Play Server and particularly in your installed Google Play app. So after item is purchased once the information about purchase is stored and you can request it at any time untill you "consume" this purchase. "Consume" means reset the information about purchase to allow make new purchase with same ID. This is only for v3 if Android Billing Library, because all purchases in v3 are one-off (you can buy it only once) and have to be "consumed" to be purchased again.
The identifier of the purchase item is a simple string that you define in the Google Developer Console. You should login to the developer console, create new project for the future app, upload signed .apk (necessary), after that you have to select the project, move to "In-App products" section and there you can create necessary purchase items with purchase IDs. While purchase action in the application you should pass the matched purchaseID to the launchPurchaseFlow() method on the IabHelper object (these are all from v3 Billing Library). The information about purchased items can also be received by using matched purchaseID.
Official Google developer documentation has pretty decent amount of information about implementing and using Billing Library:
Implementing billing library guide
Administering In-App products in the developer console
Testing In-app billing. Sorry, cannot post link because of lack of reputation (2 links in answer only), but you can also find this section in the official android documentation. This section also has information about testing with special android test purchase IDs which doesn't require signed and uploaded .apk or any actual money-transfers