I would like to develop an HTML5 app that I could then package and sell on android market and the app store. I also want to make two versions of this app lite (with ads) and pro (paid). When I think about it I have no idea how I can check whether the user has paid for an app (it will be a normal html5 with cache manifest for offline mode). I need to check, because it will be site accessible to everyone.
Is there any mechanism that can trigger db updates in my app when the purchase is complete? E.g. save the apple userid when purchased and then check the userid when the user enters the site...probably not, but you know now what I am looking for.
How should it be handled? Does anyone have good articles/links covering this topic?
You are still going to need to develop an app for both iPhone and Android if you want to sell something on each of the stores. The app will be simple in your case, just a WebKit instance pointing toward your HTML5 site. But the fact you have this app will allow you to track the paid state without gathering user-specific data (which you cannot have).
Good Luck!
Urban Airship has an amazing library for in app purchases. Have you taken a look?
http://urbanairship.com/products/in-app-purchase/
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I am looking for a way that I can develop an app cheaply for a very specific use.
Specifically, I would like to create an game that can be played online between different phones.
I have some coding and development experience, and I would like to make the app iOS compatible (initially... open to Android integration later on).
Is anyone aware of a way to make an app without paying $99+ a year to be deployed on the app store? I simply need to make it available to approximately 15 people, and am uninterested in making any money or widely distributing the app.
Many of the target audience are in low-income areas of the world and have very limited access to computers, so a mobile application is likely my only option.
Thanks in advance for any help!
I have done research into Apple developer accounts, but it doesn't seem to fit my needs. I have also looked into making an Ad-Hoc account app, but can't find a lot of info on the feasibility of this.
One thing to consider is what are the game performance requirements?
If it is a simple game, using a Javascript game engine may be a better option as it can be hosted on a server (and viewed in a browser) to start with, and later bundled in a progressive web app with PWA Builder.
I'm not an expert but I think this question should be moved to a different Stack Exchange website.
Anyway, if you want to distribute your app to iOS real devices through the App Store, you will have to pay the $99 yearly membership.
There is also a free Apple Developer Program. I never tried it and I think you need physical access to the devices on which you want to load the app. But I could be wrong and maybe you'll have access to TestFlight. If you do have access to TestFlight the only disadvantage is that you'll have to re-publish your app from time to time when the testing period for one version is over. Try it!
iOS device and low-income don't really fit together ;-).
On Android, it is much more affordable even with the use of the Play store. If it hasn't change much it is a one time $25 fee and that's it. You can do Alpha/Beta and Production releases.
Regarding your requirements it is the best platform because the devices are generally cheaper.
To developp on Android, it's free, you just pay if you want to publish the app on store.
For ios, you can't do anything without creating a developper account, so pay $99.
You're always able to use a cross-platform langage (react native, flutter for ex.) but as soon as you want to deploy on real apple device, you'll need to pay.
My question is how to keep common leader board. Whether Google Play Game Services is way to keep it for both iOs and Android?
Yes, as long as the app ID, bundle name, leaderboards keys are same, common leaderboards should work just fine.
There is a problem in that iOS does not default to allow for the publically sharing of activity. This means that even though you may have requested the appropriate scopes in the platform definition for sharing of info, iOS will not publically be doing that.
Also - the leaderboard to be used through Google Play Games must have its Enable tamper protection set to OFF in order for the leaderboard to be shareable outside of the Android world (e.g.; Apple, web). If this property is set to off, the All setting for the leaderboard UI will show all users' high scores, except for the iPhone users which have not permitted their activity to be displayed publically.
Yes and no. It is technically feasible to implement the leaderboard however there is a massive caveat being that a gmail account that has not previously registered a Gamer Id will not be able to sign in. This is not mentioned in the docs. This issue is particularly insidious in that many people, myself included, used the same account for testing on android and ios. As long as you signed in on android first will then be successful on iOS as well. Which is great if your game targets people who use android and iOS simultaneously lol.
I would just like to ask if there are any best practices for a shared subscription billing for iOS and Android.
Right now, we are developing a mobile app both on Android and iOS (both native sdk, not cross-platform). And we have this certain feature in the app which you need to subscribe in order to access. But this will be a shared subscription. A one time payment regardless of what device a user is using to subscribe.
Sorry, but I am not really good in explaining things so maybe I will give you a scenario. I hope it helps you to understand what I am talking about.
For example, a user has two phones, an Android phone and an iPhone. He then installed our app in both his iPhone and Android phone. Now, he opens our app in his iPhone and he wants to access that certain feature so he subscribed. With this, what we want as a developer is to make it so that when he opens the app in his android phone, he will already be able to access that certain feature since he has already subscribed when he used the iPhone app.
We are still hesitant to continue since Google and Apple have different billing schemes. But maybe there are solutions for this, or are there?
I am hoping that someone could give us light on how to do this in the best practical way possible.
Thanks in advance...
I am currently facing the same issues. That's what I have so far.
There seem to be cross-platform solutions but none of them seem to work through Google Play or Apple payment methods..
You can use your API/backend service to flag the current user subscription state and sync it across all your platforms (that might violate Apple in-app system conditions).
I'm currently looking for a way to communicate to both Google Play and Apple in-app payment system that the item has been already bought in a different platform. There should be a way but as said, still looking for it.
We'll keep that up to date.
I would like to create a free give-away app for everyone who bought my app in Android market or on Apple app store.
Is there a way to create a different app and make it only available for free to all those who already bought another app? It's not an add-on to the paid version - it's a separate app.
Thanks
You can do it like that,
if someone bought your paid application then give him token like key and if he want to use free application then he need to enter a token to access that application in the starting of application then authenticate him either by using local database base or Webservice
Apple currently has no provision for this kind of set up. The only work-arounds i can think of would be very restrictive (e.g. implementing a user system in the two apps) and may not pass Apple's guidelines as it maybe classified as limiting user functionality. Others may have more knowledge on these guidelines.
I am currently developing an application where I want to be able to have an option to allow the user to donate money for the app. Is there a particular way about doing this for android. I have tried looking at google but it mainly shows about paypal donation buttons for websites
I think it should be possible.
There's a similar discussion on Google Groups which basically says that donations are allowed as long as you don't offer additional functionality for that money.
Meaning no functionality is enabled after the donation is made.
Like #alocaly said, you're unable to recieve donations through a system different from android market payment or ads inside the application.
However, it is still possible to have your application on the Internet by free and with a donation button. The difference is that you cannot post it on the Android Market, so you'll have to do some extra work:
Upload to a webserver, so it can be downloaded to your phone.
Create a website (or post your application to another "illegal" market), so people can find your application.
Use some sort of advertising to let people know your application (Twitter retweets, community ads, GoogleAds, SEO, whatever)
Manage some kind of update system. Since you don't rely anymore on the Android Market, you don't have an automatic updating method (Android Market updates applications when you post a new version of it), so you should have a small class that checks a website looking for a new version (it's not that hard) and downloads a new version when there's one available.
Make work the Paypal button like #Tim said
However, you are able to do something that I've see out there: create a free version of your application and post it on the Android Market, and post another version of the same application called "Same program name (Donation)", costing some money. When someone wants to donate you, they'll only have to buy this version.
I hope it helps
I don't know what importance it has, but I think that the chart / terms of services we sign as android developers don't allow the usage of this kind of monetization.
As this is a subject that is changing a lot in Android world, with the soon to come API to pay in apps, I'm not sure it still has any importance, but you should still be aware of that.
Maybe you should take a look at this post, which explains how to integrate Paypal payments into an Android App witout leaving the App itself: How to integrate paypal donate in android app?