I know that for jailbreak iOS device there is a way to get in-app purchase for free. There is in-app hack too for android. Is there anyway to prevent this when writing app that use in-app purchase ?
thanks
Yes, in addition to following all the latest Google Play/Apple licensing and security best practices you can, you need to make multiplayer interaction through your servers an intricate part of the game play and the fun.
For great examples of this, take a look at "Fun Run" or "Clash of Titans".
That being said, don't make the mistake of doing this after you've designed most of your game already. Most users (even and especially legitimate paid users) hate it when their game requires them to be online even when they're only playing it in a single player mode, and they will badmouth and down-rate your app if they suspect that you've purposefully crippled your game, or removed single player mode functionality after the fact.
I would like to make my app freeware, but if a user is willing to retrieve additional features, it should be possible to 'activate' them after in-app payment.
Should I set up my app as "FREE" (or can that cause trouble later as this setting can't be change anymore?) and which way would you recommend to go - should I retrieve the additional stuff from my own website, or does Google provide a way for it after payment was successful?
Basically the app will be (and stay) really useful (well I hope) in its free state already, I just want to kinda provide additional goodies for the few that would be ready to support and maybe want to get even more out of it.
Yes, set up your app as free.
What you're describing is the freemium model, where you give the app for free, and charge for advanced features:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemium
A lot of Android apps are successfully monetizing using the freemium model. One example is Angry Birds Space, a top downloaded free app, which uses in-app billing to sell Mighty Eagles or remove ads.
Our game relies on in-app purchases. Currently they use the Google's own system for that. But we get many requests from smaller app markets around the world to put our game there. But not having in-app purchases would seriously cripple the game mechanics.
But from what I've searched, there doesn't seem to be good alternatives. Amazon has it's own, but it's in invite only beta phase. Samsung apparently has it's own.. I would love to find a simple micropayment SDK to use in all these smaller app markets.
Any ideas?
PayPal should work, although you will need to do some work to implement managed items on your own server. Some of the major 'smaller' markets have their own API on top of PayPal.
BTW, Amazon's in-app purchase library has been publicly available for a while: http://www.amazonappstoredev.com/2012/04/announcing-the-in-app-purchasing-api-for-kindle-fire-and-other-android-devices.html
I want to make a small app in which I sell some non-digital products. I was wondering if there is some sort of payment system with which the users can pay directly within the app?
I only found the in-app billing for Android but this is only working for digital content. PayPal also has an app but this is more or less something on its own as far as I saw.
Thanks for hints.
Edit: Android now supports in-app billing!
Original question:
It looks like Android won't natively support in-app purchases for a while, and when it does there might be a huge user base with devices that don't support them.
What's the best way to implement iPhone-like (additional content or services) in-app purchases in Android using the Android Market if possible?
The solution should consider in particular:
For all kinds of in-app purchases: Android Market's 24-hour cancellation policy
For consumables/non-consumables: storage of additional content (ie: use precious application memory to avoid piracy, or use SD card to avoid bloating application memory)
Thanks!
This has changed as of today! There is now an example on the Android Developer site here: https://developer.android.com/google/play/billing/billing_overview
You can create a premium key application, that will have a key. How you expose that it's your deal ( or you can just check if PremiumKey activity exist ). From the main app you just check for your key and if it's exist enable premium option )
If you're talking about buying OTHER apps from yours - build your list with market url pointed to the other apps ( market:// )
It is against the Android Market Developer Distribution Agreement to take in-app payment:
3.3 ... All fees received by Developers for Products distributed via the Market must be processed by the Market’s Payment Processor.
Looks like Paypal has launched a library for accepting in-app payments. See here. Not sure if this system violates the T&C though.
You say that Android Market doesn't support in-app purchases, and then ask how you can implement in-app purchases using Android Market?(!)
Anyway, if and when they do support it, I imagine it could be distributed as an update to the Android Market application itself, so most users would be able to use the functionality. I believe the Market app updates itself automatically.
Possibly the Market would accept an Intent to trigger a payment via the usual on-device mechanism and return your app (or more likely your server) a callback.
There is also another in-app payment platform for Android applications called MoVend (www.movend.com). I have checked it out and there are several benefits using it compared to the other 2 mentioned earlier:
Many payment channels : Operator Billing for more than 38 countries, PayPal and virtual credits.
Many distribution channels: They work with developers to distribute their applications through the various distribution channels like Operator AppStores , OEMs and Android applications website. Marketing is something we all need. They are also invested by Singapore Telecommunications who has a strong presence in South East Asia.
They provide a sales analytics for you to track, trace and monitor the performance of your apps. Since they are available worldwide, you can always tailor your applications to the different geography area.
I am trying to build Android applications and monetizing is important.
Reply this thread so we can discuss how we can monetize our Android applications.
Here's another free licensing and payments system. The nice thing about this one is that it allows you to offer your app in any app store.
You can find more details # http://www.cloud4apps.com/
Check out http://mobpaynet.com, they are doing something like this. Not sure if it violates terms or not, but I will probably check it out.
For implementing in-app purchases in Air applications you may use third-party libs (Adobe AIR does not support In App Purchases for any platforms out of the box). For example, developed by Milkman Games (unfortunately, they are not free)