iOS App Distribution

If you have a paid app, or a free app with In-App purchases, you can use promo codes to get your app into the hands of potential customers or reviewers.

Codes can be redeemed on any App Store storefront where your app is available, and are valid for 4 weeks.

When a customer downloads an app using a promo code, the app behaves just like it was purchased. However, the user can’t rate or review your app.

You can request up to 100 promo codes per version of each platform that your app supports.

For In-App Purchases, if a customer redeems a promo code, the associated app will download if it is free; otherwise the app will have to be purchased before the promo code will be applied to the In-App Purchase.

You can provide up to 100 codes for each In-App purchase product, with a limit of 1,000 total codes for all In-App purchases for an app every 6 months. These codes expire 28 days after they were generated.

To request a promo code, you app must be either Ready for Sale, Pre-Order Ready for Sale or Pending Developer Release for iOS and macOS apps. In-App Purchases must be approved or it won’t appear as an option.

In your App Store Connect record for the app you want to generate promo codes for, go to the Services tab, and under promo codes, select the Generate tab. Choose how many codes you want to generate and then click Generate.

After agreeing to the contract terms, you can see or download the generated codes under the History tab.

Now you can drum up some reviews for your brand new app or new In-App purchase feature!

In the next episode, you’ll get a wrap-up of this part of the course, and the course in general.