Introductory Pricing for iOS: Getting Started

So, you have a great app that offers awesome, subscription-based content. Users love your app and can’t understand how they lived without it. The problem is, even with rave reviews from paying users, it’s hard to get new users to take that leap of faith and subscribe.

What can you do about it? I’m glad you asked!

Apple now offers Introductory Pricing to attract new subscribers.

• It’s available to users of iOS 11.2 or newer.
• It’s easy to add to apps that already offer auto-renewable subscriptions.

Using introductory pricing, you’ll be able to offer a discounted price or a free trial for a limited time at the beginning of a subscription. Sounds like this may be the solution to all of your problems, right?

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to add an introductory pricing option to an app that already offers an auto-renewable subscription.

Getting Started

To try out this cool new feature, you can either use your own app that already offers auto-renewable subscriptions or use my awesome “Words of Wisdom by Winnie the Pooh” app. Beware, Winnie the Pooh quotes are highly addictive, so use this app with caution. :]

If you decide to use your own app, skip ahead to Introductory Pricing Types. If you’re going to use the PoohWisdom app, continue onto Setting up the Project.

The PoohWisdom app is simple: It has one screen with Winnie the Pooh’s image, a label for displaying the quotes after a successful purchase or a message to encourage the user to make a purchase, and two buttons: Purchase and Restore.

The app offers a single, auto-renewable subscription In-App Purchase, or IAP. Next, you’ll learn how to add introductory pricing to this IAP.

This tutorial assumes you’re already familiar with auto-renewable subscriptions and IAPs. If you’re new to these, you should work through these tutorials first:

• In-App Purchase Tutorial: Getting Started
• In-App Purchases: Auto-Renewable Subscriptions Tutorial

Setting up the Project

Download the app using the Download Materials button at the top or bottom of this tutorial. Open it using Xcode, then build and run the project. In order to use the app, you’ll also need to set up the auto-renewable subscription. Do the following:

Subscription groups are essentially a collection of subscription products that are grouped together on the subscription management menu. Only one product in a subscription group can be active at a given time. An introductory price can only be used once per subscription group.

OK, back to the project! Do the following:

Build and run the project. This is what you should see in the project console:

If you see this, you’re ready for the next step! If not, make sure you didn’t miss anything:

1. Create an App ID in the Apple Developer Portal.
2. Create an App in App Store Connect using said App ID.
3. Create an IAP auto-renewable subscription product: Make sure you complete all sections, including the Review Information. Use this image for the review screenshot. The status should show as Ready to Submit once you’re done.
4. Copy your App ID and Product ID somewhere easy to access: You’ll need these next.
5. Create a sandbox user for testing purposes. Remember to use a real email address, and verify the account by clicking the link in the email from Apple.
Note: When you create an auto-renewable subscription, App Store Connect will ask you to define a Subscription Group. Apple introduced subscription groups in 2016 as a way to resolve major issues with subscriptions. Subscription groups allow users to modify their subscriptions without having to cancel them first, and they prevent accidental simultaneous subscriptions.

Subscription groups are essentially a collection of subscription products that are grouped together on the subscription management menu. Only one product in a subscription group can be active at a given time. An introductory price can only be used once per subscription group.

OK, back to the project! Do the following:

1. Set the Bundle Identifier to the one you created.
2. Switch the Team on the General tab to your developer team.
3. Search for com.razeware.poohWisdom.monthlySub and replace it with the Product ID you created.

Build and run the project. This is what you should see in the project console:

Not purchased: $MyIAPID
Loaded list of products...
Found product: $MyIAPID $GroupID $Pricing

If you see this, you’re ready for the next step! If not, make sure you didn’t miss anything:

Note: When you create an auto-renewable subscription, App Store Connect will ask you to define a Subscription Group. Apple introduced subscription groups in 2016 as a way to resolve major issues with subscriptions. Subscription groups allow users to modify their subscriptions without having to cancel them first, and they prevent accidental simultaneous subscriptions.

Subscription groups are essentially a collection of subscription products that are grouped together on the subscription management menu. Only one product in a subscription group can be active at a given time. An introductory price can only be used once per subscription group.

OK, back to the project! Do the following:

1. Set the Bundle Identifier to the one you created.
2. Switch the Team on the General tab to your developer team.
3. Search for com.razeware.poohWisdom.monthlySub and replace it with the Product ID you created.

Build and run the project. This is what you should see in the project console:

Not purchased: $MyIAPID
Loaded list of products...
Found product: $MyIAPID $GroupID $Pricing

If you see this, you’re ready for the next step! If not, make sure you didn’t miss anything:

1. Set the Bundle Identifier to the one you created.
2. Switch the Team on the General tab to your developer team.
3. Search for com.razeware.poohWisdom.monthlySub and replace it with the Product ID you created.

Not purchased: $MyIAPID
Loaded list of products...
Found product: $MyIAPID $GroupID $Pricing

• Is everything set up properly on App Store Connect?
• Does your IAP product show as Ready to Submit?
• Did you set your Team and Bundle Identifier on the General tab?
• Did you replace com.razeware.poohWisdom.monthlySub with your own product ID?

If everything else looks correct and you’re still not receiving products, make sure you don’t need to accept any agreements in App Store Connect. Confusingly, Apple may return an empty response for IAP products, instead of a failure, if you have outstanding agreements.

Don’t tap Purchase just yet!

If you already completed the purchase, that’s okay. We’re all human, after all. :] However, you’ll unfortunately need to create another sandbox user in App Store Connect.