Application. In‐app Payments

Table of Contents:

• General questions
• Android
• iOS
• Windows
• Mac
• Linux
• Web app or general solution

Table of contents generated with markdown-toc.

We need to introduce in-app payments to support further development of our game. But, this will be done after the game is completed or near completion. So, for now this is not a definitive guide, but a serie of questions for research.

General questions

Researched in #35.

1. Do we need anything from technical standpoint to implement in-app purchases for each platform or is it supported out-of-the-box?
2. Will we have in-app purchases in Android and iOS only or in desktop as well? What payment system will be used for desktop?
3. Will we have in-app purchases in web version? What payment system will be used?
4. What is the minimum amount that we can charge user at each platform? Given "Niner Games" (9), can we charge $0.99? Or $1 is minimum and we must consider $9.99 instead as our the only in-app purchase?
5. In which platforms can we trigger in-app purchase (deliver something to the player) outside regular payment system?

The last question is for supporting services like Patreon or Buy Me a Coffee which assumes (on contrary to Kickstarter) a regular, monthly support, not one-time payment. We want to give these backers a regular "purchase" inside a game (on a platform of their choice), but without using regular store's payment mechanism. Can we do that?

I have done some quick web search, but more deeper and detailed reading must be done in future.

Android

1. Understanding Google Play’s Payments policy
2. Google Play's billing system
3. Play Console Help :: Payments

iOS

1. In-App Purchase - Apple Developer
2. Buy additional app features with in-app purchases and subscriptions
3. Manage App Store purchases, settings, and restrictions on iPhone
4. You Won’t Believe How We Enabled In-App Purchases for PWAs on iOS
5. Overview for configuring in-app purchases
6. jinSasaki / InAppPurchase

Windows

1. Enable consumable in-app product purchases
2. In-app purchases and trials
3. How to Implement In-App Purchases in Windows 10 Apps?

Mac

The same as for iOS?

Linux

No solutions available for desktop apps; reuse web-app solution (below)?

Web app or general solution

1. IAP API for Web Apps (Amazon)
2. Sync web purchases and subscriptions with iOS and Android (adapty)
3. How to implement in-app purchases using Expo SDK (adapty)
4. Understanding In-app Purchases and How They Work (MobiLoud)
5. In-App Purchases: A Comprehensive Guide for Developers (AppMaster)
6. In-App Purchase Compliance and App Store Guidelines (AppMaster)
7. Implementing IAP for a WebApp (pwa) on ios/Apple (Stack Overflow)
8. The Ultimate Mobile In-App Purchases Guide (InstaBug)
9. What Is an In-App Purchase? (How-To Geek)
10. In-App Purchases (Business of Apps)

Current version of this Wiki article is for research only. Once we have conclusions, we'll put them here, in an updated page.