How to add in-app purchases

Contents

1. Types of in-app purchases
2. Purchases IDs
3. Apple: How to add in-app purchases
4. Google: How to add in-app purchases
5. Amazon: How to add in-app purchases

Types of in-app purchases

You have the option to offer two types of in-app purchases through your Pugpig app: single issue products or subscriptions.
Both of these purchases are identified by codes, called IDs.

• A single edition can be sold for a price of your choosing. This is a single issue purchase. The buyer will be able to download and access this chosen edition as long as it remains on your app.
• A subscription allows the buyer to access all content within an app for a set period of time. You can set which periods of time you would like to offer readers.

If you are using Pugpig Express, you can edit your edition and change it to the ‘Paid’ or 'Paid with sampling’ status.

If using another product, you will also need to configure your CMS to mark certain products as paid in the OPDS feed that Pugpig uses to track available content. You can find more information in our api guide. 

If you are using one of our existing Pugpig Connectors, this functionality should already be available; you should just need to configure it correctly.

Purchase IDs

• If your Pugpig app is on two or more of these platforms, single issue ID must be the same across all platforms.
• We recommend that subscription IDs are the same across all platforms. This will simplify your analytics data.
• In order for your single issue purchase to work, the edition key (sometimes referred to as the edition ID) must match the product IDs you have set up in the portal.
  You can change your edition key in Express when editing an edition.

Once you’ve set up your subscriptions across the platforms (instructions below) confirm their length and ID with your onboarder.

Subscriptions are ‘hard-coded’ into the app - if you wish to offer a new subscription (e.g. a new length) you will need an app update. Please talk to your account manager about this.

IMPORTANT NOTE: We only support free trials if the free trial length is the length of the subscription. E.g. 1 week free trial on a 1 week subscription or a 1 month free trial on a 1 month subscription.
We wouldn’t support 1 week free trial on a 1 month subscription.

Apple: How to add in-app purchases

Head to iTunes Connect to manage to in-app purchases. Click on ‘My Apps’ and select an app. Now select the ‘Features’ tab to view or set up in-app purchases.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Your in-app purchase must have the box ‘Cleared for sale’ ticked to be available.

Add a single issue purchase:

1. Click on the + button to add a new in-app purchase
2. Select ‘Non-consumable’ and click ‘Create’ to get started.
3. Use the ‘question mark’ buttons to expand on our explanations of the fields.
4. A reference name should be for your use, for example May 2016 issue or Annual Special 2017.
5. Your Product ID should match your edition key/ID.
   We recommend a logical format of publication.date, for example pugpigmagazine.31.01.2017 or pugpigmagazine.january.2017
6. Choose your pricing tier. You can only select the prices available in the drop down list. Please note that the Tiers change, so do read the pricing as well.
7. Apple requires a screenshot from your app. In practice this can be taken from anywhere within the app or even a 2048 × 2732 px image with your logo.
8. Save your product!

Add a subscription:

1. Click on the + button to add a new in-app purchase
2. Select ‘Auto renewable subscription’ and click ‘Create’ to get started.
3. Use the ‘question mark’ buttons to expand on our explanations of the fields.
4. A reference name should be for your use, for example Publication 6 monthly subscription issue.
5. Your Product ID should be in a logical format of publication.subscription.X, for example publication.subscriptions.yearly or pugpigmagazine.subscriptions.12months
6. You will now be prompted to choose or set up a subscription group. You should set up a new subscription and call it something like Yearly Subscription.
7. Continue setting up your subscription. Choose the duration.
8. Add a ‘localization’. The subscription display name should be Yearly Subscription or 20 Issue Subscription. A short description like ‘Access to past and future issues”.
9. Apple requires a screenshot from your app. In practice this can be taken from anywhere within the app or even a 2048 × 2732 px image with your logo.
10. Save your subscription! If this is not your first app version, you can submit your subscription for review.
    If this is your first app submission, please ask your onboarder to attach the subscriptions to your app’s submission.

You can now add further durations of subscription to this subscription group. A user can only buy one subscription from each group, which stops users from buying e.g. a yearly subscription and monthly subscription simultaneously. They will be allowed to upgrade.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If your subscription says ‘You must add at least one ‘localization’ to the subscription group you have created. This is what the user sees when managing their subscription. The subscription group display name should be something like Publication Subscriptions.

Google: How to add in-app purchases

Head to Google Play Developer Console to manage to in-app purchases. Select an app. Now select the ‘Store presence’ tab then ‘In-app products’.

Add a single issue purchase:

1. Click on ADD NEW PRODUCT.
2. Select MANAGED PRODUCT.
3. Your Product ID should match your edition key/ID. If you have already created one for this issue in Apple/Amazon it should also match this.
   We recommend a logical format of publication.date, for example pugpigmagazine.31.01.2017 or pugpigmagazine.january.2017
4. The Title should be something like May 2016 issue or Annual Special 2017.
5. The Description should be something like Publication’s issue 4, including articles on….
6. Add a price.
   The price you enter ‘Default price’ will be the pre-tax price.
   For example, a default price of £1 will show as £1.19 in the app. You can check this by scrolling through the currency versions Google lists under Local prices. Adjust the default price to as close to your desired price as possible. You can then override the local prices, e.g. make the United Kingdom price £1.13 exactly. Apply once your edits have been made.
7. Save your product!
   You can toggle to status from ‘Inactive’ to ‘Active’. Once made active, you will not be able to edit the price!

Add a subscription:

1. Click on ADD NEW PRODUCT.
2. Select SUBSCRIPTION.
3. Your Product ID should be in a logical format of publication.subscription.X.months, for example publication.yearly or pugpigmagazine.yearly
4. The Title should be something like Yearly Subscription.
5. The Description should be something like Yearly Subscription, including 12 issues and access to all past content.
6. Add a price.
   The price you enter ‘Default price’ will be the pre-tax price.
   For example, a default price of £1 will show as £1.19 in the app. You can check this by scrolling through the currency versions Google lists under Local prices. Adjust the default price to as close to your desired price as possible. You can then override the local prices, e.g. make the United Kingdom price £1.13 exactly. Apply once your edits have been made.
7. Select a billing period (subscription length) and grace period.
8. Save your subscription. Once you have changed the status to ‘Active’ you will not be able to change the price.

Amazon: How to add in-app purchases

Log-in to your Amazon Developer Console, navigate to 'Apps & Services' and click on the app title you wish to create purchases for, then navigate to 'In-App Items'.

Add a single issue purchase:

1. Click on 'Add an Entitlement'
2. The Title should be something like May 2016 issue or Annual Special 2017.
3. Your SKU should match your edition key/ID. If you have already created one for this issue in Apple/Amazon it should also match this. We recommend a logical format of publication.date, for example pugpigmagazine.31.01.2017 or pugpigmagazine.january.2017
4. You can leave the Content Delivery setting as 'No additional file required' 
5. Then click on 'Save'.
6. Click on the 'Availability & Pricing' tab.
7. Select 'Yes, my base list price is...' and enter the price of your single issue purchase.
8. Hit 'Save' and navigate to the 'Description' tab
9. The Description should be something like Publication’s issue 4, including articles on….
10. Click 'Save' and navigate to the 'Images' tab
11. You will need to add 2 PNG images for each in-app purchase one at 114x114px and the other at 512x512px. This image can simply be your app icon, or you can add something more specific.
12. You should now be ready to submit the in-app purchase! Click on the submit button to send the purchase out for review, after passing the review the product will be available to buy!

Add a subscription:

1. Click on 'Add a subscription'
2. The Title should be something like Publication’s 12 Monthly Subscription.
3. Your SKU should be the subscription prefix for each subscription term. E.g. com.publication_name.subscription. 
4. You can leave the Content Delivery setting as 'No additional file required' 
5. Then click on 'Save'.
6. Click on the 'Subscription Periods' tab.
7. Select a 'Subscription period' for one of your chosen subscription terms. E.g. Monthly
8. Your SKU should be in a logical format of com.publication_name.subscription.subscription_name, for example com.pugpigmagazine.subscription.1month or com.pugpigmagazine.subscription.yearly
9. Select 'Yes, my base list price is...' and enter the price of your subscription.
10. Click 'Save and Add a Subscription Period'. You can then do the same for each subscription period you wish to offer.
11. Once you've added all of your subscriptions, hit 'Save' and navigate to the 'Description' tab
12. The Description should be something like Publication’s 12 Monthly subscription, including 12 issues and access to all past content.
13. Click 'Save' and navigate to the 'Images' tab
14. You will need to add 2 PNG images for the subscription one at 114x114px and the other at 512x512px. This image can simply be your app icon, or you can add something more specific.
15. You should now be ready to submit the in-app purchase! Click on the submit button to send the purchase out for review, after passing the review the product will be available to buy!