App Store in macOS 10.14 & iOS 12: Free trials for non-subscription apps, more

Chance Miller | Jun 10 2018 - 6:20 am PT

iOS 12 and macOS 10.14 Mojave include a variety of improvements to their respective App Stores. As detailed by Apple during a WWDC session entitled, “Best Practices and What’s New in In-App Purchases,” the App Store has added support for free-trials of non-subscription apps, sandboxing changes, and more…

First and foremost, as we first reported on earlier this year, the App Store now supports free trials for non-subscription applications. This has been a long-standing request from developers and users alike, but Apple’s implementation has already been criticized by some developers as a hacky workaround.

Here’s how the process will work, according to Apple:

Free Trials for Non-Subscription Apps

Try before you buy:

Non-subscription apps can now offer a free trial

Free app with non-consumable in-app purchase to unlock

Trial Period: Use non-consumable in-app purchase at price tier 0

Naming convention: 14-day Trial

Apple also says that developers must clearly inform customers of specific details when offering a free trial:

Clearly inform customers of:

Duration of trial

Cost to unlock full functionality

Feature or content lost when trial ends

Apple also detailed some of the changes to the all-new App Store on macOS. The company reiterated that developers can now ask users for ratings and reviews, with the same rules in place as iOS. Those rules include limits on how many times developers can ask a user to rate and review an app, as well as the ability for the user to turn off the prompts altogether.

With iOS 11.2, Apple introduced support for introductory pricing – which means developers can offer a certain subscription price to start and change it later. Now, with iOS 12 and macOS 10.14, Apple is giving developers finer control over this feature. Developers can now offer introductory pricing based on different subscription groups, as well as one introductory price per user for each group.

With these and the rest of the changes in macOS and iOS, Apple is coming closer to bringing both App Stores in line with each other. We’ve already seen developers pledge to bring their applications back to the Mac App Store with these changes, and that’s a trend that will hopefully continue.

Watch the full “Best Practices and What’s New in In-App Purchases” session here.