What is In-app Subscription and How to Implement It?

What is an In-App Subscription?

An in-App subscription is an increasingly popular way to monetize a mobile App. Technically, it is the process of collecting payments periodically in exchange for premium content and extended services. In-App subscription has gained huge popularity due to their immense customer retention potential whilst improving the overall user experience simultaneously.

Advantages of In-App Subscription (IAS)

The subscription model has a lot of advantages. The subscription model has proven to be more efficient than the ad model. The ad model sacrifices user experience in order to make them interact with ads whereas, in the Subscription model, the users already pay for the content, hence no such compromises need to be made. The in-App subscription also fosters App companies to develop great applications. Constant updates, regular content, feature updates and other values are constantly added to the app in order for this subscription model to be a success. In other words, the in-app subscription model benefits the healthy development of the whole APP Economy.

What Apps Succeed with In-App Subscriptions?

An in-App subscription seems to be the best model for generating stable revenue, but this model is a good fit for only certain kinds of apps. The apps which have a theme of constantly updating their content are a perfect fit.
Content apps like youtube, Instagram, Spotify, etc are amazing examples of content apps that have performed amazingly well using this model. Online news portals also fall under this category.

Service sector apps such as diet planners, calorie trackers, and fitness apps would also be a good fit. The above-mentioned apps have content that is curated for a particular need that seems valuable enough to pay for periodically.

Gaming apps tend to be a bad fit for this model as they do not provide constant updates (updates being related more to gameplay and not monetary), which thrives under the single-time purchase option where players tend to purchase skins and battle passes. Apps which do not have the scope to have regular updates and enhanced content also will not be successful when this model is employed.

In-App Subscription vs In-App Purchase?

In-App purchase is a type of additional paid service provided by the application. This type of purchase does not require periodic payments and can even be purchased from a free account. This is an add-on type of purchase. An in-App subscription on the other hand requires periodic payment for continued service. It is not a one-time purchase and it works on a subscription basis, failing which they revert back to being a free user.

In-App Purchase comes in many forms, namely

• Consumable: It is a type of one-time purchase which gets used up or depleted. It is generally popular among gaming apps in the form of in-game currency.

• Non-Consumable: it is a type of one-time purchase that lasts forever and doesn’t expire at all. This could be a one-time payment to stop ads or get a premium item.( a selfie filter, extra editing kit, etc)

• Auto-Renewable Subscription: It is a type of purchase that is recurring in nature. Once the user subscribes to this, the user gets charged periodically until they cancel the subscription. (mostly used in music and streaming apps)

• Non-Renewing: It is a subscription-type purchase that provides premium access for a limited time. The offer itself would have changed after some time, hence it doesn’t automatically re-subscribe. The user must subscribe after the initial offer expires (battle passes in games, and seasonal special services come under this).

So how to implement in-app subscription in Apple Store Connect?
Check out this step-by-step guide.