How can I use "promo codes" for iap with iap-badger?

Solar2D General Questions/Discussion
#1

Hi!, is there any tutorial that show how can I use “promo codes” for iap with iap-badger libray? in Google Play/App Store, thanks!

#2

Hi there,

According to this page it looks like:

  • you generate a promo code using Google Play console
  • you issue the promo code to the user
  • when the user redeems to code, they are taken into a standard IAP checkout flow in Google Play

The next part is speculation, because I’ve never used it, but then I would imagine:

  • the product is then associated/listed against the customer’s Google Play account
  • when you do a product restore, IAP Badger would then pick it up (as though the user were restoring a product they’ve bought in the past, after an app reinstall)
  • As Google’s advice is to do a product restore whenever your app starts, if you implement that, then the new product should be picked up the next time the user starts the app.

There might be a small fly in the ointment here because I coded IAP Badger to ignore consumable products on a restore cycle.  This is because until now, none of the stores have allowed you to restore consumable IAPs (only non-consumables) - so if IAP Badger ever received one, it could indicate something dodgy is going on (a hack etc.)

Let me know about your progress, and if the above doesn’t help, or I do need to open up the restore cycle to consumable products, let me know.

Simon 

#3

Thanks Simon! and thank you very much for your awesome libray!

#4

Chiming in here. Google has done away with the concept of consumable items anyway. Now everything is a “managed” product and if you want the user to be able to buy the item a second time you have to call the store.consumePurchase() API call to tell Google to allow it for sale again.

Rob

#5

Just so everyone knows, on Google Play, IAP Badger only consumes products that you specify as ’ consumable’ in the product catalogue (the one you pass to IAP Badger’s  init function).

This keeps the functionality of ‘consumable’ and ‘non-consumable’ items on Android, even though they’ve gone from Google Play (as Rob says - under the surface, everything is a ‘managed’ product now).

This means the user will be able to repurchase consumable items (coins etc.) but prevents the accidental repurchase of one-time items (such as game unlocks, removing ads etc.)

I’ve updated the documentation for the purchase function to make this clear.

Simon

#6

Thanks to both, I will report on my progress

#7

Very thanks Simon! The in-app purchase in the app works like a charm in Android, but now in iOS I have a problem because the in-app dialog not show when I press “buy” button, how can I debug this bug?

#8

Well, I finally got it to work on Android (all ok) and iOS (more or less). When I use a promotional code through iTunes, I get the app download but the app purchase is not available. I try with the “restore” button but the timeout listener is called and never restore the purchase.

The app has only one in-app purchase that unlock full version, what are the steps to process correctly promo codes with an in-app purchase on iOS?

#9

Sorry I made a big mistake! I generated promo codes for app not for in-app purchase, now all is fine! thanks for everybody

#10

Hi there,

According to this page it looks like:

  • you generate a promo code using Google Play console
  • you issue the promo code to the user
  • when the user redeems to code, they are taken into a standard IAP checkout flow in Google Play

The next part is speculation, because I’ve never used it, but then I would imagine:

  • the product is then associated/listed against the customer’s Google Play account
  • when you do a product restore, IAP Badger would then pick it up (as though the user were restoring a product they’ve bought in the past, after an app reinstall)
  • As Google’s advice is to do a product restore whenever your app starts, if you implement that, then the new product should be picked up the next time the user starts the app.

There might be a small fly in the ointment here because I coded IAP Badger to ignore consumable products on a restore cycle.  This is because until now, none of the stores have allowed you to restore consumable IAPs (only non-consumables) - so if IAP Badger ever received one, it could indicate something dodgy is going on (a hack etc.)

Let me know about your progress, and if the above doesn’t help, or I do need to open up the restore cycle to consumable products, let me know.

Simon 

#11

Thanks Simon! and thank you very much for your awesome libray!

#12

Chiming in here. Google has done away with the concept of consumable items anyway. Now everything is a “managed” product and if you want the user to be able to buy the item a second time you have to call the store.consumePurchase() API call to tell Google to allow it for sale again.

Rob

#13

Just so everyone knows, on Google Play, IAP Badger only consumes products that you specify as ’ consumable’ in the product catalogue (the one you pass to IAP Badger’s  init function).

This keeps the functionality of ‘consumable’ and ‘non-consumable’ items on Android, even though they’ve gone from Google Play (as Rob says - under the surface, everything is a ‘managed’ product now).

This means the user will be able to repurchase consumable items (coins etc.) but prevents the accidental repurchase of one-time items (such as game unlocks, removing ads etc.)

I’ve updated the documentation for the purchase function to make this clear.

Simon

#14

Thanks to both, I will report on my progress

#15

Very thanks Simon! The in-app purchase in the app works like a charm in Android, but now in iOS I have a problem because the in-app dialog not show when I press “buy” button, how can I debug this bug?

#16

Well, I finally got it to work on Android (all ok) and iOS (more or less). When I use a promotional code through iTunes, I get the app download but the app purchase is not available. I try with the “restore” button but the timeout listener is called and never restore the purchase.

The app has only one in-app purchase that unlock full version, what are the steps to process correctly promo codes with an in-app purchase on iOS?

#17

Sorry I made a big mistake! I generated promo codes for app not for in-app purchase, now all is fine! thanks for everybody