Original Purchase Restore

Solar2D iOS
#1

Does anyone know how to do the following or if it’s possible?

I have an app that I’m originally selling for $.99.  I’m going to release a free ad supported update soon that will include an in-app purchase for the full version.  The users who have purchased the original version will automatically get the full version.  However, if they need to restore for whatever reason, is there a way for me to determine that they were a user of the original full version?  Like looking up the original receipt date or product version?

Thanks!

#2

How are you determining that they are a full purchase owner after they upgrade to the free version? 

If you can make that determination, you could setup an online database and record that device has the full version.  This is something that you probably should be doing for your in-app purchases anyway to save the receipts to compare restores  to your copy of the purchase receipts to make sure they are valid.

#3

Thanks for the suggestion, @Rob.  I’m already tracking the number of times the program has been launched.  So, on the next release, I can just see if it’s the 1st launch to determine if they’ve upgraded from 1.0 or not.  I do have a few follow up questions…

I’m assuming this is really the only viable solution for this, right?  There’s no call to the appstore that will give me the date of the original purchase?

I’m also assuming that storing the receipts like this is really a theft prevention measure, right?

What services would you recommend for a cloud database solution?

Thanks!

#4

I’m unaware of any calls to get the original purchase date. 

I believe the purpose of storing the receipts is theft prevention.

I’m not sure I’m in a good position to recommend database solutions as I don’t know your skill/budget/expected server needs.   Parse.com is pretty popular from what I can gather from forum posts.  I’ve got a lot of background in PHP and web hosted services, so for my apps I did my own on j-random web host with MySQL support.  You could google around and see if any one has recommendations on services that store those receipts for you.

#5

Rob, do you know of any good tutorials on setting this up?  

#6

Not really.  I would google around and see if anyone has something already for this. 

#7

FYI found this: http://developer.coronalabs.com/code/validation-auto-renewable-app-purchases

#8

How are you determining that they are a full purchase owner after they upgrade to the free version? 

If you can make that determination, you could setup an online database and record that device has the full version.  This is something that you probably should be doing for your in-app purchases anyway to save the receipts to compare restores  to your copy of the purchase receipts to make sure they are valid.

#9

Thanks for the suggestion, @Rob.  I’m already tracking the number of times the program has been launched.  So, on the next release, I can just see if it’s the 1st launch to determine if they’ve upgraded from 1.0 or not.  I do have a few follow up questions…

I’m assuming this is really the only viable solution for this, right?  There’s no call to the appstore that will give me the date of the original purchase?

I’m also assuming that storing the receipts like this is really a theft prevention measure, right?

What services would you recommend for a cloud database solution?

Thanks!

#10

I’m unaware of any calls to get the original purchase date. 

I believe the purpose of storing the receipts is theft prevention.

I’m not sure I’m in a good position to recommend database solutions as I don’t know your skill/budget/expected server needs.   Parse.com is pretty popular from what I can gather from forum posts.  I’ve got a lot of background in PHP and web hosted services, so for my apps I did my own on j-random web host with MySQL support.  You could google around and see if any one has recommendations on services that store those receipts for you.

#11

Rob, do you know of any good tutorials on setting this up?  

#12

Not really.  I would google around and see if anyone has something already for this. 

#13

FYI found this: http://developer.coronalabs.com/code/validation-auto-renewable-app-purchases