I'm presently investigating the possibility of implementing limited /
premium functionality within a single application with the new in-app
billing.
I'd like to provide a trial period for premium features, and that's
where I'm having trouble understanding what my options are - since I
don't see anything in the in-app billing documentation about a trial period.
Maybe I'm missing something and there *is* support for a purchase trial
period in in-app billing?
If there is not, then it looks like my options are:
1 - Store trial start date within application data files. Obviously,
doesn't work - the user can remove/reinstall as soon as the trial period
ends, and thus make it start over.
2 - Store trial start date somewhere on the memory card. Obviously,
doesn't work - anyone with root access can run strace, find where the
file is stored, remove it, and thus make the trial period start over.
Users can share this information, so that those without root can benefit.
3 - Implement my own server-based storage for trial start dates, indexed
by Google account id, possibly combined with ANDROID_ID, don't forget to
handle cases like the user doing a device reset (so that ANDROID_ID
changes), somehow get the the user's Google account name, handle the
user moving to a new device.
Request permission for Internet access in the manifest, hope that
explaining why it's needed in the app's Market description is enough to
not scare users away.
Request permission to read account info, or prompt the user to enter it,
hope that explaining why it's needed in the app's Market description is
enough to not scare users away.
Hope that those two permissions seen together aren't going to scare
users away.
Hope that implementing all of the above still leaves time to work on the
application itself.
4 - Forget about implementing the trial period, require payment for
premium features up-front. Hope that users make purchases even though
the checkout window says there is no refund.
5 - Forget about in-app billing, implement lite/pro versions with the LVL.
6 - Rely on a honor system, where users call me on the phone each time
they want to use a premium feature, and I tell them if they're allowed
to, after consulting a stack Post-It notes where I'd previously written
their names.
Does this make sense? Did I miss something in the in-app billing
documentation?
Any comments / thoughts / suggestions?
--
Kostya Vasilyev -- http://kmansoft.wordpress.com
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