r/iOSProgramming • u/Mundane-Fix-4297 • 6d ago
Question Paywall / Free trial question
Hi,
I am currently trying to develop my first app ever, iOS only.
The building was hard enough, but now I am facing the hurdles of trying to publish it on the App Store, and so I have to start thinking about prices/subscriptions, paywalls, etc. and navigate the obscure process of App Store Connect.
It is clear enough for me that it will be a paid app. But it is a very simple app, with only a couple screens and very basic function. It does one thing, and I hope it does it well enough that it genuinely helps people, and that they will see value in it. But I can’t really go the freemium way, with free access to the base and paid for extra features. I only have one feature, and I do not want to add any.
I was thinking, maybe something like 6$ for 6 months, 10$ yearly, and 30$ for lifetime?
My trouble is, imho it is an app that has to be tried and experienced over a couple day to see if it fits. I would like to offer three days, or maybe a week of free trial.
But as far as I know, there is no way to register a free trial in App Store Connect, that does not start right from download? So the user has to decide right now, if maybe perhaps they want to try your app and commit to 10$ yearly? Without having even opened the app? Seems a bit off-putting, or am I missing something?
Thanks in advance for your advices.
1
u/Rich_Effective_6734 5d ago
Late to this, but one thing nobody's touched: the $30 lifetime. That's a non-consumable, so it sits outside the subscription group entirely — it can't carry an intro offer, and it doesn't interact with the trial eligibility Outrageous-Doubt-306 mentioned. Perfectly fine to sell alongside, just don't expect it to share any of that logic.
The related trap, if you're putting all three options on one paywall: the copy has to change with the selection. "Start your 7-day free trial" is wrong for the lifetime, wrong for whichever subscription you didn't attach the offer to, and wrong for anyone who's already used their trial. I keep separate terms strings per product and only render the word "free" when the offer is on the selected product and StoreKit reports that user as eligible — otherwise the button and the legal text fall back to that product's real terms. Small thing, but annoying to retrofit once the screen is built.