Developing for Apple platforms is now accessible with a new service that combines the performance and reliability of our world-class hardware with the scalability of Amazon Web Services (AWS). Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), a web service that provides secure, resizable compute capacity in the cloud, now includes EC2 Mac instances. For the first time, you can easily set up and deploy macOS workloads natively within AWS, and take advantage of its flexibility and scalability to add more compute capacity. EC2 Mac instances in the cloud make it easy to create more builds, run more tests, and further automate your development processes by seamlessly provisioning and accessing macOS compute environments with just a few clicks.
Category: Apple Developer News
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Congratulations to the Best of 2020 winners
December 1, 2020
Every year, the App Store celebrates exceptional apps that improve people’s lives while showcasing the highest levels of quality and impact. These award-winning apps and games, created by innovative developers, helped us connect, stay well, and find joy in 2020.
Source App ID and Conversion Value now available in SKAdNetwork 2.0
November 24, 2020
The SKAdNetwork API helps advertising networks measure the success of ad campaigns for your app while maintaining user privacy. With SKAdNetwork 2.0, networks can use Source App ID to identify which app initiated a download from the App Store. And Conversion Value lets them know whether users who installed your app through a campaign performed an action in your app, such as signing up for a free trial or completing a purchase. This information is made available only if it cannot be used to identify individual users.
App privacy questions requirement starts December 8
The App Store will soon help users understand an app’s privacy practices before they download the app on Apple platform. On each app’s product page, users can learn about some of the data types the app may collect, and whether that data is linked to them or used to track them. If you haven’t already, enter your app’s privacy information in App Store Connect.
As a reminder, this information will be required to submit new apps and app updates to the App Store starting December 8, 2020. Existing apps will remain available for download.
Learn more about the details you’ll need to provide
Learn how to provide app privacy information in App Store Connect
Deadline extended for online group event in-app purchase requirement
As the world fights COVID-19, we recognize that adapting experiences from in-person to digital continues to be a top priority. Although apps are required to offer any paid online group event experiences (one-to-few and one-to-many realtime experiences) through in-app purchase in accordance with App Store Review guideline 3.1.1, we temporarily deferred this requirement with an original deadline of December 2020. To allow additional time for developing in-app purchase solutions, this deadline has been extended to June 30, 2021.
Please note that guideline 3.1.3(d) allows apps offering realtime person-to-person experiences between two individuals (for example, tutoring students, medical consultations, real estate tours, or fitness training) to use purchase methods other than in-app purchase.
Market your subscriptions with offer codes
You can now create and distribute subscription offer codes for your apps, giving you new ways to market your subscription. These one-time use, alphanumeric codes can be redeemed on the App Store or within your app. You can also create unique URLs associated with an offer code and distribute these using your choice of channels.
Offer codes can help you acquire, retain, and win back people by letting them experience your subscription at a free or discounted price for a specific duration. At the end of the offer period, the subscription auto-renews at the standard price unless a subscriber cancels it or turns off auto-renewal.
Offer codes can be used in a variety of ways. For example, you can:
- Send an email to current or lapsed subscribers that share the latest features or recently added content, along with an offer code to experience your service for a limited time
- Distribute flyers to event attendees that promote your service and include a unique offer code on each flyer
- Partner with another company on a marketing initiative or campaign to help promote your app
- Provide a subscriber with a customer service issue an offer code to compensate for the issue and encourage retention
You can provide multiple types of offers to people depending on your business goals. To determine which type might be best for a particular use case, consider each offer’s intended use, customer eligibility, redemption limits, and other criteria.
Learn more about providing subscription offers
Configure and create offer codes
You can create new offer codes within App Store Connect. When you set up a new code, you’ll also need to determine customer eligibility: Is this for a new, existing, or expired subscriber?
If creating a code for a new subscriber, you’ll also want to decide whether the code is valid in addition to any introductory offers you may provide within your app.
As with other subscription offers in your app, you can choose whether the offer is free, pay as you go, or pay up front.
You can configure offer codes in App Store Connect. In the offer codes section, you can see your active and inactive offers, as well as the number of codes you have available to create.
After you’ve configured your offer, you can create and download codes. You can create up to 150,000 new codes every quarter per app.
Note: Codes expire a maximum of six months from their creation date, so be mindful of how many codes you create at a given time to ensure you have enough valid codes to last the duration of your campaign.
Once you’ve downloaded your codes, you can use the URL in App Store Connect and create associated one-time code redemption URLs. You’ll need to copy the URL from your offer details page, then add the specific code to the end of the URL, like so:
https://apps.apple.com/redeem?ctx=offercodes&id=YourAppAppleID&code=OfferCode
Customers can redeem only one code per active offer, but may be eligible to redeem multiple different offer codes for a single subscription, depending on your configuration choices.
Before creating any offer codes, be sure to set up your server to validate receipts so you can properly entitle service. You can also enable App Store server notifications to understand subscription updates and status changes in real-time.
Learn more about setting up offer codes
Distribute offer codes
You can distribute offer codes however you choose. Consider which channels might be most effective at reaching your intended customers. For example, you might distribute code redemption URLs in digital marketing channels such as your email distribution lists or text messages. You might share printed offer codes at events or even alongside the purchase of a physical product.
When distributing offer codes, make sure to note any eligibility or availability limits, as well as the code’s expiration date. If sharing offer codes with existing customers, make sure the offer is for a subscription within the same subscription group as their existing subscription.
Learn more about subscription groups
Redeem offer codes
In order for customers to redeem an offer code, your app must be in the Ready for Sale state in App Store Connect. Customers on iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 and later can redeem offer codes by entering them in the “Redeem Gift Card or Code” page in their App Store account settings, or directly within your app if you’ve implemented the presentCodeRedemptionSheet API. Additionally, if you’ve created and shared one-time code redemption URLs, customers can redeem offer codes using that link.
Apple handles the redemption experience, which includes an offer details screen with the app icon, subscription display name, duration, and pricing; if you’ve previously added a promotional in-app purchase image for the subscription, this is shown instead of your app icon.
You can customize each of these details within App Store Connect. To help people make an informed decision, make sure that they clearly describe your subscription. If a customer attempts to redeem your code but does not have your app installed, they’ll be able to download it during the redemption experience.
After tapping a custom redeem button within your app, the system automatically provides a series of code-redemption screens like the ones shown. If using one-time code redemption URLs, customers won’t need to enter the code as part of the redemption process.
If you choose to support in-app redemption, consider adding a way to enter an offer code during relevant moments in the user experience — for example, adding a “Redeem Code” link on your subscription’s paywall screen, or in your app’s settings screen.
Once a user redeems an offer, provide a relevant experience based on their subscription state. For example, for a first-time subscriber, you might highlight the benefits of your subscription and provide onboarding. If your app includes account creation or requires agreement to additional terms, make this process as smooth as possible for customers who redeemed a code and are new to your app.
Resources
Learn more about providing subscription offers
Announcing the App Store Small Business Program
We believe that small businesses are the backbone of our global economy and the beating heart of innovation and opportunity in communities around the world. Launching January 1, 2021, the industry-leading new App Store Small Business Program is designed to accelerate innovation and help propel your small business forward. The program has a reduced commission rate of 15% on paid apps and in-app purchases, so you can invest more resources into your business and continue building the kind of quality apps your customers love.
The vast majority of developers on the App Store who sell digital goods and services will qualify for the Small Business Program.
- Existing developers who made up to $1 million in proceeds in 2020 for all their apps, as well as developers new to the App Store, can qualify for the program and the reduced commission.
- If a participating developer surpasses the $1 million threshold, the standard commission rate will apply for the remainder of the year.
- If a developer’s business falls below the $1 million threshold in a future calendar year, they can re-qualify for the 15% commission the year after.
Stay tuned for additional details in early December.
Subscription offer codes now available
You can now create subscription offer codes to acquire, retain, and win back subscribers. Offer codes are unique, alphanumeric codes that provide auto-renewable subscriptions at a discounted price or for free for a specific duration. Provide your one-time use codes digitally or offline at physical events, alongside products, and more. Users on iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 and later can redeem offer codes on the App Store through a one-time code redemption URL, or within your app if you’ve implemented the presentCodeRedemptionSheet API. Sales and Trends reports will be updated later this year to include information on the performance of your subscription offer codes.
New features available in Transporter 1.2
November 16, 2020
You can now use Transporter for Mac to upload metadata, view a history of delivered builds for each app version, and filter that history by time period. This latest version also includes support for 29 additional languages.
iPhone and iPad apps are coming to Mac
November 11, 2020
As announced at WWDC20, we’re excited to bring iPhone and iPad apps to the Mac App Store on Apple silicon Macs — so your apps can reach even more users worldwide. By default, your apps will be published automatically on the Mac App Store. To make sure that Mac users have a great experience, confirm that your apps work well on this platform and don’t rely on iPhone or iPad features not available on Mac. If needed, update their availability on Mac in App Store Connect.