Share via


Adding trials and in-app purchases (Windows Runtime apps using C#/VB/C++ and XAML)

Purpose

Your Windows Runtime app can use the support for free apps, trials (both time-based and feature-based), paid apps, and in-app purchases to give your customers the ability to try your app for free and choose what works for them. The topics in this section show you how to build these features into your app.

For more info about the different business models supported by the Windows Store, see Monetization and business models. For details about the fees charged by the Windows Store and how you get paid for the money your app makes, see Getting paid.

In this section

Topic Description

Create a trial version of your app

If customers can use your app for free during a trial period, you can design your app to exclude or limit some features during the trial period. You can also enable features, such as banners or watermarks, that are shown only during the trial, before a customer buys your app.

Enable in-app purchases from your app

Your app can offer products and features that your customers can buy from within the app. Here we show you how to enable these offers in your app.

Enable in-app purchase of consumables

Offer consumable in-app purchases—items that can be purchased, used, and purchased again—through the Windows Store commerce platform to provide your customers with an in-app purchase experience that is both robust and reliable.

How to manage a large catalog of in-app offers

Windows 8.1 introduces a new solution for apps that offer in-app purchase catalogs that extend beyond the Windows Store limitation of 200 product listings per developer account. This solution allows you to create just a handful of product entries for specific price tiers, with each one able to represent hundreds of offers within your in-app purchase catalog.

The in-app purchase experience for a customer

This topic describes how an in-app purchase looks to a customer.

Using receipts to verify purchases

In some situations, you may need to verify that a user purchased your app, or has made in-app content purchases. For example, imagine a game that offers downloaded content. If the user who purchased the game content wants to play it on a different Windows 8 device, you need to verify that the user already owns the content. Here's how.