Apps and games are attractive and fun until they require you to pay a few dollars or more. We know, business is business but don’t you just love sales, promos, and discounts? To start the year right, the whole Android community can now take advantage of promo codes that can be applied on the Google Play Store. They can be used for premium games and apps that you’ve been wanting to download but you think are too pricey.
No, we’re not giving away promo codes today but such feature can now be used by developers on apps. Apple has had the similar feature for iOS apps but it’s only now that Android devs are getting it. We don’t know why it took Google a while but it’s here. As described, promo codes let developers give special features or content to a limited number of users for free. A promo code can be created to distribute but still subject to the terms of service.
Feel free to give away promo codes for users to enter in the Play Store or right in the app to get the content you’re generously giving. This will be a great way to attract more potential users.
The Android team has dedicated a page on the Dev Console site for In-app Promotions that includes instructions on how to do the following:
• Creating and Redeeming Promo Codes
• Supporting Promo Codes In Your App
• Testing In-app Promotions
Creating promo codes can be done through the Google Play Developer Console. Note that you will need to do some tweaks on your code. You should be adding getPurchases() somewhere. Of course, you need to test several use cases before giving away promo codes and see if your app can successful support in-app promos.
Remember that promo codes have limits. They can be used on apps and games plus non-subscription in-app purchases but NOT on in-app subscriptions. You can set expiration dates for them (up to one year maximum) and give away only 500 promo codes per quarter. Unused codes can’t be added to the limit for the next quarter.
VIA: PHANDROID
