Whether it’s Google Play or the iOS App Store, you can see multiple apps which users can download for free. But that does not mean it will not cost you anything. These so-called free apps have hidden charges, and that is exactly known as in-app purchases.
Let’s understand What are In-App Purchases (IAP) in detail.
In-app purchase means, the app users can purchase different sorts of digital items, goods, or services inside an app. This Is how developers can profit through their apps rather than giving complete free access to the users.
Here are some use cases for a better understanding of the meaning.
Develop a Freemium model of the app where the app is free to download, but it can cost on leveraging advanced content within a Premium account.
App users need to purchase things like extra lives, unlocking bonus levels, virtual currency, skipping a particular complex gaming level, and additional moves to take the gaming experience to a next level.
Purchasing a key that unlocks advanced features within an app.
What is Consumable and Non-Consumable In-App Purchase?
Consumable In-App Purchase
This in-app purchase must be purchased each time when users download it. It is not allowed to download again for free. If users remove/uninstall an app, or install it on other smart devices, users can lose the purchases.
Examples- Extra currency and additional health points in gaming apps, export packages to a new file format.
Non-Consumable In-App Purchase
This in-app purchase needs to purchase only once when users download it. It is transferable to any other device associated with the same user ID. In case users lose it, it can be downloaded for free again.
Examples- Unlocking of a full game, Bonus level, upgrading to premium edition, ads removal.
In-app purchase statistics 2020
According to Statista, In-app advertising revenues are anticipated to reach 117.2m in 2020, raised from 40.5b in 2015. (U.S. dollars)