Monetizing Android apps on the Play Store

Talk given at DroidCon NYC 2015 and AnDevCon Boston 2015 about integrating in-app billing in Android apps

1. Monetizing Android apps on the Play Store Yash Prabhu @yashvprabhu | @dramafever Slides https://goo.gl/1p9k1r Image credit: Stock Android lollipop wallpaper
2. Why are we here? Image credit
3. 7 Things we will learn today
4. Security Google Play Developer API Revenue Models Product Types Purchase Workflow In-app Billing v3 API Testing Image credit: Material icons
5. Revenue Models One
6. Digital & Physical Goods • Freemium - 30% ◦ In-app products ◦ Subscription • Paid • AdMob • Android Pay Digital Goods Physical Goods
7. Product Types Two
8. Non-Consumable • Can be purchased only once • Permanent benefit Managed: For One time purchases Consumable • Can be purchased multiple times • Temporary benefit Image credit: Material icons
9. Subscriptions - For automated, recurring billing • Weekly, monthly, annual, seasonal • Free trials - 7 to 30 days • Manual renewal • Upgrade/downgrade • Deferred Billing
11. Purchase Workflow Three
12. Purchase response Response data GOOGLE PLAY DEVELOPER API YOUR SERVER Purchase request Purchase response GOOGLE PLAY APP ANDROID CLIENT APP Purchase response GOOGLE PLAY SERVER
13. In-app Billing v3 API Client side workflow Four
14. Image credit
15. In-app billing setup 1. Set up Merchant account 2. Integrate in-app billing v3 API 3. Define in-app products 4. Provision premium content 5. Profit!
16. Set up Merchant Account 1. Go to https://play.google.com/apps/publish/ 2. Open Financial reports on the side bar 3. Click Setup a Merchant Account now Step 1
17. Set up In-app billing v3 • Go to sdk/extras/google/play_billing • Copy into your project ◦ IInAppBillingService.aidl ◦ All Java files in trivialdrivesample/util • Add billing permission into your manifest <uses-permission android:name= "com.android.vending.BILLING" /> 1Step 2
18. Copy your license key into IabHelper.java Iab => In-app billing
19. Upload alpha apk. Hit Publish!
20. Set up a new product on Developer Console 1Step 3
21. Your in- app billing app Google Play App isBillingSupported() Supported/Not Supported getPurchases() Bundle(purchase info ....) getSkuDetails() Bundle(response code, sku info) getBuyIntent() Bundle(response code, buy intent) startIntentSenderForResult() Bundle(response code, purchase data, signature)
22. Is billing supported? public void onServiceConnected(ComponentName name, IBinder service) { mService = IInAppBillingService.Stub.asInterface(service); int response = mService.isBillingSupported(3, packageName, itemType); if (response == BILLING_RESPONSE_RESULT_OK) { // billing is supported } else { // billing is not supported } }
23. Query user’s owned products Bundle ownedItems = mService.getPurchases(3, packageName, itemType, continueToken); itemType => “inapp” || “subs” continueToken => retrieve next set of owned purchases
24. Query in-app product details Bundle skuDetails = mService.getSkuDetails(3, packageName, itemType, querySkus); itemType => “inapp” || “subs” querySkus => Bundle of all owned skus
25. When user wants to purchase public void launchPurchaseFlow(Activity act, String sku, String itemType, int requestCode, OnIabPurchaseFinishedListener listener, String extraData) { .... Bundle buyIntentBundle = mService.getBuyIntent(3, packageName, sku, itemType, extraData); .... }
26. App launches the pending intent PendingIntent pendingIntent = buyIntentBundle.getParcelable(RESPONSE_BUY_INTENT); activity.startIntentSenderForResult( pendingIntent.getIntentSender(), requestCode, new Intent(), flagsMask, flagsValues, extraFlags);
27. Get purchase information public boolean handleActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) { int responseCode = getResponseCodeFromIntent(data); String purchaseData = data.getStringExtra(RESPONSE_INAPP_PURCHASE_DATA); String dataSignature = data.getStringExtra(RESPONSE_INAPP_SIGNATURE); return true; }
28. Google Play App Your in- app billing app getPurchases() Bundle(purchase info ....) consumePurchase() Success/Failure
29. Consume a purchase void consume(Purchase itemInfo) throws IabException { String token = itemInfo.getToken(); String sku = itemInfo.getSku(); int response = mService.consumePurchase(3, packageName, token); if (response == BILLING_RESPONSE_RESULT_OK) { // sku consumed successfully } }
30. Quick Recap • isBillingSupported? • getPurchases() • getSkuDetails() • getBuyIntent() • handleActivityResult() • if consumable purchase is successful, consume() On startup On purchase After purchase
31. Purchase data { "orderId": "1299911111111111.145333335334137..0", "packageName": "com.sample.app", "productId": "test_inapp_upgrade", "purchaseTime": 1384834368656, "purchaseState": 0, "developerPayload": "abcdef", "purchaseToken": "fdgdghdjdp86dg", "autoRenewing":true }
32. Signature & Response code Signature: jHCzy6MGITNtOuF0nfYyiEyGw== Response codes 0 - Purchased 1 - Canceled 2 - Refunded
33. Testing Client side workflow Five
34. Testing • Add licensed test users to Google Play developer console • Reserved product ids • No charges • • Regular users who can download your app from the Play Store • Real product ids • Actual charges Similar: Publish on Alpha, Beta or Production channels Test Purchases Regular Purchases
36. Reserved product IDs • android.test.purchased • android.test.canceled • android.test.refunded • android.test.item_unavailable
37. Testing with reserved product IDs • Install signed apk on a test device. No emulators! • Sign into device with your developer account • Google Play version 2.3.4+ or MyApps app 5.0.12+ • Android 2.2+ • Run your app and purchase reserved product ID
39. Testing with actual product IDs • No draft apks: Upload signed apk to alpha/beta channel • Add a real managed product to Developer Console • Install signed apk on a test device. No emulators! • Google Play version 2.3.4+ or MyApps app 5.0.12+ • Android 2.2+ • Purchase the real product with a real credit card • Factory reset device for same product purchase!
40. Testing subscriptions before Feb 2015 • There was no sandbox! • Create a test $0.99 monthly subscription product • Purchase product with real credit card • Refund & cancel order on the Google Wallet console • Wait till end of subscription period to retest or factory reset device! https://www.emojibase.com/emoji/1f622/cryingface
41. Testing subscriptions after Feb 2015 • Use android.test.purchased reserved product • Buy the product • Wait for 1 day to retest subscription Image credit
42. Valid subscription product purchase!
43. Common errors
45. Security Client side workflow Six
46. Security • Obfuscate code using Proguard -keep class com.android.vending.billing.** • Protect unlocked/premium content • Protect your Google Play Public Key • Modify sample application code • Use developer payload to uniquely identify user • Signature verification on your client and server
47. Decode base64 Public Key & verify signature public static boolean verifyPurchase(String base64PublicKey, String purchaseData, String signature) { boolean verified = false; if (!TextUtils.isEmpty(signature)) { PublicKey key = Security.generatePublicKey(base64PublicKey); verified = Security.verify(key, purchaseData, signature); } return true; }
48. Google Play Developer API Server side workflow Seven
49. Purchase response Response data GOOGLE PLAY DEVELOPER API YOUR SERVER Purchase request Purchase response GOOGLE PLAY APP ANDROID CLIENT APP Purchase response GOOGLE PLAY SERVER
50. Why use Google Play Developer API? • 200,000 queries per day for free! • Publishing API • Subscriptions & In-app purchases API
51. Setting up Google Play Developer API 1. Set up an APIs Console Project https://console.developers.google.com/ 2. Create an OAuth 2.0 Client ID 3. Generate a refresh token & access tokens 4. Access the API
52. Purchases.products.get request Checks the purchase and consumption status of an inapp item. GET https://www.googleapis.com/androidpublisher/v2/app lications/packageName/purchases/products/productI d/tokens/token
53. Purchases.products.get response { "kind": "androidpublisher#productPurchase", "purchaseTimeMillis": long, "purchaseState": integer, "consumptionState": integer, "developerPayload": string }
54. Purchases.subscriptions.get request Checks validity & expiration of a user's subscription purchase GET https://www.googleapis.com/androidpublisher/v2/app lications/packageName/purchases/subscriptions/subs criptionId/tokens/token
55. Purchases.subscriptions.get response { "kind": "androidpublisher#subscriptionPurchase", "startTimeMillis": long, "expiryTimeMillis": long, "autoRenewing": boolean }
56. Google API Client libraries • Easier to set up authentication and authorization • Reduces OAuth 2.0 code • Featured: Java, Python, .NET, PHP, Javascript • Early-stage: Go, Dart, Ruby, Node-js, Objective-C • https://developers.google.com/api-client-library/
57. References • Google Play In-app Billing • Training: Using Google Play to Distribute and Monetize • Video: In-app Billing Version 3 (Google I/O 2013) • Using OAuth 2.0 to access Google Play APIs • Google API client libraries
58. Q&A Yash Prabhu @yashvprabhu Slides https://goo.gl/1p9k1r Work at DramaFever http://goo.gl/gWUM5U