Subscriptions

You, as a developer, must not mislead users about any subscription services or content that you offer within your app. It is critical to communicate clearly in any in-app promotions or splash screens. We do not allow apps that subject users to deceptive or manipulative purchase experiences (including in-app purchases or subscriptions).

You must be transparent about your offer. This includes being explicit about your offer terms, the cost of your subscription, the frequency of your billing cycle, and whether a subscription is required to use the app. Users should not have to perform any additional action to review the information.

Subscriptions must provide sustained or recurring value to users throughout the life of the subscription, and may not be used to offer what are effectively one-off benefits to users (for example, SKUs that provide lump sum in-app credits/currency or single-use game boosters). Your subscription may offer incentive or promotional bonuses, but these must be complementary to the sustained or recurring value provided throughout the life of the subscription. Products that do not offer sustained and recurring value must use an in-app product instead of a subscription product.

You may not disguise or mischaracterise one-off benefits to users as subscriptions. This includes the modification of a subscription to turn it into a one-off offering (for example, cancelling, deprecating or minimising recurring value) after the user has purchased the subscription.

• Monthly subscriptions that do not inform users that they will be automatically renewed and charged every month.
• Annual subscriptions that most prominently display their pricing in terms of monthly cost.
• Subscription pricing and terms that are incompletely localised.
• In-app promotions that do not clearly demonstrate that a user can access content without a subscription (when available).
• SKU names that do not accurately convey the nature of the subscription, such as 'Free of charge trial' or 'Try Premium membership – three days free of charge', for a subscription with an auto-recurring charge. 
• Multiple screens in the purchase flow that lead users into accidentally clicking the subscribe button.
• Subscriptions that do not offer sustained or recurring value – for example, offering 1,000 gems for the first month, then reducing the benefit to 1 gem in subsequent months of the subscription.
• Requiring a user to sign up to an auto-renewing subscription to deliver a one-off benefit, and cancelling a user’s subscription without their request after the purchase.

① Dismiss button is not clearly visible and users may not understand that they can access functionality without accepting the subscription offer.

② Offer only displays pricing in terms of monthly cost and users may not understand that they will be charged a six-month price at the time that they subscribe.

③ Offer only shows the introductory price and users may not understand what they will automatically be charged at the end of the introductory period.

④ Offer should be localised in the same language as the Terms and Conditions so that users can understand the entire offer.

Example 2:

① Recurring clicks in the same button area causes the user to inadvertently click the final 'continue' button to subscribe.

② The amount that users will be charged at the end of the trial is hard to read, such that users may think that the plan is free of charge