Restore Purchases
Sweet ‘n sour. After being ‘In Review’ status for 10 days the submitted apps got a verdict. A paid and free version for Solitaire Collection were up for judgement. The paid version got approved – Sweet! Unfortunately… the free version got rejected – Sour!
The free version has ads (starving artist must eat). It also has the option to upgrade and remove ads from it if they get to annoying for the user. The reason the app got rejected by the iTunes review team is because a ‘Restore Purchases’ button was not included with the app. But why is this needed? Say a user buys the upgrade and removes the ads. Then, at some point in time the user deletes the app. When the user delete’s the app, the upgrade purchase disappears. Now say the user re-installs the app after some times. When the app is launched, the ads would return. The ‘Restore Purchases’ button helps the user retrieve what they have already purchased. It makes sense that Apple enforces this option for developers to help users retain what is theirs!
Resubmitted the free version and it’s back to a waiting game!