[ios] How do you add an in-app purchase to an iOS application?

How do you add an in-app purchase to an iOS app? What are all the details and is there any sample code?

_{This is meant to be a catch-all of sorts for how to add in-app purchases to iOS apps}

RMStore is a lightweight iOS library for In-App Purchases. It wraps StoreKit API and provides you with handy blocks for asynchronous requests. Purchasing a product is as easy as calling a single method.

For the advanced users, this library also provides receipt verification, content downloads and transaction persistence.

Just translate Jojodmo code to Swift:

class InAppPurchaseManager: NSObject , SKProductsRequestDelegate, SKPaymentTransactionObserver{





//If you have more than one in-app purchase, you can define both of
//of them here. So, for example, you could define both kRemoveAdsProductIdentifier
//and kBuyCurrencyProductIdentifier with their respective product ids
//
//for this example, we will only use one product

let kRemoveAdsProductIdentifier = "put your product id (the one that we just made in iTunesConnect) in here"

@IBAction func tapsRemoveAds() {

    NSLog("User requests to remove ads")

    if SKPaymentQueue.canMakePayments() {
        NSLog("User can make payments")

        //If you have more than one in-app purchase, and would like
        //to have the user purchase a different product, simply define
        //another function and replace kRemoveAdsProductIdentifier with
        //the identifier for the other product
        let set : Set<String> = [kRemoveAdsProductIdentifier]
        let productsRequest = SKProductsRequest(productIdentifiers: set)
        productsRequest.delegate = self
        productsRequest.start()

    }
    else {
        NSLog("User cannot make payments due to parental controls")
        //this is called the user cannot make payments, most likely due to parental controls
    }
}


func purchase(product : SKProduct) {

    let payment = SKPayment(product: product)
    SKPaymentQueue.defaultQueue().addTransactionObserver(self)
    SKPaymentQueue.defaultQueue().addPayment(payment)
}

func restore() {
    //this is called when the user restores purchases, you should hook this up to a button
    SKPaymentQueue.defaultQueue().addTransactionObserver(self)
    SKPaymentQueue.defaultQueue().restoreCompletedTransactions()
}


func doRemoveAds() {
    //TODO: implement
}

/////////////////////////////////////////////////
//////////////// store delegate /////////////////
/////////////////////////////////////////////////
// MARK: - store delegate -


func productsRequest(request: SKProductsRequest, didReceiveResponse response: SKProductsResponse) {

    if let validProduct = response.products.first {
        NSLog("Products Available!")
        self.purchase(validProduct)
    }
    else {
        NSLog("No products available")
        //this is called if your product id is not valid, this shouldn't be called unless that happens.
    }
}

func paymentQueueRestoreCompletedTransactionsFinished(queue: SKPaymentQueue) {


    NSLog("received restored transactions: \(queue.transactions.count)")
    for transaction in queue.transactions {
        if transaction.transactionState == .Restored {
            //called when the user successfully restores a purchase
            NSLog("Transaction state -> Restored")

            //if you have more than one in-app purchase product,
            //you restore the correct product for the identifier.
            //For example, you could use
            //if(productID == kRemoveAdsProductIdentifier)
            //to get the product identifier for the
            //restored purchases, you can use
            //
            //NSString *productID = transaction.payment.productIdentifier;
            self.doRemoveAds()
            SKPaymentQueue.defaultQueue().finishTransaction(transaction)
            break;
        }
    }
}


func paymentQueue(queue: SKPaymentQueue, updatedTransactions transactions: [SKPaymentTransaction]) {

    for transaction in transactions {
        switch transaction.transactionState {
        case .Purchasing: NSLog("Transaction state -> Purchasing")
            //called when the user is in the process of purchasing, do not add any of your own code here.
        case .Purchased:
            //this is called when the user has successfully purchased the package (Cha-Ching!)
            self.doRemoveAds() //you can add your code for what you want to happen when the user buys the purchase here, for this tutorial we use removing ads
            SKPaymentQueue.defaultQueue().finishTransaction(transaction)
            NSLog("Transaction state -> Purchased")
        case .Restored:
            NSLog("Transaction state -> Restored")
            //add the same code as you did from SKPaymentTransactionStatePurchased here
            SKPaymentQueue.defaultQueue().finishTransaction(transaction)
        case .Failed:
            //called when the transaction does not finish
            if transaction.error?.code == SKErrorPaymentCancelled {
                NSLog("Transaction state -> Cancelled")
                //the user cancelled the payment ;(
            }
            SKPaymentQueue.defaultQueue().finishTransaction(transaction)
        case .Deferred:
            // The transaction is in the queue, but its final status is pending external action.
            NSLog("Transaction state -> Deferred")

        }


    }
}
} 

I know I am quite late to post this, but I share similar experience when I learned the ropes of IAP model.

In-app purchase is one of the most comprehensive workflow in iOS implemented by Storekit framework. The entire documentation is quite clear if you patience to read it, but is somewhat advanced in nature of technicality.

To summarize:

1 - Request the products - use SKProductRequest & SKProductRequestDelegate classes to issue request for Product IDs and receive them back from your own itunesconnect store.

These SKProducts should be used to populate your store UI which the user can use to buy a specific product.

2 - Issue payment request - use SKPayment & SKPaymentQueue to add payment to the transaction queue.

3 - Monitor transaction queue for status update - use SKPaymentTransactionObserver Protocol's updatedTransactions method to monitor status:

SKPaymentTransactionStatePurchasing - don't do anything
SKPaymentTransactionStatePurchased - unlock product, finish the transaction
SKPaymentTransactionStateFailed - show error, finish the transaction
SKPaymentTransactionStateRestored - unlock product, finish the transaction

4 - Restore button flow - use SKPaymentQueue's restoreCompletedTransactions to accomplish this - step 3 will take care of the rest, along with SKPaymentTransactionObserver's following methods:

paymentQueueRestoreCompletedTransactionsFinished
restoreCompletedTransactionsFailedWithError

Here is a step by step tutorial (authored by me as a result of my own attempts to understand it) that explains it. At the end it also provides code sample that you can directly use.

Here is another one I created to explain certain things that only text could describe in better manner.

Swift Answer

This is meant to supplement my Objective-C answer for Swift users, to keep the Objective-C answer from getting too big.

Setup

First, set up the in-app purchase on appstoreconnect.apple.com. Follow the beginning part of my Objective-C answer (steps 1-13, under the App Store Connect header) for instructions on doing that.

It could take a few hours for your product ID to register in App Store Connect, so be patient.

Now that you've set up your in-app purchase information on App Store Connect, we need to add Apple's framework for in-app-purchases, StoreKit, to the app.

Go into your Xcode project, and go to the application manager (blue page-like icon at the top of the left bar where your app's files are). Click on your app under targets on the left (it should be the first option), then go to "Capabilities" at the top. On the list, you should see an option "In-App Purchase". Turn this capability ON, and Xcode will add StoreKit to your project.

Coding

Now, we're going to start coding!

First, make a new swift file that will manage all of your in-app-purchases. I'm going to call it IAPManager.swift.

In this file, we're going to create a new class, called IAPManager that is a SKProductsRequestDelegate and SKPaymentTransactionObserver. At the top, make sure you import Foundation and StoreKit

import Foundation
import StoreKit

public class IAPManager: NSObject, SKProductsRequestDelegate,
                         SKPaymentTransactionObserver {
}

Next, we're going to add a variable to define the identifier for our in-app purchase (you could also use an enum, which would be easier to maintain if you have multiple IAPs).

// This should the ID of the in-app-purchase you made on AppStore Connect.
// if you have multiple IAPs, you'll need to store their identifiers in
// other variables, too (or, preferably in an enum).
let removeAdsID = "com.skiplit.removeAds"

Let's add an initializer for our class next:

// This is the initializer for your IAPManager class
//
// A better, and more scaleable way of doing this
// is to also accept a callback in the initializer, and call
// that callback in places like the paymentQueue function, and
// in all functions in this class, in place of calls to functions
// in RemoveAdsManager (you'll see those calls in the code below).

let productID: String
init(productID: String){
    self.productID = productID
}

Now, we're going to add the required functions for SKProductsRequestDelegate and SKPaymentTransactionObserver to work:

_{We'll add the RemoveAdsManager class later}

// This is called when a SKProductsRequest receives a response
public func productsRequest(_ request: SKProductsRequest, didReceive response: SKProductsResponse){
    // Let's try to get the first product from the response
    // to the request
    if let product = response.products.first{
        // We were able to get the product! Make a new payment
        // using this product
        let payment = SKPayment(product: product)

        // add the new payment to the queue
        SKPaymentQueue.default().add(self)
        SKPaymentQueue.default().add(payment)
    }
    else{
        // Something went wrong! It is likely that either
        // the user doesn't have internet connection, or
        // your product ID is wrong!
        //
        // Tell the user in requestFailed() by sending an alert,
        // or something of the sort

        RemoveAdsManager.removeAdsFailure()
    }
}

// This is called when the user restores their IAP sucessfully
private func paymentQueueRestoreCompletedTransactionsFinished(_ queue: SKPaymentQueue){
    // For every transaction in the transaction queue...
    for transaction in queue.transactions{
        // If that transaction was restored
        if transaction.transactionState == .restored{
            // get the producted ID from the transaction
            let productID = transaction.payment.productIdentifier

            // In this case, we have only one IAP, so we don't need to check
            // what IAP it is. However, this is useful if you have multiple IAPs!
            // You'll need to figure out which one was restored
            if(productID.lowercased() == IAPManager.removeAdsID.lowercased()){
                // Restore the user's purchases
                RemoveAdsManager.restoreRemoveAdsSuccess()
            }

            // finish the payment
            SKPaymentQueue.default().finishTransaction(transaction)
        }
    }
}

// This is called when the state of the IAP changes -- from purchasing to purchased, for example.
// This is where the magic happens :)
public func paymentQueue(_ queue: SKPaymentQueue, updatedTransactions transactions: [SKPaymentTransaction]){
    for transaction in transactions{
        // get the producted ID from the transaction
        let productID = transaction.payment.productIdentifier

        // In this case, we have only one IAP, so we don't need to check
        // what IAP it is.
        // However, if you have multiple IAPs, you'll need to use productID
        // to check what functions you should run here!

        switch transaction.transactionState{
        case .purchasing:
            // if the user is currently purchasing the IAP,
            // we don't need to do anything.
            //
            // You could use this to show the user
            // an activity indicator, or something like that
            break
        case .purchased:
            // the user successfully purchased the IAP!
            RemoveAdsManager.removeAdsSuccess()
            SKPaymentQueue.default().finishTransaction(transaction)
        case .restored:
                // the user restored their IAP!
                IAPTestingHandler.restoreRemoveAdsSuccess()
                SKPaymentQueue.default().finishTransaction(transaction)
        case .failed:
                // The transaction failed!
                RemoveAdsManager.removeAdsFailure()
                // finish the transaction
                SKPaymentQueue.default().finishTransaction(transaction)
        case .deferred:
                // This happens when the IAP needs an external action
                // in order to proceeded, like Ask to Buy
                RemoveAdsManager.removeAdsDeferred()
                break
        }
    }
}

Now let's add some functions that can be used to start a purchase or a restore purchases:

// Call this when you want to begin a purchase
// for the productID you gave to the initializer
public func beginPurchase(){
    // If the user can make payments
    if SKPaymentQueue.canMakePayments(){
        // Create a new request
        let request = SKProductsRequest(productIdentifiers: [productID])
        // Set the request delegate to self, so we receive a response
        request.delegate = self
        // start the request
        request.start()
    }
    else{
        // Otherwise, tell the user that
        // they are not authorized to make payments,
        // due to parental controls, etc
    }
}

// Call this when you want to restore all purchases
// regardless of the productID you gave to the initializer
public func beginRestorePurchases(){
    // restore purchases, and give responses to self
    SKPaymentQueue.default().add(self)
    SKPaymentQueue.default().restoreCompletedTransactions()
}

Next, let's add a new utilities class to manage our IAPs. All of this code could be in one class, but having it multiple makes it a little cleaner. I'm going to make a new class called RemoveAdsManager, and in it, put a few functions

public class RemoveAdsManager{

    class func removeAds()
    class func restoreRemoveAds()

    class func areAdsRemoved() -> Bool

    class func removeAdsSuccess()
    class func restoreRemoveAdsSuccess()
    class func removeAdsDeferred()
    class func removeAdsFailure()
}

The first three functions, removeAds, restoreRemoveAds, and areAdsRemoved, are functions that you'll call to do certain actions. The last four are one that will be called by IAPManager.

Let's add some code to the first two functions, removeAds and restoreRemoveAds:

// Call this when the user wants
// to remove ads, like when they
// press a "remove ads" button
class func removeAds(){
    // Before starting the purchase, you could tell the
    // user that their purchase is happening, maybe with
    // an activity indicator

    let iap = IAPManager(productID: IAPManager.removeAdsID)
    iap.beginPurchase()
}

// Call this when the user wants
// to restore their IAP purchases,
// like when they press a "restore
// purchases" button.
class func restoreRemoveAds(){
    // Before starting the purchase, you could tell the
    // user that the restore action is happening, maybe with
    // an activity indicator

    let iap = IAPManager(productID: IAPManager.removeAdsID)
    iap.beginRestorePurchases()
}

And lastly, let's add some code to the last five functions.

// Call this to check whether or not
// ads are removed. You can use the
// result of this to hide or show
// ads
class func areAdsRemoved() -> Bool{
    // This is the code that is run to check
    // if the user has the IAP.

    return UserDefaults.standard.bool(forKey: "RemoveAdsPurchased")
}

// This will be called by IAPManager
// when the user sucessfully purchases
// the IAP
class func removeAdsSuccess(){
    // This is the code that is run to actually
    // give the IAP to the user!
    //
    // I'm using UserDefaults in this example,
    // but you may want to use Keychain,
    // or some other method, as UserDefaults
    // can be modified by users using their
    // computer, if they know how to, more
    // easily than Keychain

    UserDefaults.standard.set(true, forKey: "RemoveAdsPurchased")
    UserDefaults.standard.synchronize()
}

// This will be called by IAPManager
// when the user sucessfully restores
//  their purchases
class func restoreRemoveAdsSuccess(){
    // Give the user their IAP back! Likely all you'll need to
    // do is call the same function you call when a user
    // sucessfully completes their purchase. In this case, removeAdsSuccess()

    removeAdsSuccess()
}

// This will be called by IAPManager
// when the IAP failed
class func removeAdsFailure(){
    // Send the user a message explaining that the IAP
    // failed for some reason, and to try again later
}

// This will be called by IAPManager
// when the IAP gets deferred.
class func removeAdsDeferred(){
    // Send the user a message explaining that the IAP
    // was deferred, and pending an external action, like
    // Ask to Buy.
}

Putting it all together, we get something like this:

import Foundation
import StoreKit

public class RemoveAdsManager{

    // Call this when the user wants
    // to remove ads, like when they
    // press a "remove ads" button
    class func removeAds(){
        // Before starting the purchase, you could tell the
        // user that their purchase is happening, maybe with
        // an activity indicator

        let iap = IAPManager(productID: IAPManager.removeAdsID)
        iap.beginPurchase()
    }

    // Call this when the user wants
    // to restore their IAP purchases,
    // like when they press a "restore
    // purchases" button.
    class func restoreRemoveAds(){
        // Before starting the purchase, you could tell the
        // user that the restore action is happening, maybe with
        // an activity indicator

        let iap = IAPManager(productID: IAPManager.removeAdsID)
        iap.beginRestorePurchases()
    }

    // Call this to check whether or not
    // ads are removed. You can use the
    // result of this to hide or show
    // ads
    class func areAdsRemoved() -> Bool{
        // This is the code that is run to check
        // if the user has the IAP.

        return UserDefaults.standard.bool(forKey: "RemoveAdsPurchased")
    }

    // This will be called by IAPManager
    // when the user sucessfully purchases
    // the IAP
    class func removeAdsSuccess(){
        // This is the code that is run to actually
        // give the IAP to the user!
        //
        // I'm using UserDefaults in this example,
        // but you may want to use Keychain,
        // or some other method, as UserDefaults
        // can be modified by users using their
        // computer, if they know how to, more
        // easily than Keychain

        UserDefaults.standard.set(true, forKey: "RemoveAdsPurchased")
        UserDefaults.standard.synchronize()
    }

    // This will be called by IAPManager
    // when the user sucessfully restores
    //  their purchases
    class func restoreRemoveAdsSuccess(){
        // Give the user their IAP back! Likely all you'll need to
        // do is call the same function you call when a user
        // sucessfully completes their purchase. In this case, removeAdsSuccess()
        removeAdsSuccess()
    }

    // This will be called by IAPManager
    // when the IAP failed
    class func removeAdsFailure(){
        // Send the user a message explaining that the IAP
        // failed for some reason, and to try again later
    }

    // This will be called by IAPManager
    // when the IAP gets deferred.
    class func removeAdsDeferred(){
        // Send the user a message explaining that the IAP
        // was deferred, and pending an external action, like
        // Ask to Buy.
    }

}

public class IAPManager: NSObject, SKProductsRequestDelegate, SKPaymentTransactionObserver{

    // This should the ID of the in-app-purchase you made on AppStore Connect.
    // if you have multiple IAPs, you'll need to store their identifiers in
    // other variables, too (or, preferably in an enum).
    static let removeAdsID = "com.skiplit.removeAds"

    // This is the initializer for your IAPManager class
    //
    // An alternative, and more scaleable way of doing this
    // is to also accept a callback in the initializer, and call
    // that callback in places like the paymentQueue function, and
    // in all functions in this class, in place of calls to functions
    // in RemoveAdsManager.
    let productID: String
    init(productID: String){
        self.productID = productID
    }

    // Call this when you want to begin a purchase
    // for the productID you gave to the initializer
    public func beginPurchase(){
        // If the user can make payments
        if SKPaymentQueue.canMakePayments(){
            // Create a new request
            let request = SKProductsRequest(productIdentifiers: [productID])
            request.delegate = self
            request.start()
        }
        else{
            // Otherwise, tell the user that
            // they are not authorized to make payments,
            // due to parental controls, etc
        }
    }

    // Call this when you want to restore all purchases
    // regardless of the productID you gave to the initializer
    public func beginRestorePurchases(){
        SKPaymentQueue.default().add(self)
        SKPaymentQueue.default().restoreCompletedTransactions()
    }

    // This is called when a SKProductsRequest receives a response
    public func productsRequest(_ request: SKProductsRequest, didReceive response: SKProductsResponse){
        // Let's try to get the first product from the response
        // to the request
        if let product = response.products.first{
            // We were able to get the product! Make a new payment
            // using this product
            let payment = SKPayment(product: product)

            // add the new payment to the queue
            SKPaymentQueue.default().add(self)
            SKPaymentQueue.default().add(payment)
        }
        else{
            // Something went wrong! It is likely that either
            // the user doesn't have internet connection, or
            // your product ID is wrong!
            //
            // Tell the user in requestFailed() by sending an alert,
            // or something of the sort

            RemoveAdsManager.removeAdsFailure()
        }
    }

    // This is called when the user restores their IAP sucessfully
    private func paymentQueueRestoreCompletedTransactionsFinished(_ queue: SKPaymentQueue){
        // For every transaction in the transaction queue...
        for transaction in queue.transactions{
            // If that transaction was restored
            if transaction.transactionState == .restored{
                // get the producted ID from the transaction
                let productID = transaction.payment.productIdentifier

                // In this case, we have only one IAP, so we don't need to check
                // what IAP it is. However, this is useful if you have multiple IAPs!
                // You'll need to figure out which one was restored
                if(productID.lowercased() == IAPManager.removeAdsID.lowercased()){
                    // Restore the user's purchases
                    RemoveAdsManager.restoreRemoveAdsSuccess()
                }

                // finish the payment
                SKPaymentQueue.default().finishTransaction(transaction)
            }
        }
    }

    // This is called when the state of the IAP changes -- from purchasing to purchased, for example.
    // This is where the magic happens :)
    public func paymentQueue(_ queue: SKPaymentQueue, updatedTransactions transactions: [SKPaymentTransaction]){
        for transaction in transactions{
            // get the producted ID from the transaction
            let productID = transaction.payment.productIdentifier

            // In this case, we have only one IAP, so we don't need to check
            // what IAP it is.
            // However, if you have multiple IAPs, you'll need to use productID
            // to check what functions you should run here!

            switch transaction.transactionState{
            case .purchasing:
                // if the user is currently purchasing the IAP,
                // we don't need to do anything.
                //
                // You could use this to show the user
                // an activity indicator, or something like that
                break
            case .purchased:
                // the user sucessfully purchased the IAP!
                RemoveAdsManager.removeAdsSuccess()
                SKPaymentQueue.default().finishTransaction(transaction)
            case .restored:
                // the user restored their IAP!
                RemoveAdsManager.restoreRemoveAdsSuccess()
                SKPaymentQueue.default().finishTransaction(transaction)
            case .failed:
                // The transaction failed!
                RemoveAdsManager.removeAdsFailure()
                // finish the transaction
                SKPaymentQueue.default().finishTransaction(transaction)
            case .deferred:
                // This happens when the IAP needs an external action
                // in order to proceeded, like Ask to Buy
                RemoveAdsManager.removeAdsDeferred()
                break
            }
        }
    }

}

Lastly, you need to add some way for the user to start the purchase and call RemoveAdsManager.removeAds() and start a restore and call RemoveAdsManager.restoreRemoveAds(), like a button somewhere! Keep in mind that, per the App Store guidelines, you do need to provide a button to restore purchases somewhere.

Submitting for review

The last thing to do is submit your IAP for review on App Store Connect! For detailed instructions on doing that, you can follow the last part of my Objective-C answer, under the Submitting for review header.