Apple today announced to developers a new billing grace period for App Store subscriptions. The new feature will allow subscribers to continue to access an app’s paid content while Apple attempts to collect payment — allowing them time to fix the issue.
This should help developers with subscription churn a bit, as subscribers can currently immediately lose access to premium content when there is a billing issue. The new feature will allow users to continue to access the premium materials as long as the payment is successful within the grace period.
We’ve worked closely with leading developers to create a solution for reducing customer churn while improving the experience for auto-renewable subscriptions. With the new grace period for unsuccessful auto-renewals, subscribers can continue accessing your app’s paid content while Apple attempts to collect payment — allowing them time to fix the issue. There won’t be any interruption to the subscriber’s days of paid service or to your revenue if payment is successful within the grace period.
Grace periods will depend on the length of the App Store subscription. Subscriptions that last a week will have a six day grace period, while all longer subscriptions will have a 16 day grace period.
To get started, developers can turn on Billing Grace Period for their app in App Store Connect.
1. From the homepage, click My Apps, and select the app from the list.
2. In the toolbar, click Features, and in the left column, click In-App Purchases.
3. In the Billing Grace Period section, click Turn On.
4. In the pop up window, click Confirm.
In order for Billing Grace Period to work properly, developers will need to use receipt validation to ensure they are providing service to customers within the grace period.