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I developed my first iphone app recently and would like to port it to an ipad. I've got a couple of related questions.

1) from what i've read, it sounds like creating a universal app will increase the size of the app that the user will download onto their iphone/ipad. is that right? my app is not small right now and i'd like to add some functions to the ipad version. Its something of a disincentive to package a universal app if it means a larger app for iphone users who won't benefit from the added functions added to the ipad app.

2) is it possible to have separate apps for the ipad and iphone but only make users pay for one version of them, if i don't go for a universal app? That is, if someone pays for the iphone version right now, i'd like them to have the ipad version for free when i finish it in about a month. is that possible outside of a universal app?

thanks, rich

user2853230
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1 Answers1

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1) Yes, a universal app has everything for both versions so it is bigger. For a user that wants the app on both types of devices this isn't really a problem.

2) No, there is no way to have two separate apps such that the user can have both while only paying for one. At least it's not possible through standard means. If you make both apps free with IAP, then you could have your apps generate some sort of code that could be entered into the other to grant full functionality. Such a scheme is a lot of extra work.

Try to do a universal app and see how big it gets. All of the code is shared and as long as you don't have too many iPad-only full screen images or iPhone-only full screen images, the universal app isn't much bigger than a non-universal app.

rmaddy
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  • @DuncanC Agreed. There's a lot about IAP that just makes it difficult. Lack of promo codes, no ability to make an IAP product free for some period of time (such as a sale), etc. – rmaddy Dec 04 '13 at 03:47
  • @Maddy, you might get in trouble with Apple if you had a code to unlock IAP from one app to another. Apple's license agreement forbid anything that bypasses the normal IAP mechanism and unlocks the content. IAPs are normally shared across devices with the same AppleID, but if the apps are different I don't think you can share IAPs between apps. – Duncan C Dec 04 '13 at 03:48