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I'm developing an application that will have some features that the user must pay to use. I was planning to use a Lite and Pro version for this, but the release of In-App Billing have got me thinking...

If I use In-app billing is there any need to implement the licensing (http://developer.android.com/guide/publishing/licensing.html) policies suggested by Google? Or is it enough to implement the Billing stuff?

The application is available for free, instead some features will be enabled using in-app billing. Hence I don't really care if someone "copies" the application as long as they cannot copy purchased features.

BR, Rasmus

CommonsWare
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rudas
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2 Answers2

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I have found that the inapp billing and licensing code don't play well together, crashing the app in certain scenarios, like when attempting a purchase when not online.

I don't think it would be worth the risk and overhead to use licensing for a free app even with inapp purchase options. I believe the licensing documentation even mentions licensing can't be used with free apps.

Androidcoder
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If both applications will be free, you should implement only In-App Billing. You can read Billing best practices for more information.

vendor
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  • I don't presume the 'Pro' version was going to be free... does that change your advice? I'm wondering because the in-app billing marketing/PR stuff plainly states that in-app billing should be for extra _content_ and not features. The link you pointed to didn't clarify at all. – Pedantic Jun 07 '11 at 04:30
  • @Chris There are many applications on the market that have two version - free and paid one. Many of them have only one package, which is free and if you want more features, you have to download a license key from the market. The in-app billing can be used both for extra features and content. – vendor Jun 08 '11 at 10:35