Google Play: Keep old subscription price for current subscriptions?

Question

We want to change the price of a renewable subscription, but only for newly subscribed users. Old users should keep the old price.

Apple offers a pretty simple option to keep the old subscription price for current subscriptions if you change the price of a renewable subscription. I don't see such an option available in Google Play.

My idea for this is to add a new subscription ID with updated pricing. Users that newly subscribe would use the new subscription ID, while nothing would change for users that are already subscribed. If users cancel the subscription and then subscribe again, they would get the updated pricing, but that's OK.

Is this considered a viable option? How can I make sure new subscriptions only use the new subscription ID? Anything else I am missing?

Answer 1

Everything you've said is right:

• Apple documentation: https://help.apple.com/app-store-connect/#/devc9870599e
• Google documentation: https://developer.android.com/google/play/billing/subscriptions#price-change

And yes, this is the only way to do it if you want to keep the old price for current subscribers on Google.

I don't think you've missed anything since, contrary to Apple, you can't access to the list of the available products on Google Play, so users won't be able to subscribe to your old product if you don't show the option in your app.

Answer 2

Since May 2022, Google has made some changes to the way subscriptions work on Google Play.

By default, "when changing the price of a subscription, it only applies to new purchases". More information can be found on the Play Billing documentation.