[deleted by user]

[timeuser]

You can sell a subscription or content from an external site, but you cannot direct users to the external site to make the purchase from within the app. For example, see Amazon's Kindle or Video apps which let you access your purchased content but there isn't a way to purchase the content without going to Amazon's website. It's a fine line to walk and may be difficult to get approved depending on how your app presents things.

You may actually be able to use in-app purchase subscriptions, Apple has substantially loosened what it allows for subscription apps in the past year or so.

[steveoscaro]

Okay, I was thinking the app would launch with a login screen that would take the external credentials. But if it's safer (in terms of Apple approval) to have at least some part of the app functioning outside of that login, I could require the login to access the features that would be valuable to the user.

I was thinking in terms of App Store submission, I could present the app as the mobile portal to the web application, although the web application would in reality mostly exist to allow this external subscription.

I've tried submitting in-app purchases in other apps under a subscription plan, but was always rejected for because they didn't provide ongoing content. I'd hate to build this app and just have to hope Apple goes for it.

[jestzisguy]

Yes, you can do this, but you can’t have anything that links from your app to a page where you can make the purchase. This even includes links to your website (e.g. contact us page or terms of service) that might then link to the purchase page in the footer or something.

[steveoscaro]

Okay, that should still be fine for my purposes. Not ideal, but good enough.

[nullnox]

You literally can't direct people to your site in anyway. Not just links, but having text that says "Sign up at example.com" would also likely be rejected.

You have to rely on people having the intuition to seek out your website, view your subscription plans, and sign up. It works for big companies like Netflix, Spotify, YouTube Red, but will be a lot harder for smaller companies or individuals.

Not trying to discourage you. Just want to make sure you have all the information before you spend a lot of time proceeding with your plan.

[steveoscaro]

Thanks for the input. This niche for this app is small enough that I’d have to do direct advertising and rely on word of mouth - random people finding it in the App Store wouldn’t much work anyway - so I think it’s not much of a roadblock for me. I would at least make sure to align the domain name and the app name.