As mobile apps increasingly adopt subscription-based business models, managing app subscribers' access through Entitlements has become crucial. If you are unfamiliar with Entitlements, do not worry! This article will provide an overview of what it is for in-app subscriptions and offer tips for effectively managing access for your app users without relying on developers.
What is Entitlement for In-app Subscription?
As per Apple's definition, Entitlements are “key-value pairs that grant executable permission to use a service or technology”. In the context of in-app subscriptions, Entitlements refer to a level of access, services or app features subscribers can have or use, based on their purchase.
In simpler terms, managing Entitlements involves regulating the access of your app subscribers to the features of your subscription apps.
Suppose you have a music app that generates revenue through subscriptions and has two payment options: a Basic plan that eliminates ads, and a Premium plan that provides both ad-free listening and VIP songs.
The right to remove ads and listen to the VIP songs can be two separate entitlements, which grant subscribers access to these features according to their subscription plans.
So we can say that the Basic plan comprises one entitlement, which is to remove ads, while the Premium plan encompasses two entitlements, namely ad removal and access to VIP songs.
how-entitlements-work-at-appflow.ai
It is important to note that a single entitlement, based on the app's services and coding logic, may grant subscribers access to multiple app features. Additionally, a single entitlement can also be utilized across different subscription plans.
Entitlement VS In-app Subscriptions
Entitlements, for in-app subscriptions, as we have said in the above paragraphs, are the access to features in the apps.
And as discussed in the previous blog: What is In-app Subscription and How to Implement It, in-app subscriptions, from the view of app companies, is a monetization method to get revenue. App companies sell subscriptions as their product to their app users. From the angle of app users, they pay for a subscription plan to be eligible to access corresponding app services or features.
So what is the relation between entitlements and in-app subscriptions? Well, entitlements, coded by app developers to manage the feature access, are linked with in-app subscription plans for subscription apps. They determine how much access an app subscriber has to the features based on their paid subscription plan.
Now that we understand what entitlements are and how they relate to in-app subscriptions. Let’s see how app developers manage subscriber access with entitlements.
How Do App Developers Manage Subscribers’ Access with Entitlement
To manage app subscribers' access, app companies must define the appropriate level of access for different subscription plans. This includes determining what app features a subscriber of different paid plans has access to, what data they can access, what type of data they can collect, and how long they can maintain access.
When the decisions are made, app developers need to create entitlements in their app code that correspond to the various subscription plans offered.
Once the entitlements are set up, the app will check the entitlements of the user when they try to access a feature. If the user's subscription plan entitles them to access the feature, then the app will allow them to use it. If not, the app will prompt the user to upgrade their subscription plan.
Overall, entitlements are a vital part of in-app subscriptions as they control the access level of subscribers to the app's features based on their subscription plan. Properly managing these entitlements ensures that subscribers receive the appropriate level of access and helps app companies generate revenue through their subscription offerings.
Manage Entitlements across Platforms without Code
Although app developers can code to handle entitlements for in-app subscription plans, app product managers and marketers won't be able to alter subscription plans or subscribers' access on their own.
If a manager wants to add a new subscription plan, they'll need to enlist development resources, which can be a lengthy process as developers have higher priority tasks. Even if a developer completes the task, approval from the app store can take time.
However, with Appflow.ai's no-code Entitlement feature, managing subscription plans and access becomes much simpler and easily achievable.
What can Appflow.ai’s No-code Entitlement Do？
Appflow.ai is the top-rated free subscription analytics platform to help build, analyze, test, experiment and grow in-app subscriptions.
Its Entitlement feature, which requires no code and works across platforms and apps, allows you to define feature access for your in-app subscription products and manage subscribers’ access to app services and features.
For instance, if you want to introduce a new subscription plan for your subscribers, simply create the product in the app store and generate an SKU with the same product identifier on appflow.ai's dashboard. Then, link specific entitlements with this SKU. That's all it takes.
This eliminates the need to wait for assistance from the app developer or go through the time-consuming process of gaining approval from the app store. Creating new in-app subscription products is now a breeze.
Step-by-step Guide on Using Appflow.ai’s No-Code Entitlement Feature
Using Appflow.ai’s no-code Entitlement feature to manage feature access for in-app subscription products is a piece of cake. But note that you have to install appflow.ai’s SDK into your app first to get things running. And then you can just follow the following steps to manage the entitlements for your subscription apps.
Step 1: Create Entitlement
Login to Appflow.ai's dashboard, and navigate to Settings>Entitlement
After entering the interface, click “+Add Entitlement” at the right top of the screen. You will be taken to the configuration screen where you set the new Entitlement up.
Step2: Fill in the information for the new Entitlement:
- Identifier: This is the name of the entitlement as well as the identifier of the entitlement that you have to embed in your app code. Make this name easy to recognize for the convenience of management.
- Description: This is a description of the entitlement with additional information about the gated feature. Make this description clear so that you and your teammates can understand quickly later.
- Linked to SKUs: This is where you can attach the entitlement to the SKUs(products) in your subscription apps. If you haven’t created the SKU yet or don’t want to do it now, you can skip this step and do it later.
Step3: Add Entitlement Code
Once the Entitlement is created, you need to ask the developer to put the following code into your app code with the entitlement identifier you just set up, for example, “Remove Ads”
For Android:
Appflow.getSubscriberInfo(object : ReceivePurchaserInfoListener {
override fun onReceived(subscriber: IapIap.Subscriber) {
var canRemoveAds = false
for (info in subscriber.entitlementsList) {
if (info.id == "Remove Ads" && info.isActive) {
canRemoveAds = true
}
}
}
override fun onError(error: PurchasesError) {}
})For iOS:
Appflow.shared.restorePurchases {[weak self] subscriber, error in
var canRemoveAds = false
for imEntitlement in subscriber.imEntitlements where (imEntitlement.id == "Remove Ads" && imEntitlement.isActive == true) {
canRemoveAds = true
}
}Note: You may need developer resources to integrate the tool with the app and finish the entitlement set-up, but it is done once and for all.
Once the entitlement code is activated, you can begin managing the feature access for in-app subscription products(or said, SKUs at Appflow.ai) by linking entitlements with SKUs.
Step 4: Link Entitlement with SKUs
Navigate to the Entitlement interface and find the new Entitlement you just created and click “Edit”, you will then enter the configuration page where you can link Entitlement to the SKUs
Note that you need to add SKUs to Appflow.ai first.
You can link the Entitlement across iOS and Android or across apps. One example would be you link the “Remove Ads” entitlement to the video app in the iOS system as well as one in the Android system and a music app under the same project in Appflow.ai.
After linking the entitlements with SKUs, it will be activated right away. When users subscribe to the SKU that is attached to the particular entitlement and pay successfully, they will be able to access the features that the entitlement unlocks during their subscription periods.
And you can always make changes to the feature access for the SKUs by adding and removing SKUs linked to the entitlements. When an SKU is unlinked from a specific entitlement, users who subscribe to this SKU will not be able to access the features this entitlement unlocks.
Pro tips: Once the entitlement is activated, you can also grant the entitlement at the individual level. For example, one of your subscribers asks you for the trial of features in your Premium subscription plan. And the premium features access is attached with one of your entitlements. Then it is easy to grant him access:
Simply log in to the Appflow.ai dashboard, and navigate to Users.
Find that specific user and enter its user profile. Click “┇” at the right of the user ID, where you will see the “Grant Promotional access” and choose the specific entitlement that you want to grant access to the user. And he/she will be able to access the premium features that the entitlement unlocks.
Conclusion
Entitlement, for subscription apps, means a level of access, services, or app features subscribers can have or use, based on their purchase. It plays a vital part in managing the subscribers’ access to the app's features and services.
Using Appflow.ai’s no-code Entitlement feature to manage feature access for different in-app subscription products makes things all easier. You can easily manage the feature access of a subscription plan, add an in-app subscription product, and grant premium access to a specific user, across platforms and apps. All these can be done without the help of developers and without app release.
How to Use Entitlement to Manage App Subscribers’ Access?
