A configured opening price—free or discounted—whose eligibility may be evaluated by the platform or decided by the app.
An introductory offer changes the opening phase of an auto-renewing subscription. The phase may be free, a reduced recurring price for several billing periods, or a pay-up-front amount covering a longer interval. When the promotion finishes, renewal normally continues at the disclosed base-plan price unless the subscriber cancels. The store console defines the offer’s economics and checkout confirms the selected price, but eligibility is not universally store-enforced.
Google Play supports three eligibility models beneath an auto-renewing base plan. Play evaluates new-customer-acquisition criteria and upgrade criteria, including the configured subscription, billing period, and redemption cap. With a developer-determined offer, the app solely decides its business rule and Play evaluates no eligibility criteria; such offers can be used for second-chance trials or lapsed-customer win-back campaigns. The official Play subscription model describes those boundaries. A standard Tierux Android purchase deliberately selects the base-plan offer. Tierux’s separate win-back flow can select an explicitly configured offer ID, but it does not convert app-authored eligibility into a Play guarantee.
After a Google Play purchase, the backend authenticates to the Developer API and reads subscription status and offerPhase from subscriptionsv2. Apple uses a different trust mechanism: StoreKit reports introductory-offer eligibility, and the App Store Server API returns transaction and renewal payloads signed as JWS transaction data. Apple introductory eligibility is normally scoped to a subscription group. Promotional offers, offer codes, and win-back offers remain separate mechanisms with their own qualification and signing flows.
A music app might offer one month at a reduced price before charging its normal monthly rate. The paywall displays the store-localized phases, and the app surfaces a developer-determined token only after its own eligibility check. After purchase, the backend verifies a Google token by querying Play’s authenticated API or validates Apple’s signed JWS, grants the mapped entitlement, and records the current phase for support and analytics. Renewal notifications advance the subscription without creating a second customer record. Tests should cover eligible and ineligible accounts, regional price formatting, cancellation, plan replacement, failed first payment, and restoration. Measuring starts alone is insufficient: retained conversions, refunds, and revenue after the introductory window determine whether the offer creates durable value.
A zero-price introductory phase before the first paid renewal.
A funnel metric for introductions that begin with free access.
The separate rules applied when an existing subscriber changes plans.
Render localized terms and verify the resulting purchase server-side.
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