Having a mobile app is a great way to provide information and stay connected with your users. But another huge benefit of having a mobile app is the ability to turn it into a revenue stream. In this article we’ll go over some of the main ways that people have been successful with making money from their mobile apps.

If you would like, you can charge user’s a one-time fee to download your app from the Apple and Google Play App Stores. If you decide to charge users to download your app, then we recommend that you don’t include in-app purchases or subscriptions in your app as well, as that tends to be looked down upon by Apple and Google. 

Because of this you’ll want to think about whether you want to charge users to download your app, or offer the app for free and charge users for access to premium areas of your app. If you decide to charge users to download your app, we encourage you to check out our dedicated article on how to get this set up.

Note: You will need to make sure that everything is set up in your Apple and Google Developer Accounts before you send your app off to our publishing team.

With in-app purchases and subscriptions you can charge users to access premium content within your app. An in-app purchase is a one-time (single) purchase, which an in-app subscription is a recurring charge. Let’s go over how to get these set up for the Android and iOS versions of your app. First we’ll go over Android:

Step 1: Activate Your Google Merchant Account

Follow the instructions in this article to activate your Google Merchant Account.

Step 2: Upload Your Google Billing Key To The App Dashboard

Once you have generated the Google Billing Key copy it and go back to the App Dashboard and go to the “Purchases” page found under the Commerce tab and paste your key into the “Google Billing Key” box:

Step 3: Have Our Team Submit A New Android Build

Once you’ve uploaded your Google Billing Key to the App Dashboard you’ll need to reach out to us so that our publishing team can submit a new Android build of your app to support in-app purchases.

Step 4: Set Up The In-App Purchases Or Subscriptions In Your Google Developer Account

After the new build goes live you’ll be able to set up in-app purchases and subscriptions in your Google Developer Account. If you need help with this, we encourage you to check out our articles on how to set up Single In-App Purchases and In-App Subscriptions in your Google Developer Account.

Step 5: Upload The Product ID(s) To The Commerce Tab Of The App Dashboard

Once you’ve set up in-app purchases or subscriptions in your Google Developer Account, go back to the “Purchases” page under the Commerce tab in the App Dashboard. 

If you’re using single in-app purchases, then you’ll upload the product ID(s) for those in-app purchases in the “Purchases” section:

Similarly, if you’re using in-app subscriptions, then you’ll upload the product ID(s) for your subscriptions in the “Subscriptions” section:

Note: you may want to wait on doing this step until you’ve set up in-app purchases or subscriptions in your Apple Developer Account so that you can upload the Product ID(s) for both Apple and Google to the App Dashboard at the same time.

Step 6: Assign The Purchase Or Subscription To A Feature 

After you’ve uploaded the product ID(s) to the app dashboard, you’ll need to assign the in-app purchase or subscription to the features that you want to charge people to gain access to. This is done in the “Purchase” tab of the feature, and you can learn how to assign an in-app purchase or subscription to a feature here.

Step 7: Click “Publish” At The Top Of The App Dashboard 

Now that you’ve assigned a Product ID to the feature(s) that you’d like to charge users to access, click “Publish” at the top of the App Dashboard to push that out to the live app.

Next we’ll go over the steps you need to take in order to set up in app purchases and subscriptions for the iOS version of your app.

Step 1: Fill Out The Paid Applications Contract In Your App Store Connect Account

Follow the instructions in this article on how to request and fill out the Paid Applications Contract for your App Store Connect Account.

Step 2: Set Up The In-App Purchases Or Subscriptions In Your App Store Connect Account

After the new build goes live you’ll be able to set up in-app purchases and subscriptions in your Apple Developer Account. If you need help with this, we encourage you to check out our articles on how to set up Single In-App Purchases and In-App Subscriptions in your Apple Developer Account.

Note: If your app hasn’t been submitted to your Apple Developer Account yet, you will need to schedule a call with our publishing team to set up the certificates for your app and a store listing. This will allow you to continue with creating in-app purchases or subscriptions for your app. If your app is already live, you can ignore this step.

Step 3: Upload The Product ID(s) To The Commerce Tab Of The App Dashboard

Once you’ve set up in-app purchases or subscriptions in your Google Developer Account, go back to the “Purchases” page under the Commerce tab in the App Dashboard. 

If you’re using single in-app purchases, then you’ll upload the product ID(s) for those in-app purchases in the “Purchases” section:

Similarly, if you’re using in-app subscriptions, then you’ll upload the product ID(s) for your subscriptions in the “Subscriptions” section:

Note: you may want to wait on doing this step until you’ve set up in-app purchases or subscriptions in your Google Developer Account so that you can upload the Product ID(s) for both Apple and Google to the App Dashboard at the same time.

Step 4: Assign The Purchase Or Subscription To A Feature 

After you’ve uploaded the product ID(s) to the app dashboard, you’ll need to assign the in-app purchase or subscription to the features that you want to charge people to gain access to. This is done in the “Purchase” tab of the feature, and you can learn how to assign an in-app purchase or subscription to a feature here.

Step 5: Click “Publish” At The Top Of The App Dashboard 

Now that you’ve assigned a Product ID to the feature(s) that you’d like to charge users to access, click “Publish” at the top of the App Dashboard.

Step 6: Have Our Team Submit A New iOS Build

When you click “Publish” at the top of the App Dashboard you should be prompted to reach out to us to have your app resubmitted. If you aren’t, go ahead and reach out to us so that we can have our publishing team submit a new build of your app to Apple that supports in-app purchases.

While there’s a number of different e-commerce solutions out there, we recommend using Shopify if you want to have an online store in your app. Not only is Shopify an easy to use service, but with our Shopify 2.0 feature you can quickly and seamlessly bring your store into your app. If you would like to learn more about our Shopify 2.0 feature, we encourage you to check out our dedicated article which you can find here.

Most of our features give you the ability to display images above their content using the Image Carousel:

A number of people have used these areas of their apps to sell ad-space. Have a conference or a sports tournament? You can also use this area to showcase the most prominent sponsors for your event. You can learn more about how to use the Image Carousel here.

While these are the main ways that people turn their apps into revenue streams, there are many other unique ways that people have made money in their apps, so we encourage you to be creative and think outside the box when utilizing our system.

Still have questions? No problem! Reach out to us and we’d be happy to help :)