From Apple 3. 1.1 BUSINESS: PAYMENTS - IN-APP PURCHASE
Your app uses intermediary currency to purchase items that function as non-consumable products but does not include a restore mechanism.
Users restore transactions to maintain access to content that they’ve already purchased.
Next Steps
Please modify your app to include an optional user registration feature that allows users to restore their purchases to all of their iOS devices.
We recommend indicating that account registration is necessary to restore previously purchased in-app purchase products and providing a way for users to register later if they wish to access this content in the future.
I replied,
Hello, restore all purchases can be found under store at the bottom.
Apples reply
Hello,
Thank you for your response. However, we still find that your app is out of compliance with 3.1.1 of the App Store Review Guidelines.
StoreKit “restore” APIs only restore non-consumable purchases that were purchased directly as a non-consumable. However, as you have implemented the ability to purchase non-consumable in-app purchase products with in-app currency, you will need your own restore mechanism to track these purchases.
Once you have revised your app, please submit a new binary to iTunes Connect so that we may proceed with the review.
I replied asking if this was something new. Still waiting on a response.
If you pay real money to unlock a feature then your method should be enough. You are providing a way to unlock a feature with in-game currency, thus, YOU have to provide a way to restore those purchases*
*IMHO totally not worth your trouble and you should remove this function from your game; if not then it will be up to you to track all those purchases somewhere not on the device.
If I understand correctly, the problem is that you can purchase characters and upgrades with coins collected in the game?? You can also do this in subway surfers and almost any other game I download from the App Store.
The real confusing part is that this was like the 4th update for this game but I had to re upload as a new game because I switched from gamma to linear lighting. Because of that it blocked old devices which can’t be done.
Also, my first game that I paid someone to make had it set up the same way without issue.
According to the information in your original post, the problem is not that you allow players to purchase those items, it is that you apparently don’t have a mechanism to allow the player to restore those items. As they can be purchased without using Apple’s IAP, you cannot use Apple’s restore functionality (which only logs what has been bought with their IAP), and instead must implement your own.
The only relevance of Subway Surfers is if they do not have their own restore functionality. This is unlikely to be obvious just from playing the game as the mechanisms are not shown to the player.
Yeah, unfortunately the iOS review process is far from perfect & I could give you many, many examples of what you are seeing. I hope you get the take away that now that your app has been “caught” you will have to appease the reviewer. Sorry…
I think they mistook the actual non-consumable in-app purchase products with ingame products… That, or you actually somehow managed to implement non-consumable in-app purchase products purchase using ingame currency…
