\t\t\t\t![\"icon_128\"](\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2019\/03\/icon_128.png\"){kind=icon}
Developers often need to integrate monetization to generate revenue when developing mobile apps. There are several ways to monetize apps, but at some point you may want to introduce In-App Purchases, or IAPs, into your app. IAPs can be used in several ways that could apply to your apps, such as adding features, removing ads, or buying in-game currency. Let’s take an in-depth look at IAPs and how to add them to mobile apps.<\/p>\n
As I mentioned above, there are several types of IAPs that can be used for iOS and Android that may apply to your mobile application. Here’s a quick overview:<\/p>\n
I’ll focus on the most common type, Non-Consumable, in this blog post.<\/p>\n
Before we can start implementing code, we have to make sure our apps are set up properly to start accepting purchases. Each platform handles this differently, but I’ll cover the basics. I highly recommend following the full documentation on In-App Purchases for iOS<\/a> and Android<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n You must first ensure that your application is set up in both iTunes Connect and the Google Play Developer Console.<\/p>\n Any application that wants to use In-App Purchases require a unique app identifier (no wildcards allowed) for the provision profile and will set the IAP functionality automatically. Once the app has been created, we can head to the Features<\/b> section, create a new IAP, and select “Non-Consumable.” We’ll then fill in additional information, such as the Product ID (a unique identifier we will use in code), price, and description of the product.<\/p>\n Once this IAP has been set up, we’re ready to start integrating.<\/p>\n Android is a bit more complex, as we can’t add a new IAP for our application until we publish a version of our application that contains the …line between the…<\/p>\n …in the The app can then be published in the Alpha or Beta channel in the Google Developer Console, and a new IAP can be added under the “In-App Purchase” section for the application. It’s important to create the IAP as a managed product.<\/p>\n We’ll then be taken to a page where the details for the IAP are filled in. We must save the IAP and set it to With the applications set up, we’re now able to integrate code. Each platform has a different mechanism for handling purchases, but they each do similar things, which is why I worked with Jon Dick<\/a> from our components team to create a new plugin for Xamarin that we call In-App Billing Plugin for Xamarin and Windows<\/a>, which simplifies the entire purchase process. The Plugin handles purchases, subscriptions, consumption, and product information from a cross-platform API; if you need custom flows, I highly recommend reading through full documentation on In-App Purchases for iOS<\/a> and Android<\/a>.<\/p>\n To get started, we’ll install the In-App Billing Plugin (Plugin.InAppBilling) in all of our projects, including our portable class library and mobile app projects:<\/p>\n Android requires just a little bit more set up. We’ll add the following code in the Activity that will be making the purchase call or the MainActivity (for Xamarin.Forms):<\/p>\n Now, in our app code or shared code, we can go ahead and make the purchase with just a few simple calls to connect to the billing service and attempt to make the purchase:<\/p>\n And that’s it! At this point we could store this information in our application settings or report it to our backend services on a successful purchase. To test this new code, we’ll need to run it on a physical device built and signed with the provisioning profile, or keystore, for the application.<\/p>\niOS Setup<\/h3>\n
![\"IAP\"](\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2019\/03\/IAP1.png\")
<\/p>\nAndroid Setup<\/h3>\n
com.android.vending.BILLING<\/code> permission. We can add this by inserting the following:<\/p>\n<\/code><\/pre>\n...<\/code><\/pre>\nAndroidManifest.xml<\/code>.<\/p>\n![\"IAPAndroid\"](\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2019\/03\/IAPAndroid.png\")
<\/p>\nActive<\/code> or it won’t work when we implement code.<\/p>\n![\"IAPAndroid2\"](\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2019\/03\/IAPAndroid2.png\")
<\/p>\nMaking Purchases<\/h2>\n
![\"AddNuGet\"](\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2019\/03\/AddNuGet.png\")
<\/p>\nAdditional Android Setup<\/h3>\n
\r\nprotected override void OnActivityResult(int requestCode, Result resultCode, Intent data)\r\n{\r\n base.OnActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);\r\n InAppBillingImplementation.HandleActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);\r\n}\r\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\r\ntry\r\n{\r\n var productId = \"mysku\";\r\n\r\n var connected = await CrossInAppBilling.Current.ConnectAsync();\r\n\r\n if (!connected)\r\n {\r\n \/\/Couldn't connect to billing, could be offline, alert user\r\n return;\r\n }\r\n\r\n \/\/try to purchase item\r\n var purchase = await CrossInAppBilling.Current.PurchaseAsync(productId, ItemType.InAppPurchase, \"apppayload\");\r\n if(purchase == null)\r\n {\r\n \/\/Not purchased, alert the user\r\n }\r\n else\r\n {\r\n \/\/Purchased, save this information\r\n var id = purchase.Id;\r\n var token = purchase.PurchaseToken;\r\n var state = purchase.State;\r\n }\r\n}\r\ncatch (Exception ex)\r\n{\r\n \/\/Something bad has occurred, alert user\r\n}\r\nfinally\r\n{\r\n \/\/Disconnect, it is okay if we never connected\r\n await CrossInAppBilling.Current.DisconnectAsync();\r\n}\r\n<\/code><\/pre>\n![\"inappdone\"](\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2019\/03\/inappdone.png\")
<\/p>\nLearn More<\/h2>\n