Tiered Subscriptions Overview
The Amazon Appstore SDK provides developers with the ability to offer tiered subscription functionality to their Android apps.
Introduction
Here is an example of how a typical tiered subscription structure might look like:
A subscription is an IAP item that lasts for a predefined period, auto-renews at the end of this period, and is available across different devices registered to the customer's account. Developers must use the developer console to specify the period duration and pricing options they offer to their customers.
Every subscription contains at least one tier. Tiers might refer to different sets of features, levels of access to a service, ongoing access to an app, regular updates to content, and so on. Developers can create up to five tiers under a subscription.
Terms refer to duration and pricing. Every tier must have at least one term, and every term belongs to a single tier. Even if two terms have the same duration, such as Gold Monthly and Silver Monthly, or price (for example, Gold Weekly and Bronze Monthly might have the same price), these terms are different because they belong to different tiers.
There is no nested tier structure or hierarchy boundaries to the system. Developers have full freedom to provide their customers with any path, and move them from any plan to another one.
Customers cannot have simultaneous access to more than one tier / term.
While setting up subscriptions, tiers, and terms in the developer console, developers can include translations of the titles and descriptions of these IAP items in all the languages they localize their app into (as they would do with any other IAP item).
Key features
The following table summarizes all the supported features.
| Feature | Definition |
|---|---|
| Tier | A group of plans offering specific pricing and duration options |
| Term | Duration and pricing plans belonging to a single tier |
| Pricing Options | Customer plans (which can be different across countries) |
| Term switch | Customers moving to a different plan within the same tier |
| Tier switch | Customers moving to a different plan across tiers |
| Auto-renewal | At the time of renewal, customers retain access to the same plan if they have set auto-renewal to on, and discontinue access if it's off |
| Immediate modified subscription | Customers moving from one term to another effective immediately |
| Deferred modified subscription | Customers moving from one term to another effective at the time of renewal |
Use cases
You might choose to use tiered subscriptions in the following scenarios:
- A customer moves from Silver Monthly to Gold Annually, or the other way around.
- A customer moves from Gold Monthly to Silver Monthly, or the other way around.
- A customer moves from Bronze Monthly to Bronze Annually, or the other way around.
- A customer gets a Bronze free trial for a month and starts using a paid Bronze Monthly plan after the trial period ends.
If customers turn off auto-renew, their subscription will end at the time of renewal.
Appstore SDK versions
The tiered subscription feature is available to only select partners and must be enabled by an Amazon representative. Tiered subscriptions uses a custom Appstore SDK that supports the Modify Subscription API, which is required to implement tiered subscriptions. The generally available Appstore SDK doesn't support the Modify Subscription API.
The following table lists the equivalent version of the Appstore SDK that you will need for tiered subscriptions. Contact your Amazon representative to make sure you obtain the correct version of the Appstore SDK.
| Generally available Appstore SDK version | Equivalent custom Appstore SDK version |
|---|---|
| Appstore SDK 3.0.5 | Appstore SDK 3.0.5.1 |
| Appstore SDK 3.0.4 | Appstore SDK 3.0.4.1 |
| Appstore SDK 3.0.3 | Appstore SDK 3.0.3.1 |
Next steps
See Set Up Tiered Subscriptions in Developer Console.
Last updated: Dec 03, 2024