Apple to allow introductory pricing for iOS, tvOS subscription apps

As noted by 9to5Mac, Apple is introducing a new Apple App Store pricing feature that allows apps that use auto-renewable subscription pricing to offer special introductory pricing for new customers.

The change was first mentioned in today’s iOS 11.2 beta 2 release notes and should be available for tvOS 11.2 as well. To wit: 

“Soon, you’ll be able to offer new customers a discounted introductory price for your auto- renewable subscriptions on the App Store. iOS 11.2 introduces new classes (SKProductDiscount and SKProductSubscriptionPeriod) and new properties on SKProduct (subscriptionPeriod and introductoryPrice) to provide details on the introductory pricing and billing period you’ve selected for your auto-renewable subscriptions. You can use these new API additions to localize and display information about introductory pricing to your users. You’ll be able to configure introductory pricing on your in-app purchase page in iTunes Connect soon.”

Developers can currently offer introductory free trials for subscriptions. The iOS 11.2/tvOS 11.2 change will introduce the option to offer reduced prices for new subscriptions for a set period.