Smart ways to implement Google Play billing

Question

I currently have a free app published on Google market.

What I'd like to do is to offer ways to unlock additional views (app windows) if a user is interested in additional feature sets. Obviously I would like a comfortable user experience, few 'obstacles' to take and, if I can avoid it, not having to maintain 2 separate code bases and apps. So the ideal way would be simply to let the user click a button, let him walk through in-app billing and then to 'unlock' the additional features if it was successful.

Now I'm searching for the smartest way to do that:

• can I simply add "In-App Billing" to unlock the additional views in the free app (if so, how to set that up on the Publisher console, I can't find any option for it?)
• or would I have to publish a separate, paid product to do that (to which I could link from the free app)?
• as the free version of the app saves about 100 options, I would like to save supportive (paying) users from having to walk through all these options again.. Particularly if I'd have to deliver a separate app, could it access the 'other one's' configuration data somehow?

Any other suggestions, maybe things I still forgot considering, are very welcome.

Answer 1

Option 1 is best IMO. There's really no need to publish a separate product. You can use in-app billing to unlock views without too much hassle, and it's a smoother flow for the customer, instead of having to install a trial app, and then install a "pro" app(or a useless "unlocker" app like you see so many of). Not to mention much easier on yourself.

What I'd do is check inventory on startup and set a flag for what "level" user they are. Save this to preferences for future use, for instance if there's no connectivity. Then you can easily use the flag in your logic to determine what content to show.

The Google-provided tutorial can seem a bit confusing at first. I'd recommend reading it over until you understand it completely before jumping in. The testing process can be a bit cumbersome, to say the least, so the more you get right in your first iteration, the less you'll tear your hair out getting it perfect.

Answer 2

Unlock in place is the best way to go. If you save the fact they have upgraded to a file, preferences, database, etc., also consider obfuscating the name, value, otherwise any user with a rooted phone can just set whatever they like and get premium features, etc. for free. V3 billing manages that for you inside the Play Store client, so it should be a little easier to implement. You may want to look in to it, although it is quite new and might not be too stable.