Are we forced to use an online purchase for international calls?

Question

We sell minutes to call other countries, and we want to allow users to make payments inside the application. These minutes cost us from wholesalers. Using in-app purchases will significantly increase the cost for the user if Apple takes 30%.

1 - "You must provide a digital product or service in your application. Do not use an in-app purchase to sell real-world goods and services." (A source)

I'm not sure if this applies to me or not. Can anyone light this light?

Answer 1

Only Apple can give you the final answer, but as I interpret the paragraph below, you should use IAP to purchase loans, and you should also be able to use these loans directly in the application (i.e. make phone calls):

Applications using IAP to purchase loans or other currencies must use these loans in the application

Answer 2

Section 11.2 of the App Store Review Guide says the following:

Applications that use a system other than the application purchase API (IAP) to purchase content, functionality or services in the application will be rejected

If the minutes you sell are consumed by the iOS application (any application, not just the application in which the user buys the minutes), this rule applies to you.

If you sell minutes that are added to a phone card physically owned by a physical user, then you can bypass the Apple IAP, but you will either have to send your application or talk to someone from the review group to be sure.

Answer 3

What you sell is a digital service - connectivity. Your IAP product is similar to credits in most games available in the store.

The real goods and services that they prohibit are things like you, for example, in a store in a shopping bag, or if someone carries this shopping bag. They do not allow the sale of tangible things, only electronic ones. Items for sale must be transferred between two different devices.

I do not think that you can avoid in-app purchases for what you are trying to deliver from the app.

Answer 4

I think your case is very similar to the Skype iOS app. You will need to go through the application for your application, since the loan will be used to make calls through the application to other countries.