Temporarily allow in-app purchases

[drest]

In our schools, we have an iOS configuration profile that, among other things, blocks in-app purchases. This is primarily to protect our teachers' credit/iTunes cards. We've had some teachers ask to allow in-app purchases on the student devices, and I want to be able to do this on a limited basis. Right now the initial configuration profile is scoped to all mobile devices in this JSS.

My question is this - when I go to the initial config profile to create an exclusion, I get the following message (see attached). As I read it, this will keep the initial profile (NCSD iPad) on all of the devices except the one for which I created the exception. Can anyone confirm this? I don't want to remove the config profile from all the rest of the iPads by mistake.

Thanks!

[milesleacy · Accepted solution]

Other than removing and then re-applying the restrictions profile, Apple does not provide a mechanism to create the behavior you're looking for. In the JSS you would remove and then re-add devices from/to the scope of the configuration profile.

The best solution is to re-engineer your purchasing process. Having teachers' credit cards exposed to student purchases is something that can, and for a host of reasons benefitting the teachers and the school, should be avoided.

This is one of the main reasons that Apple offers Apple ID for Students and the Volume Purchase Program (VPP). Using the current iOS and Casper Suite versions, you can assign apps purchased via the VPP to a device rather than an individual, which may make things easier depending on the particulars of your deployment. Once you're distributing and managing apps via the VPP, there are fewer reasons to restrict the App Store and/or in-app purchases.

[drest]

@milesleacy - Thank you for the response! Although we strongly discourage teachers from using personal cards on their devices, anyone who's worked in education knows that this will happen anyway... I'm in the process of re-organizing our VPP accounts, and I've already had some success with managed distribution, so I guess we'll leave everything as is. Thanks again!

[milesleacy]

IMO, if a teacher (or any user, for that matter) decides to use their own Apple ID that's associated with a personal credit card on a shared device, especially when we (IT) have made it unnecessary to do so, then that's the user's problem, not IT's.

We can offer education, but if the user is going to be stupid with their own personal credentials, IT can't stop them or be held responsible.

[medicis]

I do have a question on In app purchases through the VPP. I have seem some comments that Apple VPP program doesn't allow apps with In app purchases mechanism. This means that app developers have to develop a full price version of the app and publish that in the VPP. This raises an issue for apps which want to do subscription based pricing. Since subscription pricing for apps delivered through appstore can only be done through In app purchase process, this mean that subscription based pricing model can't be offered through the Apple VPP program.

Is this confirmed? Does anyone has any other ideas on how this can be achieved and still be sold through the VPP program.

thanks.

[RLR]

@medicis I still think this is possible but you have to go direct to the publisher. I've looked into Kodeable and Photon Edu for our pre prep iPads. It seems they usually have 2 types of apps on the app store. The free version and the Edu paid version. You get the paid version and then go directly to the publishers website and email them for a quote. This is how Kodeable and Photon Edu work from my experience.

[medicis]

Hi, just so I understand it clearly, we can place a paid app in the appstore(expose it through the VPP) and let's say, we put a price of $X. Then, the VPP users can download that and they would still contact us for a formal quote?

Won't they be charged $x?

[milesleacy]

@medicis This sounds like a question for Apple Developer Relations https://developer.apple.com/contact/