Google Pay Vs. In App Billing
Before I get into the article, I’d like to share an incident that triggered my research into this topic.
Our App got rejected from the Google Play store the other day. The email said something on the lines of “Use In app billing”. My team was very confused because we implemented the Google Pay API which was available via the Stripe SDK.
For anyone using Stripe (or any third party payment system) you are naturally inclined to use whatever API is available on that platform. Stripe does not offer In App Billing via Google, so naturally we went with Google Pay. After doing a fair amount of research I realised why using Google Pay for our app was the wrong decision.
Here’s what I found —
Google Pay
Google Pay is a service which essentially uses the cards uploaded to your Google Wallet to make a payment. It has the ability to work in conjunction with third party payment systems (like Stripe) to make a payment, only if the user authorises to make payment via the Google Pay Button.
It is commonly used to purchase physical goods and services offered by a platform. So if you are buying a pair of shoes online or paying for an online class you can make the payment via Google Pay if the Platform gives the option to do so.
Note: Google Pay is not an end-to-end payment gateway it just enables you to get access to cards stored in a secure place (Google Wallet) if the user allows you to do so. But for the transaction to actually take place you (developer of the app) have to connect it with a third Party payment system (like Stripe).
In App Billing
Also known as In App Purchase, the In App Billing feature is another way to make payment using cards stored in the Google Play Store, but in this case we use google’s payment gateway to make the payment, and that’s why they charge a commission. You cannot use a third party payment system in this case, and you have to use Google’s payment gateway.
Note: To enable payments via In App Billing on Google it is mandatory to register your products and subscriptions within the Google Play console in advance.
It is commonly used to unlock some feature within the app either by one-time payment or a monthly/yearly subscription, and can be used to buy digital goods like coins/credits (which can only be used within the app).
These are only a few examples, but you can read about all examples using the link given below —
Which one should I implement ?
Well, that completely depends on what you are selling on the platform. You can use the above link to decide what category the purchase-type falls in.
Some Apps use both types of payment integration (Google Pay and In App Billing) for different products within the app.
A great way to decide is to see which payment method is being used by other apps (that are selling a similar product) on the Play Store. It is important to take the right decision in advance because it can save you and your team weeks trying to re-implement the payment method because your app got rejected.
Some Exceptions
Apps like Spotify technically fall under the In App Billing Category, but if you try to upgrade to the premium plan on Spotify using the app downloaded via the Google Play Store you will see that it redirects to some web page which allows you to enter your card and does not use In App Billing.
This is because Spotify made a deal with Google to let them use their own In App Billing Method. Check out the article below —
