Apple to allow users to gift in-app purchases to friends and family through the App Store

Apple has revealed within an update to its App Store Review Guidelines that developers will soon be able to implement a new feature into their apps that will allow iOS users to gift in-app content/in-app purchases to other users, such as friends and family.

As first spotted by MacRumors, the new in-app purchase gifting will be welcomed news to app developers as more and more sellers are adopting the  free-to-try and subscription based business model for their apps.

Before the update to the guidelines Apple said “Apps should not directly or indirectly enable gifting of in-app purchase content, features, or consumable items to others.”, but now the guidelines say “Apps may enable gifting of items that are eligible for in-app purchase to others. Such gifts may only be refunded to the original purchaser and may not be exchanged.”

Apple doesn’t specifically mention how in-app purchase gifting will be handled, but it’s possible that the new option will be added to the App Store interface as part of a future iOS update.