What's the difference between consumable and non-renewable subscriptions?

Question

Apple, iOS, IAP.

The official doc says:

Product type - Users can buy - Appears in the receipt - Synced across devices - Restored

Consumable - Multiple ti

Answer 1

Ref: itunesconnect.apple.com

Everything is here:

Consumable (pay everytime)

A consumable In-App Purchase must be purchased every time the user downloads it. One-time services, such as fish food in a fishing app, are usually implemented as consumables.

Select Non-Consumable (one time payment)

Non-consumable In-App Purchases only need to be purchased once by users. Services that do not expire or decrease with use are usually implemented as non-consumables, such as new race tracks for a game app.

Select Auto-Renewable Subscriptions (will deduct money from your credit card on a cycle complete)

Auto-renewable Subscriptions allow the user to purchase updating and dynamic content for a set duration of time. Subscriptions renew automatically unless the user opts out, such as magazine subscriptions.

Select Free Subscription (no payment and is still visible even you did not submitted your account detail to itunes connect)

Free subscriptions are a way for developers to put free subscription content in Newsstand. Once a user signs up for a free subscription, it will be available on all devices associated with the user’s Apple ID. Note that free subscriptions do not expire and can only be offered in Newsstand-enabled apps.

Select Non-Renewing (need to renew manually)

Subscription Non-Renewing Subscriptions allow the sale of services with a limited duration. Non-Renewing Subscriptions must be used for In-App Purchases that offer time-based access to static content. Examples include a one week subscription to voice guidance feature within a navigation app or an annual subscription to online catalog of archived video or audio.

Answer 2

Consumable items are individually purchased items. You need to buy one each time you want one. For example, in a game, if you ran out of lives and wanted to keep playing, you can buy an extra life (consumable). Once you use that life, if you need more than you need to buy another one.

Non-renewing is referring to subscriptions. It is the purchase of a subscription to something for a designated time frame, that will not automatically renew/re-charge after it expires. Example would be buying a one month subscription to a weekly magazine app that publishes new content every week. You purchase this one month, non-renewing, subscription and you get access to the app's content for a month. After the month is over, it does not automatically renew itself and will not bill you again.