How to resolve rejection on App store with In-App purchase, free trial and links of web application

Question

We're developing an app for iOS devices. It has a subscription option if the user wants to upgrade from the free trial.

Our app is rejected as we had an option to pay with PayPal along with In-App Purchase. They reverted with the insights and resolution steps.

We noticed that your app or its metadata provides access to external mechanisms for purchases or subscriptions to be used in the app, which does not comply with the App Store Review Guidelines.

Next Steps

To resolve this issue, please remove the account registration links and any other fully qualified links to your site that could indirectly provide access to these mechanisms, such as links to web pages for support, FAQs, product or program details, etc.

But we don't have links such as they have mentioned. We'have two main links of web pages, privacy policy and terms & conditions. Also, we've subscription option for the registered users in web application.

There are several doubts we have.

1. We are using the same API for iOS and Android app, hence, do we need to remove PayPal related information from the API's request-response for iOS?

2. Is it acceptable if we have the option to subscribe through a web app?

3. Even my app doesn't contain links of registration, do I need to remove links of the privacy policy and terms & condition pages?

Answer 1

Remove Indirect Links

You need to remove every link from the privacy policy and terms of conditions pages. Any link from these pages can indirectly lead to your alternative payment methods.

The key phrase in Apple's response is:

…that could indirectly provide access…

Any link in or from your app should be carefully checked for ongoing links.

Multiple Payment Methods

A service accessed non-exclusively through an iOS app can support multiple payment methods. From within the iOS app, the only method of payment can be through Apple.