A few years ago, most apps would either be free or be a paid app, and in some cases the free version is the “lite” version meant to tempt the user into upgrading to the fully paid one. However these days the freemium model is the dominating model where apps are free, but in-app purchases are how the developers make their money.
Now if you’re not a fan of such apps and would rather just pay once and be done with it, Apple has recently debuted a new category called “Pay Once & Play” as you can see in the screenshot above. As the name suggests, these are curated apps by Apple that will list apps that require the user to pay only once for the app and be done with it.
Of course it’s not a curation of all the apps in the iTunes App Store, just some apps that Apple has decided are worth highlighting. For the most part the apps are games which tends to feature a lot of in-app purchases, so if you’re looking to just spend once, then this is a category you might want to check out.
Previously Apple and Google have gotten in trouble over freemium apps, which some felt were misleading. To that extent both Apple and Google have started to come up with ways to inform their customers of apps that require in-app purchases and have since stopped labeling these apps as “Free”.
Filed in . Read more about Apps and Itunes App Store.