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I'm just about done writing an iPhone application and submit it to the App Store for approval.

I'm going to sell the app for a price, but I'd like to be able to give out a few free copies on occasion, kind of like a promotional offer.

I know when you go to one particular coffee establishment, they have gift cards available to feature various artists. You type in a code and it immediately "purchases" and downloads the song for you.

I'd like to be able to do something similar to this for my own app. Is this possible?

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Clearly the answer is "yes" - but why don't you e-mail Apple or search the App Store help for this information? – ChrisF♦ May 19 '11 at 15:10
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I have been, but no such luck so far. Maybe my brain has died this morning, hence going to my "second authority" the SE network 8^D – Dillie-O May 19 '11 at 15:16
@ChrisF - Ahh! Thanks... and that's the kicker right there. I've been thinking "gift card" "free app" "voucher" and the whole time they refer to it as a "promo code" That gives me a start! – Dillie-O May 19 '11 at 15:18
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You should have made that clear in your question. If you check the tooltips on the up and down vote arrows they mention "research". – ChrisF♦ May 19 '11 at 15:18

1 Answer

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In iTunes Connect you can generate promo codes. The specific method changes occasionally; currently it is a button when you View Details under Manage Applications.

Note that you can only generate 50 promo codes for each version of an app. Most people send them to reviewers.

Because of that limit, most promotional giveaways are done by temporarily dropping the price of your app. Although many changes to your app require an update and Apple approval, price changes are done instantaneously through iTunes Connect.

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+1 Free promo codes are good for this kind of thing but now have the limitation that people who got the app through a promo code cannot rate or review it. This seems to be in response to the promo code exchange sites that started popping up. If you want the person to be able to rate it you can instead send the app as a gift through iTunes -- you'll pay the full amount up front but will get 70% of it back at the end of the month. Alternately you can hand out iTunes Gift Cards but the denominations are often too big and the receiver can buy anything with them (and not buy your app). – Matthew Frederick May 19 '11 at 15:26
@Matthew Frederick - Thanks for the insights on gifting vs the card. For me the card is going to be the better route, since I may show up at a venue and just give them out. I'm not as worried about the online ratings in that regard, I'm hoping the word of mouth will do well for that. – Dillie-O May 19 '11 at 15:29

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