The new Electron 2.0 release line is packed with new features and fixes. One of the highlights from this new major version is a new
inAppPurchase
API
for Apple's Mac App Store.
In-app purchases enable content or subscriptions to be purchased directly
from within apps. This gives developers an easy way to embrace the
freemium business model,
wherein users pay nothing to download an app and are offered optional
in-app purchases for premium features, additional content, or subscriptions.
The new API was added to Electron by community contributor
Adrien Fery to enable in-app purchases in
Amanote, a note-taking Electron app for lectures and
conferences. Amanote is free to download and allows clear and structured notes
to be added to PDFs, with features like mathematical formulae, drawings, audio
recording, and more.
Since adding in-app purchase support to the Mac version of Amanote, Adrien
has noted a 40% increase in sales!
Getting Started
The new inAppPurchase
API has already landed in the latest Electron beta:
npm i -D electron@beta
The docs for the API can be found on GitHub,
and Adrien has been kind enough to write a tutorial on how to use the API. To
get started adding in-app purchases to your app, see the tutorial.
More improvements to the API
are in the works, and will soon be landing in an upcoming Electron beta release.
Windows Could Be Next
Up next, Adrien is hoping to open a new revenue channel for Amanote by adding
support for Microsoft Store in-app purchases in Electron. Stay tuned for
developments on that!