Unlock premium features for downloading other app

Hey there,

We have two applications. One of them was released yesterday but it lacks downloads. The other one has high number of downloads every day.
Obviously we had implemented a pop-up informing about releasing new app, but it isn’t driving enough new users.
This is why we have an idea to offer unlocking all premium features in the old app for free by downloading the new one. Is it legal? We know that it is similar to what i.e Tapjoy does, but we have doubts if it isn’t against Google Play policies to do it in your own apps.

Thanks for your help in advance.

Best regards,
Tom Han

In terms of Google Play policy, I don’t see how this should be much different to selling a “Full Version Key” which is common practice for people who have free/paid versions on the market.

With the normal free/paid concept, you publish one app for free, and then sell another app which unlocks features once it is installed.
With your new idea, you publish one app for free, and then give away another app which unlocks features once it is installed.

So it seems like technically this would be ok. Of course, if you were unlocking features in exchange for the user rating your app, that would be questionable. There are also policies against using obligatory app walls or ads which can’t be skipped. But if if you want to be safe, make sure you have an alternative way to unlock premium features as well (e.g. in app payments, Tapjoy, earning in app currency) and then it should be perfectly fine.

Thank you David for your answer.

You have confirmed our assumptions. I think that we are safe, because as you have mentioned we have other ways to unlock premium features (like in app payments and Tapjoy). We also aren’t unlocking features in exchange for the user rating.