User friendly App Store promo codes
If you’re an iPhone developer, then surely you’ve given out promo codes for your apps. Most developers usually just send out the promo codes… sometimes with instructions on how to redeem them… sometimes with no details at all. The latter can obviously be confusing to people who aren’t familiar with the process for redeeming them because it’s not completely obvious as to how to do it.
It’s not too bad if you redeem them in iTunes on your computer since there’s a “Redeem” link at the top of the iTunes Store main page. But I suspect that many people go to the App Store link and mistakenly look for the link there.
But if you try to redeem in on your iPhone and you’ve never done it before, the method could hardly be any more illogical… What you do is go to the App Store, then tap the “Featured” tab at the bottom, then make sure that you’re in the “New” section at the top. Scroll to the bottom and there’s you’ll find the magic Redeem “App”. After tapping on this pseudo-app, you can then type (or paste) in your promo code.
There’s gotta be a more intuitive way, right? Well, yeah, there definitely is…
There’s a little-known iTunes Store URL that enables you to easily provide promo codes that can simply be clicked or tapped to be redeemed (replace “REPLACEWITHPROMOCODE” with the actual promo code):
https://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZFinance.woa/wa/freeProductCodeWizard?code=REPLACEWITHPROMOCODE
And the great thing is that these URLs work in both in iTunes on the user’s computers and on their iPhone/iPod touch devices. Help make life for people just a tad easier by using these links in the future.
tap tap tap is a leading iPhone and iPad app developer and publisher. We’ve been creating top-notch apps since the App Store first opened. Our apps are used by literally millions of people in all corners of the world.
A few of our favorite and most popular apps we’ve created are:
Camera+
the ultimate photo app
The Heist
solve puzzles.
Classics
your favorite books, in your pocket
Voices
voice morphing for your iPhone
Convert
unit convert
Demi Adejuyigbe
2:25am, October 30, 2009
Great tip, guys! Promo codes are confusing enough as is, but the direct link is a pretty neat trick. I also had no idea that redeem codes & promo codes even worked on the iPhone.
Andrew Jakubowski
2:25am, October 30, 2009
I was just about to send promo codes for my new app and had no idea about this iTunes Store URL. Thanks for the tip!
Tom
2:30am, October 30, 2009
I was hoping you’d be giving some away!
allie912
5:30am, October 30, 2009
I’ve never gotten a promo code. How do you get so lucky?
Bob Baggarley
12:43pm, October 30, 2009
Nice post!
And yet another reason why folks hang out here in the first place.
appfreak
3:44pm, October 30, 2009
This is truly the Apple way. Thanks for sharing with the community.
mare
10:35pm, October 30, 2009
Now Apple only needs to make promo codes available in the whole world and not only in the US of A. There are many developers and customers that are not based in the US. I read somewhere that Apple makes more than half of its revenue outside the US and my apps certainly do.
Ouriel Ohayon
1:38am, October 31, 2009
We just introduced a simple way to distribute promo code with our getAp.ps/yourApp URL
http://post.ly/B3yD
very user friendly (for sender and recipient) with all the analytics juice behind
Daniel
12:57pm, November 2, 2009
Now what I would really like, is a URL that lets me link a user directly to the page where they can leave feedback on an app.
Alex Machi
9:23pm, November 6, 2009
What’s the deal? I filled out the form, provided my e-mail address as well as all the other information requested for the MacHeist nanoBundle, yet no link, no confirmation, no download. Did I miss something? I really hope this isn’t some scam to mine people’s data!!! What a sucky thing that would be. I mean, really!
Elliot
4:50am, November 8, 2009
Cool, I didn’t know this kind of link was possible. It works like a charm!
So to further test it out, I’ve generated a special promo code just for the next person who reads the comments on this tap tap tap blog post. Consider it a new marketing experiment.
First person to click this link gets a free copy of Whiteboard Pro, a $3.99 value:
http://itunes.greengar.com/taptaptap.php
Andrew Shalit
10:01am, November 16, 2009
This is great, if it’s reliable. Does anyone have any idea how long it’s been around. I hate relying on undocumented APIs from Apple. They have a habit of changing those every time you turn around.
Colten Willey
12:44pm, May 7, 2010
IT IS SHIT
rush5891
10:01pm, July 21, 2010
it was very interesting to read.
I want to quote your post in my blog. It can?
And you et an account on Twitter?
plndr promo codes
2:31pm, September 9, 2010
thanks for the tip bro
Al
11:04am, January 2, 2012
Great tool. http://www.appgiveaway.com is a little different as we don’t just give the promo codes away we ask the users to help promote the apps on Facebook, Twitter and of course appGiveaway.com serves as a great SEO tool for apps.
Brent
1:09pm, November 23, 2012
Great tip. Thank you !!