I have an app in Google Play Store that offers auto-renewable subscriptions and I now want to set up a free trial offer. It looks like Google Play uses promo codes to handle this. My question is where does the user enter the promo code? Is it a screen I need to create in my app or is this something handled by the Android OS as part of the standard checkout process?
I have the same app in Apple's AppStore and with them all I have to do is set a trial period. That's it. Apple automatically gives users the free trial period I set in my offer and starts charging at the end of the trial period.
I'm confused about where the user enters the promo code in my Android app and would appreciate some clarification.
P.S. Here's the section in Play Store documentation that indicates free trials are handled with promo codes -- unless I'm misunderstanding this section all together.
Promotions, or promo codes, enable you to give one-time products or trials to subscriptions free-of-charge to a limited number of users. The user enters a promo code, either in your app or in the Google Play Store app, and receives the item or subscription trial at no cost.
Promo codes are for giving specific people an extended free trial. From the Help Center article, free trials for everyone are configured when you create an Offer for the Subscription:
Google Play Console > Monetize with Play > Subscriptions > Select subscription for which to create the offer by clicking blue arrow > To the right of "Base Plans and Offers" click "Add Offer".