I do think IAP has made games less fun, but as a non-game app developer I think IAP is amazing. The old model (for devs who don't like ads) normally went like

I do think IAP has made games less fun, but as a non-game app developer I think IAP is amazing. The old model (for devs who don't like ads) normally went like this: * Free Version: Limited Feature Set * Paid Version: $0.99 or $1.99, full features There were a lot of problems with this model, such as: 1) People didn't know the paid version exist, leave bad ratings on the free version for lack of features. 2) It was hard to gain traction since your downloads were split over multiple apps, meaning each would rank lower individually. 3) When people made the free-to-paid conversion, you had to worry about data migration including all preferences, etc. 4) Some apps just don't have a meaningful feature set for a free version. 5) Maintaining separate code. IAP fixes this and allows be to be a more "lean" operation. Now I publish a free app with a minimum viable feature set. I watch what features people ask for in reviews, and if one seems like a non-bug feature that people really want I'll introduce it as a $0.99 IAP. In the meantime, my free app can keep gaining users which means putting the opportunity to buy my product in front of more people and not splitting my popularity across two app store listings. I also make sure to add features for free to keep moving up the charts and make most users happy. Also, people are much more likely to want to pay for a feature after they've used the rest of the app than pay up front.