Tutorials Galaxy Watch, Design

Galaxy Watch Face: Try and Buy

Jakia Sultana

Engineer, Samsung Developer Program

These days, distributing digital content is very popular. If you are creative and like to design, then entering into the watch face market would be perfect for you. Galaxy Watch Studio (GWS) has a feature, called trial periods, that lets a user try out your watch face before buying it. A trial period is the time when a customer can try a paid product without paying money. Samsung In-App Purchase (IAP) is used to configure this feature. A trial period can be set from 1 minute to 999 days.

As a seller, a key metric is to measure and maximize the conversion from free trial period to purchase. However, the most common business model for app purchases for Galaxy Watch in 2019 was the paid app model—without a trial period. In the majority of cases, the consumer assesses the paid app based on the screenshots and consumer reviews in Galaxy Store, buys it, and then sees the app on the watch. The try-and-buy model allows the user to test the app risk-free on the watch for a trial period before buying it.

A watch face can be free or paid. If it’s your first attempt to upload a watch face in Galaxy Store, then start with a free watch face. The publication process is fairly easy, and you can become a free seller by registering in Seller Portal. After registering, you have to become an approved seller in order to publish watch faces. To become an approved seller, submit a watch face for design review.

If you want to publish a paid watch face in Galaxy Store, then you have to be a commercial seller. Read Commercial Seller Request Guide for details.

Free Watch Face

Create a new project using GWS. After developing the watch face, upload it to Seller Portal. Read the Build and Upload article to learn about this. You can get a clear view about registering an application in the Seller Portal from the Application Registration Guide.

A trial period becomes relevant when publishing a paid watch face. Integrating this service is easy in GWS.

A user may not want to buy a watch face based on just seeing some screenshots. He/she might be convinced to buy that watch face after using it for a while. A trial period lets a user do this. Before distributing the watch face for sale in Galaxy Store with a trial period, you have to change the IAP settings in GWS.

IAP Settings in Galaxy Watch Studio

  1. Go to GWS > Project > In App Purchase Settings or click on the In-App Purchase Settings icon from the toolbar.

  2. Check ‘Enable In-App Purchase’

  3. Choose one of the trial options.

  4. Set the duration of the trial period (at least 1 min).

  5. Write an Item ID using English letters, numbers, and certain special characters (. - _).

    Note: Use this Item ID for when registering your watch face. If you write the wrong Item ID while registering your watch face in Galaxy Store Seller Portal, the trial period won’t work in your watch face.

  6. Now, click OK.

  7. Select the IAP Test Mode from Project > Build > IAP Test Mode. There are three types of modes in IAP:

    • Commercial: Real transaction happens in this mode.

    • Success Test: This mode is for testing the IAP for successful purchase. No real transaction occurs in this mode.

    • Failure Test: This is for failure testing. You can check what happens when a user fails to purchase the watch face.

    Note: To test the trial period, you have to register your watch face in Seller Portal first. Then, you can test the trial period on your device.

Upload the Watch Face

If you want to test your trial period, follow the steps below:

  1. Open the project in GWS.

  2. Go to Build. Set the IAP Test Mode as ‘Success Test’ while building the watch face.

  3. After building the project, go to Seller Portal or click on the ‘Upload’ button in GWS and log in.

  4. Follow the steps which are described in the Build and Upload section for uploading your watch face to Seller Portal.

  5. If you forget to enter information in the In-App Purchase section, then the trial period won’t work in your watch face. So be mindful about it.

  6. If your watch face is paid and it has a trial period, you have to set the price in the In-App Purchase section.

  7. Go to the Country/Region & Price section and set the price as ‘Free’. Otherwise, customers might have to pay money for both the trial version and after the trial version has expired.

  8. When you upload the binary of your watch face, your watch face will be registered.

  9. Do not submit your watch face, just save it.

  10. After registering, you can test the trial period of your watch face. Refer to "Test the trial period" in Trial Periods.

When you are ready to sell your watch face, do the following steps:

  1. In GWS, go to Build. Set the IAP Test Mode as ‘Commercial’ and then build the project.

  2. After building the project, go to Seller Portal or click on the ‘Upload’ button and log in.

  3. If you have uploaded your watch face for testing already then find your Application and click on ‘Registering’.

  4. Delete the binary from ‘Binary’ section and upload the new one.

    Tip: You can mention that your watch face is "Try and Buy" in the Description box in the App Information section. This may create interest to download your watch face and use the trial version.

  5. If everything is done, click ‘submit’ to upload your watch face for validation and publication.

It may take 2 - 3 weeks to publish your watch face in Galaxy Store. You can check the status of your watch face from Seller Portal in the Application Status tab. You can check the sale status of your watch face from Home > Statistics.

For more information about trial periods, see the related article on the Samsung Developers site. If you have any questions, visit the GWS forum.

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