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Comment by dchuk | Hacker News Reader

I've complained about the lack of app trials via the mac/iOS app stores for years now. It would be SO EASY for them to incorporate this functionality for developers to allow, where I can try a full version of an app for a certain amount of time and then it would lock me out until I purchased it.

Not having that feature has easily stopped me from giving at least 50% of apps I've found a shot simply because I don't want to make a blind purchase based on 5 screenshots.

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This is one thing that the Microsoft Windows 8 app store does surprisingly well -- you can have full functionality trial periods. The only problem with the Windows 8 app store is... well, it's selling only Windows 8 "modern mode" apps.

I've been playing with the Windows 10 Preview. Now that Store Apps run in normal windows they are almost indistinguishable from desktop apps, they have much better usability and just feel much more valuable to me.

I think that will be a big boost for Windows Store Apps when Windows 10 comes out.

Most apps these days give the basic features for free and the unlock features cost money. This should give you a rough idea on app stability and how it works.

That's a pretty great thing about the android market - you can 'return' an app for a full refund.

Only within two hours, though.

15 minutes, now.

No, they changed it from 15 minutes to two hours.

They changed it to 2 hours last september.

You can "return" an app with Apple as well

Unless this is changed, you can only do that by going through Apple support and asking for a refund. Google Play has a mechanism for it, which makes it considerably more convenient.

I'd personally give priority to upgrade pricing and trials, but I'd still like to see Google Play's approach implemented by Apple here.

If I'm not mistaken, you can get your "refund" only in the next two hours after purchasing an app ("refund" is it quotes because it's not actually a refund but they haven't simply charged you yet.) Two hours are woefully inadequate to evaluate a desktop app and I'm willing to bet that there are laws/rules/guidelines prohibiting something like this with a time period of two weeks or more.

One of the few things I like about the Amazon app store is their feature called "Test Drive" which allows a user to test an app before purchasing it. One can not only test it on their device but also test it inside a web browser.

While having the ability to return an app is necessary (most non-App Store places have 30/60-day money back guarantees), it's not a replacement for trials.

For example, there might be 4-5 apps in the $30-50 range that I want to try. I'm not going to spend $150 and then having to request a refund for the rest - it simply won't happen.

I haven’t purchased boxed software in years, but there was never the ability to return software once it had been opened. If you realized you got the wrong application and hadn’t opened it, OK, you could return it. Otherwise it was assumed that you installed it and then returned it to get your money back.

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