WP Marketplace FAQ: What happens to my apps if I don't renew my subscription

The Question

I've signed up for the Windows Phone marketplace and submitted my apps. They're selling well - but I'm not actually planning on doing any more development, so I don't think I need to renew my subscription. What happens if I don't pay the Marketplace renewal fee at the end of the year?

The Answer

You'll get a couple of warning emails at the end of the year, but after those if you choose not to renew your subscription your apps will be removed from the Marketplace.

Will people still be able to use my apps?

Sure. Microsoft won't revoke the apps from people's phones, but they will remove it from the Marketplace - so no one new will be able to purchase the app (and, obviously, no more revenue for you if it was a paid app).

Comments

• Anonymous
  January 21, 2011
  So, what happens as a user if I, as a user, hard reset my phone after a developer does not renew their subscription? The app is removed from the marketplace now; and there is no way for me to re-install it after I hard reset my phone. Thanks.

• Anonymous
  January 22, 2011
  @David That would seem to be true - if the app is no longer on the marketplace, you can no longer install it. If you install an app via Zune it will keep a local backup for you, so that would be fine (it would reinstall from that). Don't take this as final word though, I'll follow up internally to see if there are other solutions available. My personal hope is that no developer with a good app would ever leave the Marketplace, so this will hopefully never be a problem :)

• Anonymous
  January 24, 2011
  I'll be interested to hear what those out possible solutions are. I didn't realize if you install through the zune app that it would save it.   Thank you.