Apple already does this. I am literally looking at a game right now in the App Store and it's free and Apple makes it very clear that it offers IAPs. It even gives you a list of the Top IAPs. So, listing every IAP, it does not do. But beyond that, it gives you exactly what is being asked.

Except Apple did it because they were forced to by a class-action lawsuit. I think that's a pretty good example of "regulation".

Except there are confusion when Apple markets it as the "Free Game of the Week". Many people thought this meant IAP was free as well.

Say "Free game of the week with paid IAP still included", I don't have a problem with this.

Sorry, but it tells you the cost, right on the damn screen. It's not hidden. It literally tells you the price. This is well after you've already downloaded the free app. So you have the game. You are inside, and their are prices next to it.

I mean, damn. Do these same people go to a club, get in for free, and then wonder why they still have to pay for drinks?

> Say "Free game of the week with paid IAP still included", I don't have a problem with this.

I guarantee that using that wording, people would think that the paid IAP was included with the "Free game of the week." I mean, they are already dumb enough to see a price and ignore it.

If it's "unlock extra maps for $5" I think that's fair.

If it's "125 tokens for $10", that's not really telling you the price. Video arcades used this abstraction tactic successfully. Make people convert money upfront, make the exchange rate difficult to calculate mentally, ensure that the user is left with worthless "change" so they top up again, to avoid being left with sunk costs.

If every time an IAP is offered it showed prices in real $/€, people would think twice.

I've never read so many comments from so many people wanting to give money to products they hate to support companies that use tactics you deplore.

I know Apple does that, the Play store also indicates that an app has in-app purchases. But why not say it clearly in the 'purchasing button'?

Notably, for the Play store, it says "FREE" in green letters on grey in the search results, and then you need to click through to see "offers in-app purchases" in dark grey on light grey set well apart from the big, green "Install" button on the details screen, with no information about the in-app purchases.

For my part, I've stopped installing stuff that "offers" this because of the lack of details, but it's extremely annoying to end up clicking through dozens of games to find ones without in-app purchasing because it's not called out in the search results... They've clearly done the bare minimum, in order to avoid losing installs over it. If they cared about their users, they'd have made it far more obvious.

App stores should provide a graph showing expenditure marking the [expected] average and SD per fixed time division (month say), that would be one of the least deceptive and least customer hostile ways to present IAP apps.

Examples:

* Game costs average $1 per month, SD 20¢; OK cool.

* Game is "free" costs average of $20 per month, SD $5.

* Game is free. Average $0 per month.

* Game is 99¢ fixed. Average $0 additional per month.

Even better they could give a playing time [weighted average] too. Then you could compare:

* Game is "free" costs average of $20 per month, SD $5; $1 per hour of play.

* Game costs average $1 per month, SD 20¢; $2 per hour of play.

Seems about as likely as getting the supermarkets to clearly display the cost per kg of all food items.