If it is a digital product that people are paying for, as far as I can see, then you have have IPA as an option. But as you say, there are options like making your app a Reader.
I had a concern about subscriptions and the need for IPAs with my last app update, which was approved without any questions being raised, much to my surprise. So this may work - but it's obviously not a model that suits everyone:
- The app is for a social community, which is run on a not-for-profit basis (but NOT a charity/co-op/CIC; just a UK Ltd company with no shares)
- What we refer to in app and on our website as "Subscriptions" are recurring donations
- Setup and management of those is handled on the website; the app will launch a web site page if a user needs to check or review their subscription
- Whether a member subscribes or not, they all receive the same functionality on website and app, with no limits (eg, unlimited messages and so on)
- The benefit a member gets by subscribing is a membership card (either virtual, or a physical one posted to them, if they set up recurring donations)
- The app and website allow a member to display or manage their membership card. This function, obviously, is not available to people who haven't paid
- Various partners we work with give our members discounts on presentation of the card
We explained this in the note section during app submission, and though I was expecting pushback, we didn't get any - having read of some cases recently, I half expected them to say we had to have subscriptions as an IPA.
You could look at this as giving people everything, and selling some of them the physical card, I suppose.
Whether this would work for a purely commercial organisation, I don't know. Essentially, our business model is "We'll give you everything, and we'll try to make it good enough that you'll want to give us money, and if you do, other people will give you discounts"