Can You Give a Hackathon Judge a Free Unlock Before You Submit? No, and Here Is the Exact 409
Fingertips’ 14-day trial could expire during Shipaton judging. Apple’s approval process made every alternative access route harder than expected.
During the hacking competition, a crucial rule emerged: judges cannot be given a free unlock before submission. To understand why, the reporter tested the app on a clean device to see what a judge encounters when they install it. The app, called Fingertips, is free to download with a $9.99 non-consumable unlock and a 14-day trial. The trial period was intended to serve as judge access, but it turned out to be a flawed plan.
The trial clock starts immediately upon installation, not during the judging period. For a 14-day trial to remain active on the last day of judging, the judge must install the app on or after September 29th, just two days before judging begins. The competition submission deadline is September 30th.
The only release date that allows the trial to cover the judging period is the last possible day. However, the reporter's internal submission deadline was September 7th, which meant any calendar protecting the judge from rejection also ensured they faced a paywall. In this particular app, the locked state replaced the library, preventing a judge from accessing any functionality when scoring.
The reporter explored various routes to grant judges access, such as app-level promo codes, Apple's in-app purchase promo codes, and RevenueCat promotional entitlements. However, each option had limitations. Promo codes granted judges a free download they could have obtained anyway, and RevenueCat's grant required a customer ID, which the app did not display.
App Store Offer Codes, on the other hand, were the correct answer. They could be used for both subscription and non-consumable apps, and the reporter successfully implemented them.
Despite building and testing the solution on August 10th, the app remained waiting for review, and the in-app purchase was not yet approved. The reporter tried creating custom offer codes, but the API returned an error stating that the offer could only be created for an approved in-app purchase. Thus, while the reporter devised a seemingly viable solution, the technical hurdles prevented it from being a practical option during the competition.
Written by urgent.news from HackerNoon's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
