Virtual Currency Overview

There are two ways to integrate virtual currency in your application when using Tapjoy’s products: Tapjoy managed currency and self-managed currency.

1. Tapjoy managed currency

Tapjoy Managed currency enables you to use Tapjoy’s servers to store your user’s currency amount. This is a free service provided by Tapjoy for all developers that integrate Tapjoy’s publisher SDKs. This eliminates the back-end work normally needed to store your user’s currency data for your application.

Note: If you have a Tapjoy managed currency in your app, that is the only Tapjoy currency (of any kind) you may have in your app.

2. Self-managed currency

Self-managed currency is used when you are handling the currency balances of your users with your own servers. This method can give you more control with your user’s currency but it also means that you are completely responsible for the back-end work for storing and handling the currency amounts for all your users.

Note: You can have multiple self-managed currencies in a single application. So if you wish to have multiple Tapjoy currencies in a single application, your only option is self-managed currencies. You cannot have both managed and self-managed currencies in a single application.

3. Choosing a Currency Management Type

Tapjoy prefers that you use a self-managed currency for many reasons but most of them come down to flexibility for the publisher.

	Tapjoy Managed	Self Managed
Multiple Currencies		✔
Mediation Compatibility		✔
Control over user balance		✔
Reward IDs for troubleshooting		✔
Visibility into transactions		✔
Easy Setup	✔	✔
Fewer SDK calls		✔

4. Setting up Virtual Currency in the Tapjoy Dashboard

Note: Once you create a virtual currency, you will not be allowed to delete it. Be judicious in the creation of your currencies and be careful not to over-populate your virtual currency list. You will need to create a currency for each platform/app, so make sure you create a currency for your iOS and another currency for your android app.

Dashboard method

1. Navigate to the app for which you want to create a virtual currency using the app list drop-down menu in the upper-right of the Tapjoy dashboard.
2. Click the "Monetization" tab in the top navigation bar.
3. Click "Virtual Currency" in the left menu bar.
4. Click the "Create Virtual Currency" button on the upper right.
5. Fill out the form.
   1. Note that when setting your currency exchange rate, be sure to have enough "granularity" in your currency. If you set your exchange rate at 2 = $1 USD, then this might impact your fill rate because many offers will not be worth even a single unit of your currency. We recommend at least 100 = $1 USD.
   2. The maximum amount of currency a user on Android can have in their balance is 2147483647 so it is not recommended to have an exchange rate with a very large ratio (e.g. 100,000,000 : $1). If the balance goes above this value it will not be possible to retrieve it.
   3. Select which kind of currency you are using: with "Managed" currency, Tapjoy keeps the user’s balance on its own servers. A "Self-managed" currency is one where Tapjoy notifies your server of currency activity via a Callback URL, but you keep track of the balance yourself.
6. Your currency should be enabled automatically by our system within 15 minutes. Until your currency is enabled, you will not see any ads from Tapjoy unless your device is a test device.
7. Meanwhile, you can add your device as a "Test Device" to receive test ads. To do so, click on "Settings" -> "App Settings" -> "Test Devices" (in the left menu).

Integration Guide method

1. Go to the Tapjoy Dashboard, and select the app for which you wish to create a virtual currency.
2. Click the "Tools" menu in the top menu bar.
3. Select "Integration Guide" from the drop-down menu to run the Dashboard Integration Guide.
4. Click "Monetize Integration" from the upper menu row.
5. Click "Virtual Currency" from the navigation bar below where it says "Get started on Monetize Integration".
6. Click the red "+ Create Virtual Currency" button.
7. Fill out the resulting form completely.
8. Note that when setting your currency exchange rate, be sure to have enough "granularity" in your currency. If you set your exchange rate at 2 = $1 USD, then this might impact your fill rate because many offers will not be worth even a single unit of your currency. We recommend at least 100 = $1 USD.
9. Select which kind of currency you are using: with "Managed" currency, Tapjoy keeps the user’s balance on its own servers. A "Self-managed" currency is one where Tapjoy notifies your server of currency activity via a Callback URL, but you keep track of the balance yourself.
10. Your currency should be enabled automatically by our system within 15 minutes.
11. To exit the Integration Guide and return to the regular dashboard, click the red "Tapjoy" box in the upper left.