I need to collect customers' date of birth on every order (not optional — it's for legal invoicing requirements in my market). I'm on a non-Plus plan and I've hit a wall. Here's what I've already ruled out, to save everyone time:

Checkout core fields → Plus-only (Checkout UI Extensions). Confirmed.

Shopify's Checkout Blocks app → the "Custom field" block is Plus-only. On my plan I only get Dynamic/Static content blocks (display-only, no input).

Cart page (via app or main-cart-items.liquid cart attribute) → works, but breaks with drawer carts and gets bypassed by express checkout buttons (Apple Pay / Google Pay / PayPal Express skip the cart entirely). Since I need it on every order, disabling express buttons kills conversions.

Thank-you page survey apps (tried EXT/Extendons) → only preset rating/opinion widgets, no date field, no validation.

My questions:

Is there any way to make a custom field mandatory at checkout without Plus that I'm missing?

For the cart-page route — is there a reliable way to still capture the DOB when a customer uses express checkout, or is that genuinely impossible on non-Plus?

Has anyone solved the "collect a required structured field on 100% of orders" problem on a Basic/Grow plan in a way that survives express checkout? What's your actual setup?

Not looking for "just upgrade to Plus" — I know that's an option, I'm trying to understand if there's a real workaround first. Theme is a third-party one (Online Store 2.0). Thanks.

I launched a Shopify app a few weeks ago (cart drawer / upsell category), no reviews yet. So far I've tried App Store search ads, ASO tweaks, and posting/engaging in Shopify Community threads, results are pretty flat. I also don't have a network of Shopify store owners I can just ask to install it, so I'm stuck relying on strangers finding it.

For those who got past this stage: what actually worked to get your first installs and reviews? Especially curious if paid App Store ads were worth it early on, and how you got initial reviews without it feeling forced.

Not pitching anything, just trying to learn from people who've done this grind. Thanks!

Hey guys, would appreciate your help on this. My client is making me choose whether to build a warranty management system or just download one on the app store.

What’s your recommendation and why based on experience? What are the common apps you use? Just weighing my options and would love to learn.