Hello everyone,
I’m hoping someone might help with auto-renewable subscription validation in Apple’s Sandbox environment. Here’s the situation:
My Setup:
I’ve configured three auto-renewable subscriptions in App Store Connect and generated an In-App Purchase key (with the correct Issuer ID and Key ID). (I also tried the App Store Connect API Keys)
I’m using Apple’s App Store Server API v2 endpoints (GET /inApps/v2/subscriptions/{originalTransactionId}/latest) to fetch the latest subscription status.
I’ve created several Sandbox test users (with fresh email addresses), signed out of old test accounts on my devices, and tested purchasing subscriptions anew.
What Works:
I am receiving valid Server Notifications from Apple (e.g. SUBSCRIBED, DID_RENEW) with the correct environment: "Sandbox" field.
My JWT generation appears to be correct because I’m no longer receiving 401 errors—only 404. That suggests Apple accepts the key and credentials.
My fallback logic attempts production first; if it sees a 404 or 410, it switches over to the Sandbox endpoint. This is exactly what Apple’s documentation recommends.
The Problem:
Whenever I query GET https://api.storekit-sandbox.itunes.apple.com/inApps/v2/subscriptions/{originalTransactionId}/latest using the originalTransactionId from Apple’s own Server Notification, Apple returns a 404 (indicating it can’t find that subscription).
This happens even though the subscription is active in Sandbox (I see notifications arriving for it).
I’ve tried adding a brief waiting period (2 seconds) before calling the Sandbox endpoint, but it consistently returns 404. I’ve also tried multiple retries over a longer timeframe without success.
I tested multiple fresh Sandbox test users, ensuring each one was signed in to the device’s App Store. After each new purchase, I still get the same 404.
Additional Checks:
These are definitely auto-renewable subscriptions, not non-renewing or consumable products.
I also tried calling GET /inApps/v2/subscriptions/{transactionId}/latest but I still see 404.
I tried everything mentioned above in production as I said to no avail:
GET https://api.storekit.itunes.apple.com/inApps/v2/subscriptions/{originalTransactionId}/latest
StoreKit
RSS for tagSupport in-app purchases and interactions with the App Store using StoreKit.
Selecting any option will automatically load the page
Post
Replies
Boosts
Views
Activity
Hi apple team,
I'm using Apple Root Certificates from https://www.apple.com/certificateauthority/ for communicating with App Store Server Library for receipt validation API.
Apple Computer, Inc Root certificate from the website is Not Valid After: Monday, 10 February 2025 at 01:18:14 Central European Standard Time.
When we can expect update of this certificate.
Thank you
Hi, all!
I have an AppStore Server-side question. User sends up an AppReceipt that I am validating. What's the best way to tell the receipt belongs to said user? I want to make sure that the source of the AppReceipt was actually the original purchaser of the item. Is fetching Transaction + AppAccountToken the only way? AppAccountToken can only be utilized if the original purchase used it, and it is associated with the user's data. Is there another way?
If you are experiencing an unexpected or inconsistent behavior when using the App Store Server Library, review the following resources to ensure that your implementation workflow didn’t cause the issue:
Simplifying your implementation by using the App Store Server Library
Explore App Store server APIs for In-App Purchase
Meet the App Store Server Library
If you are unable to resolve your issue using the above resources, file a GitHub issue. Alternatively, if you wish to provide specific requests, transactions, or other private information for review, submit a Feedback Assistant report with the following information:
The bundleId or appAppleId of your app
The date and time your issue occurred
The library language(s)
The version of the library
The environment (i.e., Production, Sandbox, or Xcode)
The GitHub issue for this report if available
The endpoint(s) reproducing your issue
The HTTP body and headers of the endpoint raw request
The HTTP body and headers of the endpoint response
To submit the report, perform these steps:
Log into Feedback Assistant.
Click on the Compose icon to create a new report.
Select the Developer Tools & Resources topic.
In the sheet that appears:
Enter a title for your report.
Select “App Store Server Library” from the “Which area are you seeing an issue with?” pop-up menu.
Select “Incorrect/Unexpected Behavior” from the “What type of feedback are you reporting?” pop-up menu.
Enter a description of your issue and how to reproduce it.
Add the information gathered above to the sheet.
Submit your report.
After filing your report, please respond in your existing Developer Forums post with the Feedback Assistant ID. Use your Feedback Assistant ID to check for updates or resolutions. For more information, see Understanding feedback status.
To receive server notifications from the App Store, follow the instructions in Enabling App Store Server Notifications. If your server doesn’t receive any notifications, check your server logs for any incoming web request issues, and
confirm that your server supports the Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.2 protocol or later. If you implement version 2 of App Store Server Notifications, call the Get Notification History endpoint. If there is an issue sending a notification, the endpoint returns the error the App Store received from your server.
If your issue persists, submit a Feedback Assistant report with the following information:
The bundleId or appAppleId of your app
The date and time your issue occurred
The raw HTTP body of your notification
The affected transactionId(s) if applicable
The version of App Store Server Notifications (i.e., Version 1 or Version 2)
The environment (i.e., Production or Sandbox)
To submit the report, perform these steps:
Log into Feedback Assistant.
Click on the Compose icon to create a new report.
Select the Developer Tools & Resources topic.
In the sheet that appears:
Enter a title for your report.
Select “App Store Server Notifications” from the “Which area are you seeing an issue with?” pop-up menu.
Select “Incorrect/Unexpected Behavior” from the “What type of feedback are you reporting?” pop-up menu.
Enter a description of your issue.
Add the information gathered above to the sheet.
Submit your report.
After filing your report, please respond in your existing Developer Forums post with the Feedback Assistant ID. Use your Feedback Assistant ID to check for updates or resolutions. For more information, see Understanding feedback status.
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
StoreKit
Tags:
App Store Server Notifications
App Store Server Library
Hi, all!
I am wondering about something about App Receipts. I'm using App Receipt hash to key some information server-side. I'm curious however, if that doesn't actually have a possible flaw. Is it possible to get a new receipt that would yield a different hash for the same transaction? Reinstalling the app, perhaps? Installing the app on a new phone? Basically, I want to make sure this hash is something I can rely on. If the user can get a new hash for the same purchase, that's obviously problematic.
Thanks!
I'm adding my first in-app purchase to an app, and I'm finding the process incredibly frustrating.
Aside from the Apple Developer Documentation not being clear enough, and kind of glossing over the technical steps required (and their sample code being woefully inadequate), App Store Connect and the testing sandbox simply don't work as they say they do.
For example, in my app I've purchased the IAP and now I want to request a refund. I select the purchase, I choose a refund reason, and this page says, "To set up a test for approved refunds, select any refund reason on the refund request sheet, and submit the sheet. The App Store automatically approves the refund request in the testing environment."
Well, when I re-launch the app the purchase is still there. I can't request a refund again because it says this is a duplicate refund request, so it knows that the purchase has had a request, and it's supposed to have automatically refunded it, but it clearly hasn't.
So, I try clearing the purchase history via the Settings app > Developer > Sandbox Apple Account. Same thing. Purchase remains.
Try clearing purchase history in App Store Connect. Same thing.
How on Earth does anyone get an in-app purchase to work when the entire testing environment is so badly executed?
How do I get past this? The IAP is the last part of the app that needs to be implemented, and I've lost a week on this already.
Hello,
I would like to draw your attention to the following imperfection. For validating purchases of my paid application Guru Maps Pro, I use the download id. This is a unique ID that can replace the Transaction ID for paid applications. However, with the release of the new AppTransaction API, this field is no longer present in the data. I tried parsing the receipt, but that field is absent there as well. The only way to obtain the download id is to send the receipt to the deprecated /verifyReceipt endpoint. This deprecated status concerns me, because at some point it might stop working.
Let me explain a little about why I need this. My users have a guru-account, which they can use both in the web version and on Android. When a user purchases the paid version of the application, they can access the paid features on both web and Android. This works great for in-app purchases, where there is a transaction ID, but it may soon stop working for paid applications because there is no way to determine any ID associated with the purchase. Transaction ID or Download ID – I don't mind which.
We have implementend Storekit 2 in our app, for one time purchases and subscriptions, so it is iOS15 and higher only.
Everything works fine, but now we want to add App Store promotions for our IAP's. That doesn't work because the App requires the app to implement SKPaymentTransactionObserver
How to Promote Your In-App Purchases
Make sure your app supports a delegate method in SKPaymentTransactionObserver. You can choose to customize which promoted in-app purchases a user sees on a specific device by implementing SKProductStorePromotionController.
The problem is that this observer is part of the original Storekit API and not of the new one.
What can we do to make this work with the new Storekit 2 API?
We uploaded to App Store Connect a new app version with new subscription groups & items. Everything was approved, and we received the emails from App Store connect, but if we visit our App Store Connect account App, some of these subscription items are still "Waiting for review" for more than 4 days. It has no sense as the email informed us that the new app version and all the items had been approved. The app is online, but some subscription items are not available.
We even uploaded a new app version, it was updated, but the subscription items are still "Waiting for review".
Has anyone faced this problem? How do you solved it? We have contacted App Store Connect but it is pretty difficult to get real assistance, most of the time they reply with template email answers.
Hi! Could you please clarify when and why the subscription auto-renewal rate in TestFlight was changed to a daily cycle? Now, the subscription lasts for 6 days! This is causing significant issues in testing. Previously, the 5-minute auto-renewal for weekly subscriptions was an excellent solution.
Is there a way to adjust the auto-renewal timing for an account in TestFlight?
Documentation link: https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/test-a-beta-version/subscription-renewal-rate-in-testflight.
Thank you for your clarification!
I had a standalone python application (created with pyinstaller) which was working perfectly alone. This macOS application was created in VS. I later decided to improve the application by implementing some Swift features (Subscription Manager). This required me to write a brief Swift file (Subscription Management) in XCode which the Python file called on.
Python Standalone Application Calling Swift :
# Function to check if the user has a valid subscription
def check_subscription():
subscription_manager_path = "/Users/isseyyohannes/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/SubscriptionManager2-ezwjnnjruizvamaesqighyoxljmy/Build/Products/Debug/SubscriptionManager2" # Adjust path
try:
result = subprocess.run([subscription_manager_path], capture_output=True, text=True, check=True)
return "VALID_SUBSCRIPTION" in result.stdout # Return True if valid, False otherwise
except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
print(f"Error checking subscription: {e}")
return False # Return False if there's an issue
However, when I try to run xcrun altool --validate-app ... I get the following error message.
The error reads as follows
Running altool at path '/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/SharedFrameworks/ContentDeliveryServices.framework/Frameworks/AppStoreService.framework/Support/altool'...
2025-02-16 11:02:21.089 *** Error: Validation failed for '/Users/isseyyohannes/Desktop/ALGORA Performance.app'.
2025-02-16 11:02:21.089 *** Error: Could not find the main bundle or the Info.plist is missing a CFBundleIdentifier in ‘/Users/isseyyohannes/Desktop/ALGORA Performance.app’. Unable to validate your application. (-21017)
{
NSLocalizedDescription = "Could not find the main bundle or the Info.plist is missing a CFBundleIdentifier in \U2018/Users/isseyyohannes/Desktop/ALGORA Performance.app\U2019.";
NSLocalizedFailureReason = "Unable to validate your application.";
I located the Info.plist file which had everything correct (my Bundle ID, etc.) for the python file. I am successfully able to notarize the application, just having issues submitting it.
**It is worth noting I currently have a python executable calling on a file written in swift code and created in xcode.
I created the python application with the following command on VS.
pyinstaller --onefile --noconsole \
--icon="/Users/isseyyohannes/Downloads/E0BWowfbDkzEiEAckjsHAsYMzpdjjttT.icns" \
--codesign-identity "Developer ID Application: Issey Yohannes (GL5BCCW69X)" \
--add-binary="/Users/isseyyohannes/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/SubscriptionManager2-ezwjnnjruizvamaesqighyoxljmy/Build/Products/Debug/SubscriptionManager2:." \
--osx-bundle-identifier com.algora1 \
/Users/isseyyohannes/Desktop/ALGORA\ Performance.py
Note : All steps on Apple Developer site are done (ex. Creating identifier, secret password etc)
I'm using the iOS simulator with a StoreKit configuration file. I can see that there have been transactions while the app has been closed, but my StoreKit 2 listener is never called with those updates to be able to finish them When I open my app from a cold start.
I've added a listener on application(_:didFinishLaunching:launchOptions:) like this:
func startObservingTransactions() {
task = Task(priority: .background) {
for await result in Transaction.updates {
if case .verified(let transaction) = result {
await transaction.finish()
}
}
}
}
But the Transaction.updates loop never gets called (have added breakpoints to check). It's only ever called when a purchase is made, or subsequent transaction renewals when the app is open. Only then it will get the previously unfinished transactions.
Steps to reproduce:
Create an app with a StoreKit config file (with sped up transactions) to purchase an item
Make a purchase then quit the app
Wait for a bit for more transactions to be made while the app is closed.
Open the app from a cold start and none of the transactions will be finished by the listener in your app. Cancel the subscription via the transaction manager.
Close and open the app from a cold start. The first transaction will be finished by the listener but none of the others will be.
In Apple's docs it says
If your app has unfinished transactions, the listener receives them immediately after the app launches
Why is this not the case?
I remember when I called Apple Support, they told me that they can only assist with refunds for orders within the last two months.
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
StoreKit
After the release of StoreKit 2.0, the in-app purchase failure rate increased by 63.19%, with the majority of errors being StoreKitError.unknown. When encountering this error, many users repeatedly attempt to make a purchase, but the outcome remains unchanged, resulting in the same unknown error.
In some cases, users who wait approximately 2 minutes before retrying the purchase may either succeed or encounter the following error:
“StoreKit.StoreKitError.systemError(Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=4097 "connection to service named com.apple.storekitd”)”.
This issue has directly impacted our app's purchasing flow.
Because our app only displays the promotional purchase offer once, these issues have significantly reduced the number of users successfully completing the offer. As a result, the conversion rate for this promotion has dropped well below expectations, negatively impacting our business metrics.
Hello
We are developers of a long-running game series and now reports have started to come in
that users who install any of our previous games from the Mac App Store on OS X Sequoia
are shown a popup claiming "The exit(173) API is no longer available". It's actually a lie,
the mechanism is still there, the receipt generation still works and the game still runs afterwards.
But the popup is confusing to users therefore we need to update the code.
Apparently the replacement for the old receipt generation mechanism is AppTransaction which
does not exist for Objective C. We have attempted to use it using the Swift/ObjC interoperability
and failed so far. The problem is that we need to call async methods in AppTransaction and
all our attempts to make this work have failed so far. It seems as the actor/@MainActor concept
is not supported by Swift/ObjC interoperability and without those concepts we don't know how
to pass results from the async context to the callers from ObjC.
The lack of usable information and code online regarding this topic is highly frustrating. Apple
really needs to provide better support for developers if they want us to continue to support
the Mac platform with high quality games and applications on the Mac App Store.
We would appreciate if anyone can cook up a working sample code how to use AppTransaction
in ObjC. Thanks in advance!
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
StoreKit
Please help! I have a subscription IAP failing on tvOS 18.2 at:
func makePurchase(_ product: Product) async throws
{
let result = try await product.purchase() //ERROR OCCURS HERE (See error message below)
...
Xcode Console message: "Could not get confirmation scene ID for [insert my IAP id here]"
The IAP subscription was working fine on 18.1 and earlier, and the same IAP and code is also running fine on iOS 18.2. The tvOS error on 18.2 happens both in production and sandbox.
Are there any changes to StoreKit 2 which might cause this error?
My question is simple, I do not have much experience in writing swift code, I am only doing it to create a small executable that I can call from my python application which completes Subcription Management.
I was hoping someone with more experience could point out my flaws along with giving me tips on how to verify that the check is working for my applicaiton. Any inight is appreciated, thank you.
import Foundation
import StoreKit
class SubscriptionValidator {
static func getReceiptURL() -> URL? {
guard let appStoreReceiptURL = Bundle.main.appStoreReceiptURL else {
print("No receipt found.")
return nil
}
return appStoreReceiptURL
}
static func validateReceipt() -> Bool {
guard let receiptURL = getReceiptURL(),
let receiptData = try? Data(contentsOf: receiptURL) else {
print("Could not read receipt.")
return false
}
let receiptString = receiptData.base64EncodedString()
let validationResult = sendReceiptToApple(receiptString: receiptString)
return validationResult
}
static func sendReceiptToApple(receiptString: String) -> Bool {
let isSandbox = Bundle.main.appStoreReceiptURL?.lastPathComponent == "sandboxReceipt"
let urlString = isSandbox ? "https://sandbox.itunes.apple.com/verifyReceipt" : "https://buy.itunes.apple.com/verifyReceipt"
let url = URL(string: urlString)!
let requestData: [String: Any] = [
"receipt-data": receiptString,
"password": "0b7f88907b77443997838c72be52f5fc"
]
guard let requestBody = try? JSONSerialization.data(withJSONObject: requestData) else {
print("Error creating request body.")
return false
}
var request = URLRequest(url: url)
request.httpMethod = "POST"
request.httpBody = requestBody
request.setValue("application/json", forHTTPHeaderField: "Content-Type")
let semaphore = DispatchSemaphore(value: 0)
var isValid = false
let task = URLSession.shared.dataTask(with: request) { data, response, error in
guard let data = data, error == nil,
let jsonResponse = try? JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: data) as? [String: Any],
let status = jsonResponse["status"] as? Int else {
print("Receipt validation failed.")
semaphore.signal()
return
}
if status == 0, let receipt = jsonResponse["receipt"] as? [String: Any],
let inApp = receipt["in_app"] as? [[String: Any]] {
for purchase in inApp {
if let expiresDateMS = purchase["expires_date_ms"] as? String,
let expiresDate = Double(expiresDateMS) {
let expiryDate = Date(timeIntervalSince1970: expiresDate / 1000.0)
if expiryDate > Date() {
isValid = true
}
}
}
}
semaphore.signal()
}
task.resume()
semaphore.wait()
return isValid
}
}
We use the Transaction Info API for Apple Pay verification, but due to a surge in player payment requests during major game version updates, we've encountered a large backlog of orders and are unable to process all verifications in time. We're wondering if anyone knows the process for requesting an increase in the QPS limit? QAQ
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
StoreKit
I have a macOS app where I am testing the in app subscription purchase using Xcode.
When I trigger the purchase using this code, a dialog is shown in the upper right of my screen, which cannot be moved and just has a "cancel" button. How can I accept the test purchase?
let result = try await product.purchase()