Confusion Over In‑App Purchase Setup for Auto‑Renewable Subscription – Need Guidance

Question

Mterns OP

Created Mar ’25

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Hello everyone,

I’m having trouble with our app’s subscription setup during App Store review, and I’m hoping to get some guidance.

Our app, offers an auto‑renewable subscription. In App Store Connect, we created the subscription as an “Auto‑Renewable Subscription” with a product identifier. We do not offer consumable or non‑consumable in‑app purchases—only this subscription.

However, Apple recently rejected our submission with the following message:

“We have started the review of your app, but we are not able to continue because we cannot locate the in‑app purchases within your app at this time. Next Steps To help us proceed with the review of your app, please reply to this message providing the steps for locating the in‑app purchases in your app. Note that in‑app purchases are reviewed in an Apple‑provided sandbox environment. Make sure they have been appropriately configured for review in the Apple‑provided sandbox environment. If you are restricting access to in‑app purchases based on factors such as storefront or device configurations, please include this information in your reply along with steps to enable the in‑app purchases for our review.”

I’m confused for a couple of reasons: 1. We only offer subscriptions—there are no consumable or non‑consumable products. Yet, Apple’s message refers to “in‑app purchases.” 2. It seems our subscription product is not being found in the sandbox environment. Our subscription is currently in “Waiting for Review” status in App Store Connect, so when using StoreKit 2 (via Product.products([…])) the array returns empty. 3. I’m not sure if we need to enable something else in App Store Connect for subscriptions to be testable in the sandbox, or if our configuration is insufficient for review.

Has anyone encountered a similar situation? What are the steps you took to ensure your auto‑renewable subscription were testable for App Store review? Any tips on dealing with this loop—where the subscription must be approved for reviewers to find it, yet Apple won’t approve the app until they can test it?

Thanks in advance for any insights or suggestions!

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Answer 1

DTS Engineer OP

Apple

Mar ’25

We only offer subscriptions—there are no consumable or non‑consumable products. Yet, Apple’s message refers to “in‑app purchases.”

An auto-renewable subscription is a type of in-app purchase.

Any tips on dealing with this loop—where the subscription must be approved for reviewers to find it, yet Apple won’t approve the app until they can test it?

Testing In-App Purchases in the sandbox environment doesn’t require uploading your app binary to App Store Connect. So Apple doesn't need to review your auto-renewable before you can test it in the sandbox.

for subscriptions to be testable in the sandbox, or if our configuration is insufficient for review.

To test your in-app purchases in the sandbox, follow these steps:

Confirm the status of your Paid Apps Agreement is active in App Store Connect.
Confirm the status of your banking and tax information is active in App Store Connect.
Confirm every product identifier you use in your app matches a product identifier for an in-app purchase configured for your app in App Store Connect.
If your Xcode project includes a StoreKit Configuration file, disable it before starting your tests.

For more information, see Testing In-App Purchases with sandbox.

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