iOS App Store Setup

Create an auto-renewable subscription

To offer auto-renewable subscriptions within your app, you must first create auto-renewable subscription products in App Store Connect. When you create your first subscription product, the App Store Connect flow will guide you to create your first subscription group. When you create additional subscription products, you'll be able to add these products to the subscriptions groups you've already created, or create a new group. Before creating subscriptions, ensure that you understand the right subscription setup for your business model. See Offer auto-renewable subscriptions to learn more.

To learn more about the subscription business model for your app, read Offering Subscriptions.

Required role: Account Holder, Admin, App Manager, Developer, or Marketing. Learn more here: Apple Developer Role Permissions.

Create a subscription product

1. From My Apps, select your app.

2. In the sidebar under In-App Purchases, click Manage.

3. Scroll to the In-App Purchases section and click the Add button (+).

   

4. Select auto-renewable subscription, then click create.

   Note: If you'd like your subscription to be accessible from more than one app, create an equivalent subscription product for each app. For more information, see Offering Subscription Products Across Multiple Apps.

5. Add your in-app purchase reference name and product ID, then click Next.

   

6. If this is the first auto-renewable subscription product you are creating, you'll need to also create a subscription group (you'll be able to add details to it later), by selecting Choose New Subscription Group. If you've already created subscription products and groups before, add your subscription product to an existing group or create a new subscription group. Then click Create.

   Important: How you set up your subscription group or groups will determine how customers can subscribe to your content or services, how they move between subscriptions, when they are billed, and your proceeds. See [<Overview of setting up auto-renewable subscriptions>] and ensure that you understand the right subscription setup for your business model. Keep in mind that a subscription cannot belong to more than one group and cannot switch groups after it’s been created.

   

   The Subscription Group page will open.

7. Once you've created your subscription product, you'll be taken to its information page to add more details. Under Subscription Duration, choose a duration from the pop-up menu.

8. Under Subscription Prices, set a price for your auto-renewable subscription. Learn more here: Manage pricing for auto-renewable subscriptions.

9. Under Localizations, click on the Add button (+) to add a language for your localized display name.

10. Enter your localized information.

    

11. Under App Store Promotion, optionally add a promotional image. Learn more about Promoting In-App Purchases.

12. Under Review Information, provide any additional information that may help the App Review team review your in-app purchase.

13. Click Save.

You can clear the purchase history for a tester so that you can continue to use the same sandbox Apple ID for ongoing testing. Clearing purchase history will delete all past auto-renewable subscriptions and non-consumables purchased by the selected testers in the sandbox environment. In-app purchases made by customers on the App Store are not affected.

To clear tester purchase history:

1. From Users and Access, under Sandbox, click Testers.

2. Click Edit.

3. Select the checkbox for each tester you want to modify and click Clear Purchase History.

4. Click Clear Purchase History in the dialog that appears.

   Sandbox Apple IDs with a high number of purchases may take longer to clear. This action cannot be reversed.

Subscription Renewal Rate

You can choose a subscription renewal rate for each tester to speed up or slow down how often subscriptions renew. Subscriptions are automatically canceled after 12 renewals.

By default, a one month renewal lasts 5 minutes. If you wish to speed up the renewal period, you can choose 3 minutes. If you wish to slow down the renewal period, you can choose 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or an hour.

The columns in the chart below represent each of the accelerated renewal rates you can select for a tester in App Store Connect. The corresponding test durations are listed underneath the accelerated rates for each product duration.

You can test interrupted purchase scenarios on a device running iOS 14 or later by enabling interrupted purchases in App Store Connect for a specific tester Sandbox Apple ID. If this option is selected, on-device purchase attempts by that Sandbox Apple ID will be interrupted in the sandbox environment and continue to be interrupted until the option is deselected or the tester agrees to terms and conditions on their iOS device. This allows you to test your app’s handling of an interruption to ensure a seamless customer experience.

In general, an interrupted purchase is experienced anytime a customer needs to address an issue with their Apple ID. Some example scenarios include:

• The user needs to agree to updated terms and conditions.

• The user needs to update an expired payment method.

When interrupted purchase is enabled for a sandbox tester, all purchases will be interrupted for that Sandbox Apple ID, preventing the transaction from completing until resolved. In sandbox, the tester will need to agree to terms and conditions in order to complete the purchase. Purchases will continue to be interrupted on the Sandbox Apple ID until you disable the option in App Store Connect or the tester agrees to terms and conditions on their iOS device.

Follow the steps outlined in Testing In-App Purchases with Sandbox to understand what to test and how to use your device in a testing environment.

You can change the account region for a tester to any of the 175 different regions for the App Store. This allows you to continue testing on different storefronts using the same Sandbox Apple ID, without having to create new testers.

You will need to sign in again with your Sandbox Apple ID on your device to complete this change.