App Store Connect server-to-server notifications improved to aid devs

iPad app Store (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

App Store Connect server-to-server notifications have been expanded.
Developers will now be told when a subscription fails due to a billing error.
They'll also receive information about the last 100 IAPs, too.

Apple has today updated (via 9to5Mac) its App Store Connect server-to-server notifications to give developers improved information on why a user's subscription has failed. They'll also be told when the issue has been rectified, too.

As part of the change developers will also now receive a unified receipt covering the last 100 in-app purchases to have been made.

Server-to-server notifications from the App Store let you receive real-time updates in a subscription's status, so you can provide customized experiences for your subscribers. New notifications are now available when a subscription renewal fails due to a billing issue and when a billing issue is resolved by the App Store. In addition, a unified receipt containing information about the latest 100 in-app purchase transactions is now included with the notification. If you've already enabled server-to-server notifications in App Store Connect, you'll automatically receive the new notifications and unified receipt for these subscription events.

All developers with server-to-server notifications enabled will automatically receive the new real-time subscription notifications with no additional work required on their part.

These changes will likely be well received by developers who were previously kept in the dark when a subscription renewal failed. Notifications about failed in-apppurchases due to billing issues could potentially be very useful for those dealing with customer support requests, for example.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.