in_app_purchase : Identifying renewed subscriptions

[jimmyff]

Hi, I run an app with an annual subscription, I had expected that once members subscriptions renewed I would have a new purchase come through the purchaseUpdatedStream, the app would have then have renewed their premium benefits. This has not happened, I still have only the original subscription transaction coming through with the same productID as the initial payment a year back, and the same date. There appears to be no way to determine if this subscription has renewed?

This is affecting Google Play, I've not tested if it is the same on iPhone yet.

Thankfully I only had a handful of members that this has affected so far, but I have hundreds of subscribers that will be renewing over the coming months.

Thanks

[stuartmorgan-g]

/cc @cyanglaz @mvanbeusekom

[mvanbeusekom]

Hi @jimmyff,

On Android you will need to manually query your subscriptions and check there state each time the user runs the App. The way to do this in pre version 0.6.0 is through the InAppPurchaseConnection.instance.queryPastPurchases() method. This will return a list with all active purchases made. If the purchase is no longer in the list the subscription is considered expired. For example:

if (defaultTargetPlatform == TargetPlatform.android) {
  final QueryPurchaseDetailsResponse purchaseResponse = 
      await InAppPurchaseConnection.instance.queryPastPurchases();
  
  purchaseResponse.pastPurchases.forEach((purchase) {
    PurchaseWrapper billingClientPurchase = purchase.billingClientPurchase;
    
    if (!billingClientPurchase.isAutoRenewing) {
      // Subscription is cancelled and will not renew when it expires. You should still deliver/ enable the content.
    }
    
    // Verify the purchase and deliver the content.     
  });
}

When you migrate to version 0.6.0 or higher the InAppPurchaseConnection.instance.queryPastPurchases() method has been replaced by the InAppPurchase.instance.restorePurchases() method. This will actually emit purchases on the InAppPurchase.instance.purchaseStream stream and you will handle similar logic in its listener. This could look something like this:

final _purchaseSubscription = InAppPurchase.instance.purchaseStream.listen(
  (List<PurchaseDetails> purchases) {
    purchaseDetailsList.forEach((PurchaseDetails purchaseDetails) async {
      if (purchaseDetails.status == PurchaseStatus.pending) {
        _showPendingUI();
      } else {
        if (purchaseDetails.status == PurchaseStatus.error) {
          _handleError(purchaseDetails.error!);
        } else if (purchaseDetails.status == PurchaseStatus.purchased || 
               purchaseDetails.status == PurchaseStatus.restored) {
          bool valid = await _verifyPurchase(purchaseDetails);
          if (valid) {
            _deliverProduct(purchaseDetails);
          } else {
            _handleInvalidPurchase(purchaseDetails);
            return;
          }
        }
        if (purchaseDetails.pendingCompletePurchase) {
          await InAppPurchase.instance
            .completePurchase(purchaseDetails);
        }
      }
    });
  });

void _deliverProduct(PurchaseDetails purchase) {
  if(purchase as GooglePlayPurchaseDetails) {
    _deliverGooglePlayProduct(purchase);
  } else if (purchase as AppStorePurchaseDetails) {
    _deliverAppStoreProduct(purchase);
  }
}

void _deliverGooglePlayProduct(GooglePlayPurchaseDetails purchase) {
    PurchaseWrapper billingClientPurchase = purchase.billingClientPurchase;
    
    if (!billingClientPurchase.isAutoRenewing) {
      // Subscription is cancelled and will not renew when it expires. You should still deliver/ enable the content.
    }
    
    // Deliver/ enable the content.     
}

Note there is an update coming soon (see PR flutter/plugins#3944) that will make the queryPastPurchases method available again on Android devices. When this is published you should be able to query the purchase almost the same as pre version 0.6.0:

if (defaultTargetPlatform == TargetPlatform.android) {
  final InAppPurchaseAndroidPlatformAddition androidPlatform = 
    InAppPurchase.instance.getPlatformAddition<InAppPurchaseAndroidPlatformAddition>();
  final QueryPurchaseDetailsResponse purchaseResponse = 
      await androidPlatform.queryPastPurchases();
  
  purchaseResponse.pastPurchases.forEach((purchase) {
    PurchaseWrapper billingClientPurchase = purchase.billingClientPurchase;
    
    if (!billingClientPurchase.isAutoRenewing) {
      // Subscription is cancelled and will not renew when it expires. You should still deliver/ enable the content.
    }
    
    // Verify the purchase and deliver the content.     
  });
}

I hope this helps, please let me know if you have any further questions.

[jimmyff]

Thanks for getting back to me @mvanbeusekom

I am currently using the queryPastPurchases method. So all subscriptions returned from queryPastPurchases should be considered active, is this also true for iOS?

At the moment my app allocates benefits for the subscription period at time of recognising a new transaction (this is why renewed subscriptions were not being detected, there was no new purchaseID, date and nothing new coming through purchaseUpdatedStream). I will need to change my app to check queryPastPurchases every time the app opens and provide benefits based what's returned for for the session only rather than allocating benefits until an end date.

As a possible enhancement I think it would be ideal being able to see the new purchaseID (I believe google just appends an incrementing value on the end of the original purchaseID). At least I could then thank & notify the user when their subscription renews?

[AathifMahir]

Hi @jimmyff,

On Android you will need to manually query your subscriptions and check there state each time the user runs the App. The way to do this in pre version 0.6.0 is through the InAppPurchaseConnection.instance.queryPastPurchases() method. This will return a list with all active purchases made. If the purchase is no longer in the list the subscription is considered expired. For example:

if (defaultTargetPlatform == TargetPlatform.android) {
  final QueryPurchaseDetailsResponse purchaseResponse = 
      await InAppPurchaseConnection.instance.queryPastPurchases();
  
  purchaseResponse.pastPurchases.forEach((purchase) {
    PurchaseWrapper billingClientPurchase = purchase.billingClientPurchase;
    
    if (!billingClientPurchase.isAutoRenewing) {
      // Subscription is cancelled and will not renew when it expires. You should still deliver/ enable the content.
    }
    
    // Verify the purchase and deliver the content.     
  });
}

When you migrate to version 0.6.0 or higher the InAppPurchaseConnection.instance.queryPastPurchases() method has been replaced by the InAppPurchase.instance.restorePurchases() method. This will actually emit purchases on the InAppPurchase.instance.purchaseStream stream and you will handle similar logic in its listener. This could look something like this:

final _purchaseSubscription = InAppPurchase.instance.purchaseStream.listen(
  (List<PurchaseDetails> purchases) {
    purchaseDetailsList.forEach((PurchaseDetails purchaseDetails) async {
      if (purchaseDetails.status == PurchaseStatus.pending) {
        _showPendingUI();
      } else {
        if (purchaseDetails.status == PurchaseStatus.error) {
          _handleError(purchaseDetails.error!);
        } else if (purchaseDetails.status == PurchaseStatus.purchased || 
               purchaseDetails.status == PurchaseStatus.restored) {
          bool valid = await _verifyPurchase(purchaseDetails);
          if (valid) {
            _deliverProduct(purchaseDetails);
          } else {
            _handleInvalidPurchase(purchaseDetails);
            return;
          }
        }
        if (purchaseDetails.pendingCompletePurchase) {
          await InAppPurchase.instance
            .completePurchase(purchaseDetails);
        }
      }
    });
  });

void _deliverProduct(PurchaseDetails purchase) {
  if(purchase as GooglePlayPurchaseDetails) {
    _deliverGooglePlayProduct(purchase);
  } else if (purchase as AppStorePurchaseDetails) {
    _deliverAppStoreProduct(purchase);
  }
}

void _deliverGooglePlayProduct(GooglePlayPurchaseDetails purchase) {
    PurchaseWrapper billingClientPurchase = purchase.billingClientPurchase;
    
    if (!billingClientPurchase.isAutoRenewing) {
      // Subscription is cancelled and will not renew when it expires. You should still deliver/ enable the content.
    }
    
    // Deliver/ enable the content.     
}

Note there is an update coming soon (see PR flutter/plugins#3944) that will make the queryPastPurchases method available again on Android devices. When this is published you should be able to query the purchase almost the same as pre version 0.6.0:

if (defaultTargetPlatform == TargetPlatform.android) {
  final InAppPurchaseAndroidPlatformAddition androidPlatform = 
    InAppPurchase.instance.getPlatformAddition<InAppPurchaseAndroidPlatformAddition>();
  final QueryPurchaseDetailsResponse purchaseResponse = 
      await androidPlatform.queryPastPurchases();
  
  purchaseResponse.pastPurchases.forEach((purchase) {
    PurchaseWrapper billingClientPurchase = purchase.billingClientPurchase;
    
    if (!billingClientPurchase.isAutoRenewing) {
      // Subscription is cancelled and will not renew when it expires. You should still deliver/ enable the content.
    }
    
    // Verify the purchase and deliver the content.     
  });
}

I hope this helps, please let me know if you have any further questions.

@mvanbeusekom is there way to find the Active Subscription iOS and Renewing them like this Tutorial?

[adrianvintu]

Could you please write an updated piece of code of the above?

[akshaytaru2007]

@mvanbeusekom
Thanks for the code snippet for Android.

How would we achieve this for iOS platform?

Please help.

[AathifMahir]

@mvanbeusekom

Thanks for the code snippet for Android.

How would we achieve this for iOS platform?

Please help.

Hi,

You can't get the renewal informations for IOS on device, you need to have server side verification to do that, for example you can use firebase functions catch server side changes and update the subscription in the app