Question

Anyone Else Having Issues Getting a new app approved in the Apple App Store with the new Paywall feature?

  • 22 February 2024
  • 8 replies
  • 297 views
M
Badge +4

I am really really struggling here getting my Apple App Store app approved. I have set everything up, and imported my app store subscriptions from Apple into revenuecat very smoothly. Ever time they deny me over and over again. 

When I first got denied they wrote:


We are unable to complete the review of your app because one or more of your in-app purchase products have not been submitted for review.

 

This was 100% my fault. I didn't realize you actually had to add the subscriptions manually to the app before submitting for review. So I did this and resubmitted. 

I then got denied again with:


We discovered one or more bugs in your app. Specifically, your app displayed an error message when we tapped on the “Unlock Premium” feature in the settings section. Please review the details below and complete the next steps.

 

They also attached this screenshot:


I then let them know, “As for the purchases not showing up. They will not show up until you approve the purchases.”

But they denied again and again said:
 

The issue we previously identified still need your attention.

 

I began to get frustrated and did a lot of googling and stumbled on this post: 


And read this section:


This typically only occurs for the first release of an app. The reviewer can’t fetch products because they haven’t approved the products yet, or the products haven’t propagated fast enough for their testing. In these cases, we recommend asking the reviewer to review the products first, then resubmitting your app for review.

 

I then tried to explain to my reviewer that they needed to review the in app subscriptions first before trying to review my app:

“Please review the in app subscriptions first. They need to be approved before they will show up in the app. This is why they do not work for you, the subscriptions need to be reviewed first. Can you please review the subscriptions before reviewing the app for completeness?”

All I got back from apple on next review was this:


We continued to find that your in-app purchase products exhibited one or more bugs which create a poor user experience. Specifically, an error message appeared when tapping on ‘Purchase premium’. Please review the details and resources below and complete the next steps.

 

They just ignored my question and continued to send back the same “Error”

 

I then asked if they saw my last comment, and asked if they were able to review and approve the app subscription first. They replied with this:
 

We are unable to provide information regarding our review environment.

All apps submitted to the App Store must function correctly and provide access to all features and content at the time of review, regardless of network, device capability, location, etc.

Please refer to our previous messages for information about the issues we encountered during our initial review.

 

I feel like I am getting no where….

In my last attempt I tried to even link to the Revenuecat post:

If I submit with the products, can you review and approve the products first before trying to go to the Paywall? Please see attached screenshot from this link, this explains why I am asking: https://community.revenuecat.com/featured-articles-55/app-rejections-86

But they just replied with:
 

We are not able to provide feedback on app concepts or features

 

One odd thing I noticed was after the first denial all my in app subscriptions are:

 

 

This post has been closed for comments

8 replies

M
Badge +4

Forgot to add the main point of this post…. I had an app about a  year or two ago that got approved fairly quickly but it didnt use the new paywall….

When I coded my products in my own pay wall. Maybe they saw the products there, and approved. Right now with the paywall I think it tries to fetch the products from apple servers, but since they are not approved yet by the reviewer it fails in a non elegant was with that Error 23.

I think the reviewer sees the error 23, and just stops. 

So question is, has anyone had a brand new app get approved while using the new Paywall feature? 

M
Badge +4

Soooo, I have to admit it was me the entire time. About to attempt another app store approval, but pretty sure I found the issue. 

I didnt attach the iOS products to the offering for the paywal….. ooof. 

I decided to basically go back through the entire tutorial step by step and think I found it. Wish me luck in the app store approval lol 

M
Badge +4

Now I am getting this error from Apple, any tips:

 

In-app purchase products submitted for review, such as Annual Subscription and Monthly Subscription, could not be found in the submitted binary.

 

If I then look at the subscriptions that I attached. I see this:
 

I then “fix” them all by editing the names slightly and re-submit…. Here we go again.

kaitlin
Rank
Userlevel 4
Badge +6

Hi @Mike Jones,

Glad you found the initial issue and things are going better!

For the error you’re getting now - have you added the Reviewer Information? Specifically, the screenshot - it’s required but very easy to overlook. The notes section is optional, but the screenshot needs to be added in order for the review to be submitted.

I’ve also seen this error solve itself after the build is approved but that’s of course a tough thing to rely on, so definitely worth double checking the product set up and reviewer information.

M
Badge +4

@kaitlin Thanks for getting back to me! I have added all the info. I think one problem is a bug with Apple, where if your first app gets denied with in app purchases/ subscriptions attached then it breaks the subscriptions that you have added to the app for review. 

When I first added the in app purchases, I was able to add them to my app and they were in something like ready to submit status. After denied, there was no option to re-add them to the app and they were stuck in a waiting for review status. 

This morning, I deleted all my in app subscriptions, re-created new ones. Re-imported them into revenue cat and added them to everything in revenuecat. I then was able to re-add the subscription to my app before re-submitting. 

Hopefully this works out for me today….

M
Badge +4

I finally got into review after 3 days of waiting for review and they denied my app again. I am so close to just dropping apple support, its almost not worth it at this point. 

The reviewer not got this new error with my paywall… 

 

 

Havent had them reject for this one yet. After some quick googling it looks like this may be on their end if I understand? 

M
Badge +4

Resubmitted and got a surprisingly quick turn around on a review!! But I was rejected again….

My next denial was for:


We noticed your app's metadata refers to paid content or features, but they are not clearly identified as requiring additional purchase.

Specifically, the majority of your app's features require a subscription to access but your app metadata markets these features to the user without indicating to the user that a subscription is required for access.

Paid digital content referenced in your metadata must be clearly labelled to ensure users understand what is and isn't included in your app.

 

Most of my app is not behind a paywall… the pay wall removes ads and also provides one extra forecast option for snow depth….

I just edited my app description to now show:


- Cloud Coverage Percentage

- Precipitation Chance Percentage Forecast

- Temperate Forecast

- Feels Like Temperature Forecast

- Wind Forecast - Wind Gust Forecast

- Rain Accumulation Forecast

- Snow Accumulation Forecast

- Snow Depth Forecast (Subscription Only)

- Save a list of your favorite locations (Only two saves included without a subscription)

 

 

On this friday afternoon will I be lucky for a third review in one day….

M
Badge +4

And I think we are finally in!!! Dang that took forever, hopefully this documentation of my sorrows helps someone out in the future :-) 

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