I have several ObjC based apps in the App Store and used to validate the receipt file inside the app in my code, and then reject it with exit(173) if it's invalid, which did trigger macOS to update the receipt if possible.
This isn't working any more in recent macOS versions, where the user is instead just told that the app is damaged, and they need to re-install it manually. Which sucks.
So I wanted to update my code. I read about SKReceiptRefreshRequest, which is supposed to re-download and install the receipt file, if I understand it correctly.
I implemented the code but now have trouble verifying that it works as intended, and does this in a user friendly way.
I found in my tests that macOS now caches the receipt in ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.appstoreagent/fsCachedData and then hardlinks the file into the app.
BTW: Sadly, this also requires that the app is located on the startup volume or the system will refuse to install the receipt, which wasn't a requirement in past times.
Now, if the receipt is already present in the cache folder, then my code works - the receipt gets re-linked.
But what if the cached receipt isn't there, yet? Such as that the user had copied the app from another Mac over to a freshly installed Mac? In the past, when the user then launched the app on the new Mac, he'd be prompted to login to the MAS and if that worked, the receipt would get installed and the app launched.
Basically, the question is: What if the receipt validation fails in my app and I request a new receipt, but the user has not yet logged into MAS (e.g. new computer)?
To simulate this, I logging out of the MAS and TestFlight, deleting all copies of the app and then run the app that I had copied from another Mac where it was authorized with a valid receipt for that device.
If I do this with the old version that uses exit(173), I get these two messages in macOS 15.2:
The second one is especially terrible because it shows the translocated path, which the average user surely get quite confused, and then maybe even search in vain for the app in there and get frustrated. But that's out of my hands. Sigh.
Now, that was proving that the old method with exit(173) isn't working any more and needs to be changed in my apps.
Since I'm still developing (testing) this new behavior, the app is therefore not in the MAS yet - the only way for me to test this is to use TestFlight. However, running a Testflight app copied from another Mac leads to this error:
That is not helpful in simulating what would happen if this app was released in the MAS. This won't let me find out what happens if my app is run on a Mac where the receipt fails and I ask it to load it via SKReceiptRefreshRequest and if the user is NOT yet logged into the MAS account for this purchased app of his/hers.
That leaves only one option: Release the app with untested code and hope for the best.
Contrary to this new behavior, the old method did let me test this easily because I would just use the special App Store tester account with the MAS app, i.e. the built MAS app would, when I launched it locally, request for a login and I'd provide my tester's account. But this isn't available any more, apparently.
What a mess.