“Payment method is not available” message in Sandbox subscription testing (StoreKit 2)

Question

Created 1d

Replies 3

Boosts 2

Participants 4

I’m implementing App Store subscriptions using StoreKit 2 and testing in the Sandbox environment. Until about a week ago everything worked fine, but recently the Settings > Subscriptions screen shows this message for my test account:

“Your current payment method is not available.”

The behavior:

•	Using a Sandbox tester account (not a production Apple ID)
•	Purchase flow works successfully — the transaction completes, and I receive server notifications
•	However, the system Settings app still displays that message under the subscription entry
•	No code changes were made since it last worked

Questions:

1.	What exactly does this message mean in the Sandbox environment?
2.	Could this be related to any Apple system issue or recent backend update?
3.	Has anyone else seen the same behavior in recent days?

Environment:

•	Xcode 15.4
•	iOS 17.5 (physical device)
•	StoreKit 2 / Swift 5.10
•	Sandbox tester (Japan region)

Thanks in advance for any insights or confirmations from others who are testing subscriptions in Sandbox!

Boost

Answer 1

ibatis OP

23h

I'm experiencing a similar issue. All my subscriptions in the Sandbox environment are marked as "Your payment method was declined." I've tried everything—clearing payment history, creating a new sandbox account, changing region, switching devices, turn off/on "Allow Purchases & Renewals"—but nothing seems to work. Interestingly, one-time purchases go through without any problems.

Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this?

1

Answer 2

KurtNolf OP

20h

Hi,

I am also experiencing issues in the sandbox environment today. I do not receive any server to server notifications anymore. I am also getting "Your payment method was declined" in the Sandbox environment for no obvious reason from time to time. Also sometimes when I try to renew a subscription, it just shows a spinning wheel for some time and then it just stops.

Kurt

2

Answer 3

Burak_ OP

20h

I am experiencing the same issue on a flutter app. Until lastnight, sandbox subscriptions and apple store server notifications to sandbox server url were working fine.

Although nothing changed on flutter's side, sandbox subscriptions are started to getting marked as "Your payment method was declined" at first renew time.

In addition, apple store server notifications are not being sent for any subscriptions. I requested a test notification to my sandbox url and test notification is working fine: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/appstoreserverapi/request-a-test-notification

Tried multiple sandbox accounts, different account regions, yet the result is same.

If it helps to identify the issue, I realized transactionId of failing transactions always start with 100..., yet it was always 200... up until the issue is emerged.

Verified StoreKit2 is used on app and there has been no code change. Thanks in advance for any insight or help.

2