We are following up on the previous discussion regarding the 401 Unauthorized response from the production App Store Server API when using sandbox transaction IDs before release. (Reference: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/806452)
From the Apple staff’s response, we understand that:
“Until you have a release in production, access to the production APIs is not allowed. Once you have a release in production this will be unlocked.”
We would like to confirm a few technical details related to this point:
Q1. Activation timing of production API access
At what exact point does access to the production App Store Server API become available?
(A) Immediately after App Review approval (status: “Ready for Sale”), but before the app is publicly available on the App Store
(B) Only after the app is actually published and visible on the App Store
This timing is important for our backend logic that verifies transactions during the review and initial release phases.
Q2. Fallback logic between pre-release and post-release
Before release, we plan to implement a fallback mechanism that retries sandbox verification when receiving HTTP 401 from the production endpoint.
After the app is officially released, we expect that calling the production API with a sandbox transactionId should instead return HTTP 404 Not Found.
Is this understanding correct?
Should our fallback condition switch from detecting 401 → sandbox (pre-release) to 404 → sandbox (post-release)?
Q3. Transition behavior immediately after release
When the app transitions from “Ready for Sale” to actually being live on the App Store, is the production API immediately available for real transactions? Or does it take some time (e.g., a few hours) before production access becomes stable?
We would appreciate confirmation of:
The exact timing when production API access becomes active
Whether the 401→404 transition is the expected design behavior
Any recommended best practices for handling this transition safely in production systems
Thank you for your continued support and clarification.