WatchOS IAP -- why is this such a mess?

Need to vent a bit before relaxing for Christmas...

WatchOS IAP using Storekit 2 is such a mess...is nobody actually using this or does Apple just not care for the user experience here?

  • Lots of users experience after the purchase confirmation double tap on the side button an instant return to the purchase screen with nothing actually happening. No error message whatsoever. There is just one remedy: users need to unpair and re-pair their watch, including restoring a backup and setting up their wallet again. Nobody really wants to do this, or doesn't believe me and think this is just typical support BS, because their watch is paired and most things just work as they expect. And it turns away a customer, often leaving a bad review. And I can't do anything about it.
  • Other errors in the purchase process are reported, but like "process interrupted" in case the payment is not setup correctly (credit car no longer valid or sth.). How should the user know? There must be better ways of letting him know what exactly the problem is.
  • You need to implement a "Restore Purchase" function, otherwise you're not passing the review. But it really asks every time for the AppStore password, and users with crazy passwords -- that they rightfully should have! -- have almost no chance of typing them successfully on the tiny AW keyboard. Why is it not also just a side button double tap like for purchase? At the very least you would need access to the keychain PWs or allow pasting of sth. copied on the paired iPhone.
  • Promo Codes for IAP on AW-only apps just don't work. AW has no redemption at all, and on the iPhone the AppStore will try to talk to a companion app (which AW-only doesn't have) and the end up in a dead-end installation effort.

This all feels like never really tested in the field, and people are of course blaming the 3rd party dev. for all these issues. And opening a ticket is just leading nowhere -- at best it's closed after months with the hint "duplicate" but w/o any chance for me to see that one that they then actually work on and track progress.

It's all so frustratingly broken...

Please submit a feedback assistant ticket at (http://feedbackassistant.apple.com). Please provide as much information as possible, ie a sysdiagnose, app apple ID, in-app apple IDs, sandbox account apple ID (if applicable), transactions IDs, steps to reproduce and other relevant details.

  • File ticket under iOS & iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, or visionOS and ensure you select “App Store” for the question “Which area are you seeing an issue with?”
  • Categorize the type of feedback
  • Please attach all available files needed to verify

After submitting the feedback, please regularly check the ticket as we'll only communicate through it from then on.

Once you open the Feedback Assistant Ticket report, please post the FB number here for reference.

If you have any questions about filing a report, take a look at Bug Reporting: How and Why (https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/712889)?

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WatchOS IAP -- why is this such a mess?
 
 
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