App Review sandbox: revenuecat product loads, then STORE_PROBLEM followed by PRODUCT_NOT_AVAILABLE_FOR_PURCHASE on iPadOS 26.6

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Created 3w

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Hello, I am investigating an intermittent In-App Purchase failure that occurred during App Review for the first release of my app.

Environment

Review device: iPad Air 11-inch (M3)
OS: iPadOS 26.6
Environment: App Review sandbox
Product type: Consumable
StoreKit integration: RevenueCat through react-native-purchases 10.4.3

Observed behavior

StoreKit successfully returned the products, localized names, and prices. The reviewer could see the credit packs and initiate the native purchase flow.

My diagnostics show this sequence:

Purchase initiated
PURCHASE_CANCELLED; no transaction evidence

Purchase initiated again
RevenueCat code 2: STORE_PROBLEM
                 elapsed: 9.4 seconds
                 no transaction evidence

Purchase initiated again
RevenueCat code 5:
                 PRODUCT_NOT_AVAILABLE_FOR_PURCHASE
                 no transaction evidence

Purchase initiated again
RevenueCat code 5:
                 PRODUCT_NOT_AVAILABLE_FOR_PURCHASE
                 elapsed: 0.6 seconds
                 no transaction evidence
code-block

The relevant sanitized logs are:

{
  "occurredAt": "2026-08-25T12:52:59.733Z",
  "platform": "ios",
  "appVersion": "1.0.0",
  "build": "14",
  "productId": "HIDDEN_FOR_DISPLAY",
  "stage": "STORE_CHECKOUT",
  "providerCode": "2",
  "providerReadableCode": "STORE_PROBLEM",
  "transactionEvidence": false,
  "elapsedMs": 9417
}
code-block

{
  "occurredAt": "2026-08-25T12:55:42.752Z",
  "platform": "ios",
  "appVersion": "1.0.0",
  "build": "14",
  "productId": "HIDDEN_FOR_DISPLAY",
  "stage": "STORE_CHECKOUT",
  "providerCode": "5",
  "providerReadableCode": "PRODUCT_NOT_AVAILABLE_FOR_PURCHASE",
  "transactionEvidence": false,
  "elapsedMs": 637
}
code-block

No App Store transaction was created, and therefore RevenueCat received no transaction or webhook for these attempts.

Configuration verified I confirmed that:

The affected product and the other consumable products are attached to the App Review submission.
Product IDs match between the app, App Store Connect, and RevenueCat.
Prices and localizations are configured.
The products are available in the relevant storefronts.
The Paid Apps Agreement is active.
Banking and tax information are active.
The In-App Purchase capability is present.
The distribution build does not use a local StoreKit configuration file.
The same build and affected product completed successfully afterward on a physical device using Apple Sandbox.
The native purchase sheet opened, the transaction completed, and the consumable content was delivered successfully in my reproduction.

The product metadata clearly remained available because its localized name and price were displayed. However, after the initial STORE_PROBLEM, subsequent purchase requests were rejected almost immediately as PRODUCT_NOT_AVAILABLE_FOR_PURCHASE. I do not have the underlying Apple NSError, such as an ASDServerErrorDomain or AMSErrorDomain value, because it was not exposed in my remote diagnostic record.

Questions

Can a failed sandbox transaction leave the StoreKit account/session or commerce-catalog state temporarily inconsistent, causing subsequent requests for an otherwise loaded product to return storeProductNotAvailable?
Does StoreKit use separate metadata and transaction-eligibility services, allowing product information to load while the same product is rejected during purchase()?
Are there known sandbox or StoreKit issues on iPadOS 26.6 that could produce this sequence?
Could a stale App Review sandbox account token or storefront session explain the transition from STORE_PROBLEM to PRODUCT_NOT_AVAILABLE_FOR_PURCHASE?
Is there any developer-side configuration that could explain this when the same product and binary complete successfully using another sandbox session?
What additional logging should I capture from RevenueCat’s React Native SDK to preserve the complete underlying Apple error chain?

Answer 1

igorizviekov OP

3w

Follow-up: three possible causes of such purchase failures.

I have continued investigating and now have three possible explanations for the STORE_PROBLEM result. None is confirmed, so I would appreciate tips on whether any could produce the complete sequence reported above.

1. Invalid or stale Apple sandbox session

I performed a controlled test on my own iPad:

I signed in with a valid developer-created Sandbox Apple Account.
I confirmed that purchases worked.
I deleted that account from App Store Connect while it remained selected on the iPad.
I attempted another purchase.

Apple displayed:

You are not authorized to make purchases of this InApp in Sandbox at this time. This Apple Account doesn’t have permission to make In-App Purchases.

After dismissing it, my app displayed the same high-level failure message seen during App Review. RevenueCat returned STORE_PROBLEM.

I understand that App Review uses an Apple-managed sandbox identity that does not need to appear in my developer-created Sandbox Test Accounts list. I am not suggesting that the reviewer’s account was missing from that list.

Could an Apple-managed App Review sandbox session temporarily have an invalid, expired, or stale commerce authorization token?

Could that produce:

Product metadata and price load
→ purchase() returns STORE_PROBLEM
→ subsequent purchase() calls return storeProductNotAvailable

If so, is there a way for the developer to diagnose that session?

Apple’s documentation confirms that the active sandbox and Media & Purchases sessions affect the account used by StoreKit: Testing In-App Purchases with sandbox.

2. Temporary network loss on the review device

The failed attempt had this timing:

11:11:46 UTC — App reached my server and created the purchase attempt
11:11:48 UTC — App reached my server and started Apple checkout
11:11:48–12:52:59 UTC — StoreKit purchase request was running
11:11:59 UTC — App reached my server and reported STORE_PROBLEM

The device was online immediately before and after the StoreKit request, but my previous diagnostics cannot confirm continuous connectivity during those nine seconds.

For example:

Reviewer taps Buy while online
- app registers the attempt
- Airplane Mode is enabled or connectivity is interrupted
- StoreKit cannot reach Apple
- connectivity is restored
- app reports STORE_PROBLEM

Apple defines SKError.cloudServiceNetworkConnectionFailed as indicating that the device could not connect to the network: cloudServiceNetworkConnectionFailed.

RevenueCat maps this StoreKit error, as well as some SKError.unknown results, to STORE_PROBLEM.

Does App Review intentionally test In-App Purchases while changing Airplane Mode or network availability?

Temporary Apple sandbox service problem

RevenueCat specifically documents STORE_PROBLEM as an error forwarded from Apple that can occur when Apple’s server is unavailable. It states that Apple server problems are more common in sandbox than production.

RevenueCat also describes STORE_PROBLEM as one of the most common errors leading to otherwise unexplained App Review rejections. Their guidance says that Apple’s sandbox can experience momentary outages and that repeating or resubmitting the test may succeed.

This theory is consistent with the following facts:

Products, localized names, and prices loaded correctly.
Apple created no transaction during the failed attempt.
The same product and binary purchased successfully later.
No RevenueCat webhook was expected because StoreKit created no transaction.

Could a temporary Apple sandbox outage affect the purchase-authorization service while cached product metadata and prices remain available?

Could an outage or partial sandbox-service failure produce STORE_PROBLEM first and then cause immediate storeProductNotAvailable responses for the same product?

Answer 2

fleonus OP

2w

Today, my app was rejected for the exact same reason on the exact same device and OS.

Interestingly I have also seen "You are not authorized to make purchases of this InApp in Sandbox at this time. This Apple Account doesn’t have permission to make In-App Purchases." on a testflight version of another app of mine that is already approved and live on the store.

I don't know the answer to the question or how to solve it right now, but I am trying to debug and hope to have something soon.