Test in-app purchases

Manage Sandbox Apple ID settings

When setting up Sandbox Apple IDs, you can choose from different in-app purchase scenarios to ensure they work as expected.

Required role: Account Holder, Admin, App Manager, or Developer. View role permissions.

Edit country or region on the App Store

Each test account is associated with one of the 175 App Store storefronts. You can edit a tester's App Store country or region at any time in App Store Connect to test on different App Store storefronts using the same Sandbox Apple ID, without having to create new testers.

Note: All members of a Sandbox Test Family must be associated with the same App Store country or region as the family organizer. If the tester is a member of a Sandbox Test Family and you want to change their country or region, you’ll need to first remove the account from the Sandbox Test Family.

  1. From Users and Access, click Sandbox to view Sandbox Apple IDs.

  2. Click the Sandbox Apple ID you want to modify.

  3. Under Country or Region, make your desired change.

    Test Accounts page showing the Sandbox Apple ID detail dialog with a menu for 'country or region'.
  4. Click Save. Once you change the country or region, the tester will need to sign in again with their Sandbox Apple ID on their iOS device to complete this change.

Edit subscription renewal rate

The subscription renewal rate is the speed at which subscriptions renew for each tester in sandbox. The subscription renewal rate also determines the length of Billing Retry and Billing Grace Period for those testers.

You can change a tester’s subscription renewal rate at any time in their iOS Sandbox Account Settings or by following these steps in App Store Connect:

  1. From Users and Access, click Sandbox to view Sandbox Apple IDs.

  2. Click the Sandbox Apple ID you want to modify.

  3. In the dialog that appears under Subscription Renewal Rate, select a renewal speed and click Save.

    By default, accounts are set to a speed equalization of 1 month = 5 minutes. You can slow down or speed up the renewal period using the options below. Subscriptions automatically renew up to 12 times before auto-renewal turns off on the thirteenth renewal attempt. Note that the speed of renewal in sandbox depends on the length of the subscription.

    Test Accounts page showing the Sandbox Apple ID detail dialog with a menu for 'subscription renewal rate'.
Renewal every 3 Minutes

Subscription duration

1 week

1 month

2 months

3 months

6 months

1 year

Subscription renewal speed

3 minutes

3 minutes

6 minutes

9 minutes

18 minutes

36 minutes

Length of Billing Retry

6 minutes

6 minutes

6 minutes

6 minutes

6 minutes

6 minutes

Length of Biling Grace Period

3 minutes

3 minutes

3 minutes

3 minutes

3 minutes

3 minutes

Renewal every 5 minutes (default)

Subscription duration

1 week

1 month

2 months

3 months

6 months

1 year

Subscription renewal speed

3 minutes

5 minutes

10 minutes

15 minutes

30 minutes

1 hour

Length of Billing Retry

10 minutes

10 minutes

10 minutes

10 minutes

10 minutes

10 minutes

Length of Biling Grace Period

3 minutes

5 minutes

5 minutes

5 minutes

5 minutes

5 minutes

Renewal every 30 minutes

Subscription duration

1 week

1 month

2 months

3 months

6 months

1 year

Subscription renewal speed

10 minutes

30 minutes

1 hour

1 hour 30 minutes

3 hours

6 hours

Length of Billing Retry

1 hour

1 hour

1 hour

1 hour

1 hour

1 hour

Length of Biling Grace Period

10 minutes

30 minutes

30 minutes

30 minutes

30 minutes

30 minutes

Renewal every hour

Subscription duration

1 week

1 month

2 months

3 months

6 months

1 year

Subscription renewal speed

15 minutes

1 hour

2 hours

3 hours

6 hours

12 hours

Length of Billing Retry

15 minutes

1 hour

1 hour

1 hour

1 hour

1 hour

Length of Biling Grace Period

1 hour

2 hours

2 hours

2 hours

2 hours

2 hours

Enable interrupted purchases for a Sandbox Apple ID

You can test interrupted purchase scenarios on a device running iOS 14 or later by enabling interrupted purchases for a specific Sandbox Apple ID. An interrupted purchase is experienced anytime a customer tries to complete an App Store transaction but needs to perform an action outside of your app first. For example, they may need to agree to updated terms and conditions or update an expired payment method.

You can enable or disable interrupted purchases for a tester at any time in their iOS Sandbox Account Settings or by following these steps in App Store Connect:

  1. From Users and Access, click Sandbox to view Sandbox Apple IDs.

  2. Click the Sandbox Apple ID you want to modify.

  3. In the dialog that appears, select the checkbox next to “Interrupt Purchases for This Tester” to enable interrupted purchases. Deselect the checkbox to disable interrupted purchases.

    Test Accounts page showing the Sandbox Apple ID detail dialog with checkbox for 'interrupt purchase for this tester'.
  4. Click Save.

    Once interrupted purchases are enabled, on-device purchase attempts by that Sandbox Apple ID will be interrupted in the sandbox environment and continue to be interrupted until the option is deselected or the tester agrees to terms and conditions on their iOS device.

Clear Sandbox Apple ID purchase history

You can clear the purchase history for a tester to continue testing with the same Sandbox Apple ID. Clearing purchase history deletes all past auto-renewable subscriptions and non-consumables purchased by the selected testers in the sandbox environment. This action can’t be reversed. Customer accounts aren’t affected.

You can clear a tester’s purchase history at any time in their iOS Sandbox Account Settings or by following these steps in App Store Connect:

  1. From Users and Access, click Sandbox to view Sandbox Apple IDs.

  2. Click Edit.

    A table displaying a list of sandbox testers, with an 'Edit' button on the top right of the page, above the first listed tester.
  3. Select the testers you want to modify and click Clear Purchase History.

    A table displaying a list of sandbox testers and the checkboxes to the left of the tester’s name are selected. Cancel, Clear Purchase History, and Delete Testers buttons are displaying on the top right of the page.
  4. Click Clear Purchase History in the dialog that appears.

    Sandbox Apple IDs with a high number of purchases may take longer to clear.

Create a Sandbox Test Family

Family Sharing lets people share and access auto-renewable subscriptions or non-consumables that have Family Sharing enabled with with up to five family members. You can use Sandbox Test Families to make sure Family Sharing works in your app as expected.

After you’ve created at least two Sandbox Apple IDs, you can create a Sandbox Test Family in App Store Connect.

  1. From the homepage, click Users and Access.

  2. In the top navigation, click Sandbox, then click Family Sharing.

  3. Click the add button (+) or, if it’s your first time creating a test family, click Create Test Family.

  4. Select a test account to serve as the family organizer, then click Next.

    Family Sharing page showing the Create a test family dialog, with a menu for 'family organizer'.
  5. Choose up to five test accounts to serve as family members. All members must be from the same country or region as the family organizer, and members can only belong to one Sandbox Test Family.

    Family Sharing page showing the Create a test family dialog, with menu for five 'family members'.
  6. Select whether each member in the family is allowed to share and receive purchases with each other in the Share Purchases menu, then click Create.

Manage a Sandbox Test Family

You can manage a Sandbox Test Family at any time in App Store Connect. Use the following steps to add or remove test accounts serving as family members and modify whether they can share purchases.

Note: Testers can also modify whether each family member shares purchases with other members of the Sandbox Test Family in their iOS Sandbox Account Settings. Learn more.

  1. From the homepage, click Users and Access.

  2. In the top navigation, click Sandbox, then click Family Sharing.

  3. Click Manage next to the Sandbox Test Family the tester is a member of.

    Family sharing page showing a list view of family members, with 'Manage' link next to the first member.
  4. Make your changes, then click Save.

    Note: Changes to purchase sharing may take time to appear in the sandbox environment.

    If a family member is removed from a Sandbox Test Family, they can no longer share their purchases or access purchases made by members of that family.

    Family sharing page showing the 'manage test family' dialog, with 'Remove' link next to the first member.

Delete a Sandbox Test Family

You can delete a Sandbox Test Family at any time in App Store Connect.

Note: Members of a deleted test family will no longer be able to share their purchases or access purchases made by members of that family. Members will retain access to purchases made from their own account.

  1. From the homepage, click Users and Access.

  2. In the top navigation, click Sandbox, then click Family Sharing.

  3. Click Manage next to the Sandbox Test Family you want to delete.

    Family sharing page showing a list view of family members, with 'Manage' link next to the first member.
  4. Click Delete Test Family.

    Family sharing page showing the 'manage test family' dialog, with 'Remove' link next to the first member.
  5. Click Delete in the dialog that appears.