iPhone In App Purchase - response.products are still empty?

Question

Basically, I've tried to set up in app purchases on a test app before I implement them into a proper app that my company is working on. I've read the Store kit pdf and other snippets about a 1000 times, but the products are still being returned as empty. Here's exactly what I've done so far:

Setup test app and In App Purchase test items
I created a new app id for 'Test App One' on my company's developer portal in the iPhone Dev Centre. I made sure that the prefix was com.mycompany.testappone to ensure that in app purchases could be configured. Staying in the App IDs section, I configured in app purchases by ticking the 'Enable In App Purchase' option.

I created 'Test App One' in iTunes Connect and completed the usual procedure but selected 'upload binary later' and didn't submit for review as the app does nothing. Surely we don't have to submit the app to review for this to work?! I then clicked on manage in app purchases and created a new one with product id 'test1' and approved it so that it is cleared for sale.

Code
I set up a new project in XCode called TestAppOne and here are the only 2 classes I am using for now:

TestAppOneAppDelegate.h:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import <StoreKit/StoreKit.h>  

@interface TestAppOneAppDelegate : NSObject <UIApplicationDelegate, SKRequestDelegate, SKProductsRequestDelegate> {
    UIWindow *window;
}

TestAppOneDelegate.m:

#import "TestAppOneAppDelegate.h"

static NSString *kMyFeatureIdentifier1 = @"com.mycompany.testappone.test1";

@implementation TestAppOneAppDelegate
@synthesize window;

- (void)applicationDidFinishLaunching:(UIApplication *)application {    
 if([SKPaymentQueue canMakePayments]) {
  NSLog(@"IN-APP:can make payments");
 }
 else {
  NSLog(@"IN-APP:can't make payments");
 }

 [self requestProductData];
 [window makeKeyAndVisible]; 
}

- (void)requestProductData {
 NSLog(@"IN-APP:requestProductData");
 SKProductsRequest *request = [[SKProductsRequest alloc] initWithProductIdentifiers: [NSSet setWithObject:kMyFeatureIdentifier1]];
 request.delegate = self; 
 [request start];
 NSLog(@"IN-APP:requestProductData END");  
} 

- (void)productsRequest:(SKProductsRequest *)request didReceiveResponse:(SKProductsResponse *)response {
 NSLog(@"IN-APP:productsRequest");
 NSArray *myProduct = response.products;
 NSLog(@"IN-APP:array count: %i", [myProduct count]);
 [request autorelease];
 NSLog(@"IN-APP:productsRequest END"); 
}

- (void)dealloc {
    [window release];
    [super dealloc];
}

@end

Testing on the device
I created a sandbox test account and logged out of my iTunes account on the iPhone, but didn't log in with the test account as the documentation tells us to not do this until we are prompted at the purchasing stage. I then build the app and here is the log I'm getting:

IN-APP:can make payments
IN-APP:requestProductData
IN-APP:requestProductData END
IN-APP:productsRequest
IN-APP:array count: 0
IN-APP:productsRequest END

Can anyone please tell me if I have left any stages out or if there is anything that I'm doing wrong. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any example apps made by Apple.

Answer 1

Actually I do think you have to submit the binary for this to work.

You can set the release date to the distant future.

Answer 2

Another important step that is often overlooked is you need to make sure you have an iOS Paid Applications Contract setup which is located under the "Contracts, Tax, and Banking" section of iTunes connect. First you have to click on the request button, then you have to click on the 3 Set Up buttons (Contact Info, Bank Info, Tax Info)

Answer 3

Check whether there are invalid product id's.

- (void)productsRequest:(SKProductsRequest *)request didReceiveResponse:(SKProductsResponse *)response {

for (NSString *invalidProductId in response.invalidProductIdentifiers)
    {
        NSLog(@"Invalid product id: %@" , invalidProductId);
    }
}

If there are invalid product ids visit http://troybrant.net/blog/2010/01/invalid-product-ids/

It is a very comprehensive check-list for this problem.

Edit: (13/11/20) Site seems to be down. I'm not sure whether it is a permanent problem but you can see the page from archive.org: https://web.archive.org/web/20200212001158/http://troybrant.net/blog/2010/01/invalid-product-ids/

Answer 4

Check if your Bundle Identifier (e.g. com.company.appname) in XCode matches the one in iTunes Connect.

You do not have to submit the binary for it to work.

Answer 5

Just delete the application on your device, and start it again from XCode. It fixed the problem for me.

No need to upload the binary, or wait for hours after creating the in-app purchase in iTunes Connect.

Answer 6

Thanks to alpere's answer I found out that I used the wrong product ID. It was not as I thought de.company.appname.PROFESSIONAL_LICENSE. Just using PROFESSIONAL_LICENSE in my case (without leading bundle id stuff) works :)

Answer 7

No need to upload binary for Sandbox testing of InAppPurchase. You just have to add InAppPurchase item in iTunesConnect and put it in "Ready to submit"(must) state only. If you submit it for review it will always give ou response.product empty.

Answer 8

Try to add a Free Subscription product. If it appears on the response then there is nothing wrong in your code. Since Free Subscription is the only type that doesn't require Agreements, Tax, and Banking and if it appears and the other types don't then it is a issue related to your contract.

Answer 9

In my case the reason was hosting of content by Apple turned on by mistake. The product was available only when I turned it off

Answer 10

In my case (MacOS) I was creating a test application (with the same bundle ID of main application). SKFetchRequest started returning product Ids for test application only after I set Bundle Name (Binary name) the same as in original application.