How to support PurchaseFailureReason.Unknown?

Hi,

some of my users encountered PurchaseFailureReason.Unknown, and contacted me what is wrong. I'm clueless what should I say to them, as UNITY IAP DO NOT PROVIDE DETAILS on this error of any kind.

---

I can't really say them what you have on documentation: "A catch-all for unrecognized purchase problems."
I can picture something like: "Dear user, it could be anything, really. Have a good day." - just kidding.

If a marker recognition is flickering, or some Ad fails to load, I can accept that easily. But when one of my users recognize value in my game and WANT TO PLACE AN ACTUAL PURCHASE, I think it should work. If it does not, at least we should know why.

Please help, WHAT IS THE ERROR, how can the user resolve it.

For inspiration, you people really should take a look at a typical NSError on iOS. It has: an error domain, a description, an array (!) of recovery options, a recovery suggestion, and a failure reason. All localized, full sentences. On every error. Errors happen, but information do help.

@ap-unity @JeffDUnity3D
(wow, seemingly you supported Remote Settings as well yesterday, thanks for that, but maybe you should expand the team, just a thought)

 

In UnityPurchasing.m, Unity IAP SWALLOW ALMOST EVERY ERROR INFORMATION from the NSError, keeping error codes only. Keeping 3 error codes only out of 9.

Code (CSharp):

1. - (NSString*)purchaseErrorCodeToReason:(NSInteger) errorCode {
2.     switch (errorCode) {
3.         case SKErrorPaymentCancelled:
4.             return @"UserCancelled";
5.         case SKErrorPaymentInvalid:
6.             return @"PaymentDeclined";
7.         case SKErrorPaymentNotAllowed:
8.             return @"PurchasingUnavailable";
9.     }
10.  
11.     return @"Unknown";
12. }

If you take a look on StoreKit documentation, you can see these:

SKErrorUnknown
Error code indicating that an unknown or unexpected error occurred.

SKErrorClientInvalid
Error code indicating that the client is not allowed to perform the attempted action.

SKErrorPaymentCancelled
Error code indicating that the user cancelled a payment request.

SKErrorPaymentInvalid
Error code indicating that one of the payment parameters was not recognized by the App Store.

SKErrorPaymentNotAllowed
Error code indicating that the user is not allowed to authorize payments.

SKErrorStoreProductNotAvailable
Error code indicating that the requested product is not available in the store.

SKErrorCloudServicePermissionDenied
Error code indicating that the user has not allowed access to Cloud service information.

SKErrorCloudServiceNetworkConnectionFailed
Error code indicating that the device could not connect to the network.

SKErrorCloudServiceRevoked
Error code indicating that the user has revoked permission to use this cloud service.

I am UNABLE TO DIFFERENTIATE between these error, and the only reason is because I'm using Unity IAP. I'm clueless, my customer is clueless. Unity IAP is a stream of frustration, to be honest.

 

Are you serious?
I took a deeper look, and it seems most of these failure reasons in your documentation simply are NOT HOOKED UP:

PurchasingUnavailable The system purchasing feature is unavailable.
ExistingPurchasePending A purchase was already in progress when a new purchase was requested.
ProductUnavailable The product is not available to purchase on the store.
SignatureInvalid Signature validation of the purchase's receipt failed.
UserCancelled The user opted to cancel rather than proceed with the purchase.
PaymentDeclined There was a problem with the payment.
DuplicateTransaction A duplicate transaction error when the transaction has already been completed successfully.
Unknown A catch-all for unrecognized purchase problems.

You have to stop what you are doing. I'll contact Unity directly.

 

@eppz Thank you for the feedback, I will bring this up with the IAP team today, and will update this thread.

 

Thanks for getting back!

I looked into my analytics: ~20% of my purchase attempt events end up on this "Unknown" error. Which is a huge number. And only 1% of them attempted to retry and manage to place the purchase. I'm actually losing revenue, and have not idea why.

It affects 0,3% of all users, but 7% of users with purchasing events (every iOS from 10.3.2+, ). Lost revenue, without any explanation.

I would like to fix it actually instead of support it, but I have no starting point at all.

You should make analytics campaign to log these type of errors. Given that Unity has an enormous user base, tracking it down / correlate with factors would be easier for you. I could not move the needle even if I try to patch Unity IAP.

 

@eppz The Unknown error is returned to us by Apple in most cases, and we have no control over this.

 

Well, today I have another customer message, saying: "I like the game, but I can't buy <SOME_IAP>, please help".

I told her that I'll look into analytics, but I'm pretty sure it will be unknown error. She has her payment details right, also she can purchase other stuff in other games. This is eternally frustrating.

Am I the only person experiencing this issue?
Why you people just pretending that this is all normal?

 

She could not purchase a particular product (A).
She could successfully purchase other products in the game.
Others can purchase the particular product (A) just fine.

I'll patch Unity IAP, and make analytics every error message.
Is there any additional factor I should make analytics of?

 

The error message they are receiving would be helpful, if it is possible to obtain. Is this the only user not able to buy product (A)?

 

It seems not product dependent, as I can see every product purchased in my analytics.

I can get the error message by
-Patch Unity IAP to pass on every NSError property,
-Dispatch the values to Analytics,
-Release an Update to the App Store.

So it will take time.
And further lost profits.

Since then, she added: "...it is quite frustrating when you getting the hang of the game, then you have to accept that you can't buy more levels...". This is a nightmare. Reading emails like is devastating.

 

Just to add : we are seeing the same issues as described here in our live builds also (Unity 2018.1.0b11 + Unity IAP 1.17.0). I am able to repeat this 100% of the time with my personal Apple ID in our app. The issue does not occur for other users here using the same live build - it seems somewhat account specific. Purchasing from any other apps using my personal Apple ID works fine.

 

We are continuing to look into this. I am investigating a possible scenario where the user is logged into the iTunes store vs not logged in, prior to an in-app purchase.

 

Update: my account is now able to purchase without problem and the issue appears to have resolved - something must have changed externally as we have made no changes on our side.

 

These threads, some a bit old, do mention a connection between the Unknown error and App Store/iTunes login :

http://osxdaily.com/2014/08/13/fix-app-store-could-not-complete-purchase-unknown-error/

https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/75044

https://github.com/bizz84/SwiftyStoreKit/issues/169

https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/28675

 

So I should advise the users to simply log out, log in, then retry?

 

@eppz That is a possible approach, but is not guaranteed to help if it is an ongoing issue with Apple. One article mentions the need to confirm iTunes Terms and Conditions if a recent update was performed. We are continuing to discuss here also. It is difficult to diagnose without a consistent repro scenario that we can test with here.

 

@JeffDUnity3D Wow, Terms and Conditions update seems kind of fit the symptoms. Not everyone experiences, not every time, no product or account dependency.

Terms and Conditions update seems a good fit, but for testing, it would be great to know when the next update will be performed. The corresponding tests could be carried out then.

 

Agreed, you would want to ask Apple about their schedule with regard to iTunes updates. But keep in mind this is only a theory, and an iTunes update can happen for any user at any time if they haven't used their phone for awhile, for example. If you have a user that can confirm T&C behavior, it would be helpful to know.

 

I am also seeing this issue. I have a device that repros this 100% of the time, but only a small section of my users are seeing the issue.

 

@tperry523 Can you try logging out and back in with your AppleID on this device and see if it makes a difference?

 

That did not work, but logging in with a sandbox account did work did allow purchases. It seems like it's tied to the account.

 

@tperry523 Are you referring to testing in a live game, or in TestFlight? If on TestFlight, yes, you need a sandbox account. https://developer.apple.com/testflight/testers/

 

I have two accounts. One is a wild production account that I borrowed from a local friend. The other is a sandbox account.

The build is loaded from XCode.

The wild account gives PurchaseFailureReason.Unknown, but the sandbox account looks like it did everything perfectly.

 

@tperry523 Yes that would be expected.

 

What part of that is expected?

 

Two reasons. First, if you're testing on TestFlight and subsequently side loading from XCode (you haven't specified), you'll need to use registered test users as previously mentioned. It's not clear if your Sandbox user is registered as a test user. Second and more importantly, we are just a pass through service for the respective stores. We do not do any account level checking. We are simply passing the error that Apple gives to us. Apple does all the user-level authentication and handles the transaction. So if Apple is not allowing the user to purchase, you would want to contact Apple regarding the behavior. If you could provide the logs for both cases during a debug session from XCode, it would be helpful.

 

I should add, we are continuing to investigate, specifically looking at our handling of iOS error codes. We want this fixed as much as you do! It is not in the best interest of Unity nor our developers to point fingers at Apple without due diligence. There are a few layers of the Apple purchase API, and if a user has a declined purchase because of a bad credit card or similar, it appears that Apple ultimately returns the Unknown error to us. This is the area we are still investigating.

 

@JeffDUnity3D Good to know, however, I had a USER MAIL AGAIN today, saying that he can't purchase. Still, 16% (!!!) of my Purchase button presses ends up on this. Which is an updated figure for the last month.

This is devastating. I advised him to log in / out, saying that perhaps iTunes updated their policy, but I felt like an idiot, as currently, I create an will to purchase in my users, then I don't let them purchase.

I work for companies using Unity, and personally, I advise them not to use Unity IAP.

You say it is Apple, but every user mail I received so far said that they can purchase just fine in other games.

 

We are hoping to add improved handling for store-specific errors in the next IAP release (possibly the release after), with the plan to include additional information with regard to the Unknown error.

 

This can be implementation issue as well, with concurrent transactions in transaction queue, or duplicate / stuck transactions canceled transactions, etc.

I did not inspect the actual Unity IAP source, but it could be at least reviewed, and make it sure that it is all implemented according to Official Apple Documentation and Waiting for the App Store to Process Transactions in particular.

 

@eppz Yes the code will be reviewed during the investigation. In addition to the Unknown error, we have a separate task to investigate the stuck transaction behavior.

 

@eppz Looks like the latest version of Unity IAP (1.19.0) is out and has support for additional store specific error information (notes here). Thanks for leading the charge on this issue

Thank you @JeffDUnity3D for getting this new feature out. Hopefully it will help shed some light on whats causing some of our purchase failures.

There doesn't appear to be any official documentation on how to use it yet. From my own testing it can be used in your

IStoreListener.OnPurchaseFailed

implementation:

Code (CSharp):

1. public class IAPManager : IStoreListener {
2.     IExtensionProvider Extensions { get; set; }
3.  
4.     public IAPManager() {
5.         ConfigurationBuilder builder = ConfigurationBuilder.Instance(StandardPurchasingModule.Instance());
6.         builder.AddProduct("PROD1", ProductType.NonConsumable);
7.         UnityPurchasing.Initialize(this, builder);
8.     }
9.  
10.     public void OnInitialized(IStoreController controller, IExtensionProvider extensions) {
11.         Extensions = extensions;
12.     }
13.  
14.  
15.     public void OnInitializeFailed(InitializationFailureReason error) {
16.         ...
17.     }
18.  
19.     public PurchaseProcessingResult ProcessPurchase(PurchaseEventArgs args) {
20.         ...
21.     }
22.  
23.     public void OnPurchaseFailed(Product product, PurchaseFailureReason reason) {
24.         var transactionHistory = Extensions.GetExtension<ITransactionHistoryExtensions>();
25.         Debug.LogWarning(string.Format(
26.             "Purchase of '{0}' failed (Reason-{1}; StoreError-{2}): '{3}'",
27.             product.definition.id,
28.             reason,
29.             transactionHistory.GetLastStoreSpecificPurchaseErrorCode(),
30.             transactionHistory.GetLastPurchaseFailureDescription().message
31.         ));
32.     }
33. }

That code produces the following log message when testing on an Android device by cancelling the purchase from the Google Play dialog:

Purchase of 'PROD1' failed (Reason-UserCancelled; StoreError-IABHELPER_USER_CANCELLED): 'GOOGLEPLAY_User canceled. (response: -1005:User cancelled)'

 

@JeffDUnity3D
Hello.
Is it possible to test purchases of inaps of a subscription through a testflight?
When buying a tester, we get an error

APPLE_An unknown error occurred storeSpecificErrorCode: SKErrorUnknown)

At the same time, all other expendable inaps work correctly, they are bought through a testflight

 

The problem turned out to be that the subscription store did not have a duration selected.
Unfortunately, the error from the logs does not guess about this.