Refund defense insights and guides
Product news, deep-dives, and practical guides on App Store refunds, Google Play chargebacks, and recovering subscription revenue.
App Store Server Notifications V2: Complete Setup Guide
App Store Server Notifications V2 is how Apple tells your server about refunds, renewals, and more. Here's what setup involves, the parts that trip developers up, and when to skip building it.
Aug 2, 2026 · 4 min read
Apple Refunds
Apple Consumption API Consent: What Apple Actually Requires
Apple's CONSUMPTION_REQUEST doesn't tell you if the customer consented, but you can't send consumption data without valid consent. Here's what Apple requires and where consent has to live.
Aug 1, 2026 · 5 min read
Apple Refunds
What Is a CONSUMPTION_REQUEST Notification? A Field-by-Field Breakdown
Apple's CONSUMPTION_REQUEST asks for structured consumption data before it decides a refund. Here's what every field means and how each one shapes the outcome.
Jul 31, 2026 · 6 min read
Apple Refunds
Apple Refund Automation: How to Automate CONSUMPTION_REQUEST Responses
When a customer requests an Apple refund, you get about 12 hours to respond to a CONSUMPTION_REQUEST. Here's how the flow works, what data to send, and how to automate it.
Jul 30, 2026 · 6 min read
Apple Refunds
A Google Play refund won't tell you, but the Voided Purchases API will
A refund on Google Play arrives silently: the charge reverses, the customer keeps using the app, and nothing changes on your end unless you check. The Voided Purchases API is where you check. Here's the API field by field, the limits that bound it, and where the money drains when it's unwired.
Jul 28, 2026 · 5 min read
Google Play
The refunds nobody consults you about: what the stores settle on their own
Only two refund flows ever ask for your evidence: Apple's consumption request and Google's chargeback review. The 48-hour Play refund, support refunds, voided purchases, unacknowledged trials all decided without you. Here's the full map of what you can prevent and what you can only record.
Jul 27, 2026 · 5 min read
Refund Policy
The repeat refunder bills you twice, and both stores hand you the tool to spot them
Someone refunding for the fourth time isn't an unhappy customer, they're running a routine, and it costs you the returned revenue plus everything you spent fulfilling the order. Apple and Google each expose an identity field that turns those incidents into a visible pattern.
Jul 25, 2026 · 5 min read
Fraud & Abuse
Inside Apple's CONSUMPTION_REQUEST: the half-day that settles your refund
Every App Store refund is Apple's call, but a CONSUMPTION_REQUEST gives you a fixed window to reply with facts about the purchase. Answer well and unreasonable claims get declined. Stay quiet and the customer's account is the only version Apple hears.
Jul 24, 2026 · 5 min read
App Store
From August 3, Google Play hands you the chargeback bill, and a way to argue
Chargeback responsibility on Play purchases changes for orders placed after August 3, 2026. Losses Google used to absorb become yours the purchase price less the service fee, plus bank fees. Arriving alongside that cost is a 24-hour window to submit evidence.
Jul 23, 2026 · 5 min read
Google Play
Every App Store purchase needs an appAccountToken, or your refund defense has nothing to stand on
When a customer requests a refund, Apple sends a CONSUMPTION_REQUEST that never names them. appAccountToken is the UUID linking a purchase to your user. Set it and you can answer with real data; skip it and you're guessing.
Jul 22, 2026 · 5 min read
App Store
Refund policy that holds up: deciding what to concede and what to fight
Once your server can answer Apple's consumption requests and Google's chargeback reviews, the reply has to come from a policy, not an instinct. Grant everything and refund farmers learn your name; fight everything and you torch real customers over loose change. Here's the ladder in between.
Jul 21, 2026 · 5 min read
Strategy
Skip a Google Play acknowledgement call and the sale unwinds itself in three days
A purchase clears, then three days later Google Play refunds and revokes it — no customer, no support agent, just a callback your server never sent. Here's the exact rule, why purchases slip past it, and what each vanished sale really costs.
Jul 20, 2026 · 5 min read
Google Play