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TL;DR

Why can our users re-subscribe on Play Store, despite opting-out of this on Google Play console?

we are implementing a subscription on our Android app. we have selected the "resubscribe" option to be "not enabled".

yet, when we test this by canceling our subscription, and waiting until after the previous subscription has expired, the user has an option for some time to re-subscribe directly from the Play Store, and not the app ("out-of-app purchase"), before their former subscription disappears completely.

When this happens our BE gets notified, BUT WITHOUT ANY INFORMATIONS ABOUT THE USERS IDENTITY, as this is an entirely new purchase, so our BE doesn't know which user to entitle to the re-subscribed plan.

I will note that we do not want to rely on our mobile app to intercept this purchase and update our backend - as the subscription affects the entitlement on our website as well, and we have no certainty as to when our app will be launched next.

This "re-subscribe" option has been disabled on our Google Play dev console, and it does seem to disappear after ~1-3 hours (on test environment), but for that time gap we can't prevent users from "re-subscribing" on Play Store

AgentP
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Mardann
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  • Did you find a solution to this? – sb89 May 28 '21 at 13:00
  • not yet. Google Isn't answering either – Mardann May 30 '21 at 07:53
  • @Mardann Totally unrelated to this, but could I maybe ask you if you have any sources to help implement in-app subscription. I was recently tasked to do this and I have been very confused, since I just researched a little and found out you need to upload app on play store to even get subscription working which makes me wonder how do you go around debugging it? Do you upload a new version everytime or what so – che10 Jun 02 '21 at 06:01
  • @che10, yes - you need to upload an .AAB/.APK to play store, but you can limit your release to internal testing/closed testing channels to debug your flow without going public. Also - make sure you create a list of License testers so you can purchase from play store without actually paying money – Mardann Jun 06 '21 at 11:26
  • @Mardann So do we need to upload an build everyt ime we need to test something or there just needs to be one test build uploaded? – che10 Jun 06 '21 at 11:36
  • @che10, no - only 1st time. this is off topic, and maybe better to start a new question elsewhere, but from my understanding - by uploading, you establish a link between PlayStore and your code – Mardann Jun 07 '21 at 05:26
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    This is a really bad design from google. They could have just included some kind of id, that would uniquely identify each Google Play user (maybe unique for the app in question, so that precious private data doesn't get leaked). But no dice. We just get a notification that someone, somewhere has subscribed... And we need to ACK this in 3 days, whereby we promise that we know who the user actually is. And if the user doesn't start the app, you have no way of knowing anything. Mind blowing design... – Gleno Jul 02 '21 at 09:54
  • @Mardann I have the same problem. I disabled Re-subcribe option in Monetize/Subscriptions section on Google Play Console, and nothing changes after 24 hours – hientp Feb 09 '22 at 08:27

2 Answers2

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Currently (August, 2022) there is a way to disable it on a per subscription basis through the console. Go to your app in the Google Play Console and then into

Monetize > Products > Subscriptions

From there you can individual go into your subscriptions clicking on

View Subscription > View Base Plan

On that page there is a drop down that is labeled Resubscribe. Check that to "Don't Allow" and make sure you hit the "Save Changes" button.

You must do this for each of your subscriptions to prevent that the resubscribe button being available AFTER the users subscription expires. There is no way that I know of to get rid of the re-subscribe button before the subscription expires, though that senario can be handled through webhooks/requerying the subscription you have stored.

Zach Wright
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This "resubscribe" is a nightmare. I know in the Google Play Console I can turn on/off for all subscribers some features like "free trial" but I can not believe I cannot turn this "resubscribe" feature off for all my subscribers at one time.

And it looks like what Zach is saying we have to go into the console each time a new subscriber signs up and turn off the "resubscribe" individually. I will check that out on my side.

john
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  • Update - on the google play console under "subscriptions" ....i was able to select dropdown "don't allow' under resubscribe. This should be universal for all my subscribers I believe. I will let you know once I find out. thanks, john – john Oct 29 '22 at 22:33