SKPaymentTransactionStateFailed, but no NSError

Question

We have an app with IAP coin purchases. We've recently received mails from a few of our users, saying that they couldn't purchase any coins. I looked at their session logs and saw Failed IAP events, each with no fail reason logged. Here's the related code:

- (void)_purchaseRequestFailed:(SKPaymentTransaction *)transaction state:(StoreTransactionState)state error:(NSError *)error
{
    IAPProduct *product = [self getProductWithId:transaction.payment.productIdentifier];
    if (error.code==SKErrorPaymentCancelled) {
        [_metricsManager logFailIAP:product failReason:@"Payment canceled"];
    } else {
        [_metricsManager logFailIAP:product failReason:error.localizedDescription];
    }
    if ([_delegate respondsToSelector:@selector(didSucceedPurchasingProduct:)]) {
        [_delegate didFailPurchasingProduct:product];
    }
}

inside logFailIAP, I log things like time, UDID, event name, and the error.localizedDescription.

 if (failReason != nil && failReason.length > 0) {
        [metricsDictionary setObject:failReason forKey:MetricsEventParameterFailReason];
 }

In the logs, I'm getting Failed IAP events, but no logged reason for failing. Is there any case where, you get "SKPaymentTransactionStateFailed", but, have an empty error.localizedDescription? I can confirm that the logs work, and have seen errors like "Payment canceled", and "Cannot connect to iTunes" being logged in other devices. The issue is not specific to a device or iOS.

Answer 1

I have encountered a nil error in the following scenario:

• User updates iOS on their device.

• Immediately after the update, the user goes into your app and tries to make a purchase.

• Instead of the usual purchase dialog, they get an "iTunes terms of service have changed. You need to accept new T&C's" (or something along the lines), which redirects them to the iTunes app and shows them the new T&C's. The payment is then cancelled and you get a nil error, and, obviously, a nil error.localizedDescription.

For this scenario to happen, your app needs to be the user's first point of interaction with the iTunes Store after the system update.