In-app Billing Reference (IAB Version 2)

The In-app Billing Version 2 API has been deprecated in favor of the Version 3 API. If your app is using In-app Billing, please make sure that it is using the Version 3 API. If your app is still using the Version 2 API, you must migrate to the Version 3 API as soon as possible.

We plan to turn off the In-app Billing Version 2 service on January 27, 2015, after which time users will no longer be able to purchase in-app items and subscriptions through the Version 2 API. We strongly encourage and recommend you migrate your apps to use Version 3 API by November 2014, to provide ample time for users to update their apps to the new version.

For more information, please see the Help Center article. For common questions about transitioning your implementation to In-app Billing Version 3, please see Migration Considerations.

This documentation provides technical reference information for using the In-app Billing Version 2 API.

Server Response Codes

The following table lists all of the server response codes that are sent from Google Play to your application. Google Play sends these response codes asynchronously as response_code extras in the com.android.vending.billing.RESPONSE_CODE broadcast intent. Your application must handle all of these response codes.

Table 6. Summary of response codes returned by Google Play.

Response Code Value Description
RESULT_OK 0 Indicates that the request was sent to the server successfully. When this code is returned in response to a CHECK_BILLING_SUPPORTED request, indicates that billing is supported.
RESULT_USER_CANCELED 1 Indicates that the user pressed the back button on the checkout page instead of buying the item.
RESULT_SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE 2 Indicates that the network connection is down.
RESULT_BILLING_UNAVAILABLE 3 Indicates that In-app Billing is not available because the API_VERSION that you specified is not recognized by the Google Play application or the user is ineligible for in-app billing (for example, the user resides in a country that prohibits in-app purchases).
RESULT_ITEM_UNAVAILABLE 4 Indicates that Google Play cannot find the requested item in the application's product list. This can happen if the product ID is misspelled in your REQUEST_PURCHASE request or if an item is unpublished in the application's product list.
RESULT_DEVELOPER_ERROR 5 Indicates that an application is trying to make an In-app Billing request but the application has not declared the com.android.vending.BILLING permission in its manifest. Can also indicate that an application is not properly signed, or that you sent a malformed request, such as a request with missing Bundle keys or a request that uses an unrecognized request type.
RESULT_ERROR 6 Indicates an unexpected server error. For example, this error is triggered if you try to purchase an item from yourself, which is not allowed by Google Wallet.

In-app billing Version 2 API reference

The following section describes the interface for Google Play's In-app Billing service. The interface is defined in the IMarketBillingService.aidl file, which is included with the In-app Billing sample application.

The interface consists of a single request method sendBillingRequest(). This method takes a single Bundle parameter. The Bundle parameter includes several key-value pairs, which are summarized in table 7.

Table 7. Description of Bundle keys passed in a sendBillingRequest() request.

Key Type Possible Values Required? Description
BILLING_REQUEST String CHECK_BILLING_SUPPORTED, REQUEST_PURCHASE, GET_PURCHASE_INFORMATION, CONFIRM_NOTIFICATIONS, or RESTORE_TRANSACTIONS Yes The type of billing request you are making with the sendBillingRequest() request. The possible values are discussed more below this table.
API_VERSION int Yes The version of Google Play's In-app Billing service you want to use.
PACKAGE_NAME String A valid package name. Yes The name of the application that is making the request.
ITEM_ID String Any valid product identifier. Required for REQUEST_PURCHASE requests. The product ID of the item you are making a billing request for. Every in-app item that you sell using Google Play's In-app Billing service must have a unique product ID, which you specify on the Google Play Developer Console.
NONCE long Any valid long value. Required for GET_PURCHASE_INFORMATION and RESTORE_TRANSACTIONS requests. A number used once. Your application must generate and send a nonce with each GET_PURCHASE_INFORMATION and RESTORE_TRANSACTIONS request. The nonce is returned with the PURCHASE_STATE_CHANGED broadcast intent, so you can use this value to verify the integrity of transaction responses form Google Play.
NOTIFY_IDS Array of long values Any valid array of long values Required for GET_PURCHASE_INFORMATION and CONFIRM_NOTIFICATIONS requests. An array of notification identifiers. A notification ID is sent to your application in an IN_APP_NOTIFY broadcast intent every time a purchase changes state. You use the notification to retrieve the details of the purchase state change.
DEVELOPER_PAYLOAD String Any valid String less than 256 characters long. No A developer-specified string that can be specified when you make a REQUEST_PURCHASE request. This field is returned in the JSON string that contains transaction information for an order. You can use this key to send supplemental information with an order. For example, you can use this key to send index keys with an order, which is useful if you are using a database to store purchase information. We recommend that you do not use this key to send data or content.

The BILLING_REQUEST key can have the following values:

  • CHECK_BILLING_SUPPORTED

    This request verifies that the Google Play application supports In-app Billing. You usually send this request when your application first starts up. This request is useful if you want to enable or disable certain UI features that are relevant only to In-app Billing.

  • REQUEST_PURCHASE

    This request sends a purchase message to the Google Play application and is the foundation of In-app Billing. You send this request when a user indicates that he or she wants to purchase an item in your application. Google Play then handles the financial transaction by displaying the checkout user interface.

  • GET_PURCHASE_INFORMATION

    This request retrieves the details of a purchase state change. A purchase state change can occur when a purchase request is billed successfully or when a user cancels a transaction during checkout. It can also occur when a previous purchase is refunded. Google Play notifies your application when a purchase changes state, so you only need to send this request when there is transaction information to retrieve.

  • CONFIRM_NOTIFICATIONS

    This request acknowledges that your application received the details of a purchase state change. That is, this message confirms that you sent a GET_PURCHASE_INFORMATION request for a given notification and that you received the purchase information for the notification.

  • RESTORE_TRANSACTIONS

    This request retrieves a user's transaction status for managed purchases (see Choosing a Purchase Type for more information). You should send this message only when you need to retrieve a user's transaction status, which is usually only when your application is reinstalled or installed for the first time on a device.

Every In-app Billing request generates a synchronous response. The response is a Bundle and can include one or more of the following keys:

  • RESPONSE_CODE

    This key provides status information and error information about a request.

  • PURCHASE_INTENT

    This key provides a PendingIntent, which you use to launch the checkout activity.

  • REQUEST_ID

    This key provides you with a request identifier, which you can use to match asynchronous responses with requests.

Some of these keys are not relevant to certain types of requests. Table 8 shows which keys are returned for each request type.

Table 8. Description of Bundle keys that are returned with each In-app Billing request type.

Request Type Keys Returned Possible Response Codes
CHECK_BILLING_SUPPORTED RESPONSE_CODE RESULT_OK, RESULT_BILLING_UNAVAILABLE, RESULT_ERROR, RESULT_DEVELOPER_ERROR
REQUEST_PURCHASE RESPONSE_CODE, PURCHASE_INTENT, REQUEST_ID RESULT_OK, RESULT_ERROR, RESULT_DEVELOPER_ERROR
GET_PURCHASE_INFORMATION RESPONSE_CODE, REQUEST_ID RESULT_OK, RESULT_ERROR, RESULT_DEVELOPER_ERROR
CONFIRM_NOTIFICATIONS RESPONSE_CODE, REQUEST_ID RESULT_OK, RESULT_ERROR, RESULT_DEVELOPER_ERROR
RESTORE_TRANSACTIONS RESPONSE_CODE, REQUEST_ID RESULT_OK, RESULT_ERROR, RESULT_DEVELOPER_ERROR

In-app billing broadcast intents

The following section describes the In-app Billing broadcast intents that are sent by the Google Play application. These broadcast intents inform your application about In-app Billing actions that have occurred. Your application must implement a BroadcastReceiver to receive these broadcast intents, such as the BillingReceiver that's shown in the in-app billing sample application.

com.android.vending.billing.RESPONSE_CODE

This broadcast intent contains a Google Play response code, and is sent after you make an In-app Billing request. A server response code can indicate that a billing request was successfully sent to Google Play or it can indicate that some error occurred during a billing request. This intent is not used to report any purchase state changes (such as refund or purchase information). For more information about the response codes that are sent with this response, see Google Play Response Codes for In-app Billing. The sample application assigns this broadcast intent to a constant named ACTION_RESPONSE_CODE.

Extras
  • request_id—a long representing a request ID. A request ID identifies a specific billing request and is returned by Google Play at the time a request is made.
  • response_code—an int representing the Google Play server response code.

com.android.vending.billing.IN_APP_NOTIFY

This response indicates that a purchase has changed state, which means a purchase succeeded, was canceled, or was refunded. This response contains one or more notification IDs. Each notification ID corresponds to a specific server-side message, and each messages contains information about one or more transactions. After your application receives an IN_APP_NOTIFY broadcast intent, you send a GET_PURCHASE_INFORMATION request with the notification IDs to retrieve the message details. The sample application assigns this broadcast intent to a constant named ACTION_NOTIFY.

Extras
  • notification_id—a String representing the notification ID for a given purchase state change. Google Play notifies you when there is a purchase state change and the notification includes a unique notification ID. To get the details of the purchase state change, you send the notification ID with the GET_PURCHASE_INFORMATION request.

com.android.vending.billing.PURCHASE_STATE_CHANGED

This broadcast intent contains detailed information about one or more transactions. The transaction information is contained in a JSON string. The JSON string is signed and the signature is sent to your application along with the JSON string (unencrypted). To help ensure the security of your In-app Billing messages, your application can verify the signature of this JSON string. The sample application assigns this broadcast intent to a constant named ACTION_PURCHASE_STATE_CHANGED.

Extras
  • inapp_signed_data—a String representing the signed JSON string.
  • inapp_signature—a String representing the signature.

Note: Your application should map the broadcast intents and extras to constants that are unique to your application. See the Consts.java file in the sample application to see how this is done.

The fields in the JSON string are described in the following table (see table 9):

Table 9. Description of JSON fields that are returned with a PURCHASE_STATE_CHANGED intent.

Field Description
nonce A number used once. Your application generates the nonce and sends it with the GET_PURCHASE_INFORMATION request. Google Play sends the nonce back as part of the JSON string so you can verify the integrity of the message.
notificationId A unique identifier that is sent with an IN_APP_NOTIFY broadcast intent. Each notificationId corresponds to a specify message that is waiting to be retrieved on the Google Play server. Your application sends back the notificationId with the GET_PURCHASE_INFORMATION message so Google Play can determine which messages you are retrieving.
orderId A unique order identifier for the transaction. This corresponds to the Google Wallet Order ID.
packageName The application package from which the purchase originated.
productId The item's product identifier. Every item has a product ID, which you must specify in the application's product list on the Google Play Developer Console.
purchaseTime The time the product was purchased, in milliseconds since the epoch (Jan 1, 1970).
purchaseState The purchase state of the order. Possible values are 0 (purchased), 1 (canceled), 2 (refunded), or 3 (expired, for subscription purchases only).
purchaseToken A token that uniquely identifies a subscription purchase for a given item and user pair. You can use the token to specify the subscription when querying for subscription validity.


Supported only in In-app Billing API Version 2 and higher.
developerPayload A developer-specified string that contains supplemental information about an order. You can specify a value for this field when you make a REQUEST_PURCHASE request.

REST API for subscriptions

Google Play offers an HTTP-based API that you can use to remotely query the validity of a specific subscription at any time or cancel a subscription. The API is designed to be used from your backend servers as a way of securely managing subscriptions, as well as extending and integrating subscriptions with other services. See Purchase Status API for more information.