Measure in-app purchase and subscription revenue

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Last update: April 23, 2025 08:04

At a glance: Learn about the AppsFlyer ROI360 in-app purchase and subscription revenue measurement solution that automatically validates and measures revenue from in-app purchases and auto-renewable subscriptions to give you the full picture of your customers' life cycles and accurate ROAS measurements.

About ROI360 in-app purchase and subscription revenue measurement

Advertisers can use validated in-app purchases (IAP) and subscription revenue to measure:

All revenue from in-app purchases of products and subscriptions managed through either App Store Connect (iOS) or Google Play Console (Android).
Refunds.
Pending and deferred transaction revenue (Android).
Subscription-related events that happen inside or outside your app.

The IAP and subscription revenue solution also:

Makes sure no duplicate transactions are recorded. For iOS, this also can also ensure that no duplications are recorded for family sharing.
Allows AppsFlyer to forward Apple App Store transactions to you (the advertiser).
Provides net revenue data, meaning net revenue data that takes into account store commission and taxes.

The purchase and subscription data originates from:

The AppsFlyer purchase SDK connector for Android and iOS (Unity wrapper included).
App Store and Google Play (RTDN) server notifications sent to AppsFlyer.

Purchase and subscription revenue data is available via AppsFlyer dashboards and reports. They can also be shared with partners via postbacks.

Considerations:

If you use this IAP and subscription revenue measurement solution, you shouldn’t send in-app purchases events or execute validateAndLogInAppPurchase, as doing so results in duplicate revenue being reported.
Subscription revenue is able to start recording subscriber life cycle changes for existing subscribers as soon as they launch an app version that includes the purchase SDK connector.

Flow

A user makes an in-app purchase or auto-renewable subscription.
The app makes a transaction in the app store.
The AppsFlyer purchase SDK connector automatically detects the purchase and sends its payload to AppsFlyer for validation and logging.
AppsFlyer validates the purchase with the relevant store to ensure it's not fraudulent.
- Upon successful validation, AppsFlyer logs the purchase or subscription.
- If receipt validation fails, the event displays in the blocked in-app events raw data report (available to Protect360 subscribers).
AppsFlyer transfers the response to the SDK connector, which in turn transfers the receipt validation response (success or fail) to the app.
Any incoming server notifications are also processed by the AppsFlyer purchase and subscription revenue business logic.
- Notifications regarding transactions previously reported via the SDK connector are validated and processed, and result in the internal creation of a purchase or life cycle event.
- Notifications regarding unknown transactions are dropped.
- For iOS, all server notifications can be rerouted to your own servers.

Get started

To integrate and set up the ROI360 in-app purchase (IAP) and subscription revenue measurement solution, follow the setup guide.

Reference

The following sections explain in further detail different aspects of ROI360 in-app purchase (IAP) and subscription revenue measurement: Events and parameters related to in-app purchase and subscription events, Net revenue (a feature that helps with gross-to-net revenue calculations), and general traits and limitations of the ROI360 in-app purchase (IAP) and subscription revenue measurement solution.

IAP-related events and parameters

The following sections display the IAP-related events that AppsFlyer measures, and the parameters that are recorded for each event. See the event parameter dictionary for an explanation of the included parameters.

All generated events:

Are considered S2S events.
Are accessible in raw data reports (as organic or non-organic in-app events).
Can be sent via postbacks to partners.
Can be used in SKAN Conversion Studio.

Note: Depending on the user device platform, some parameters aren't always populated for an in-app event.

Purchase (af_purchase)

Description

Recorded when a user makes a purchase.

Parameters

app_id
customer_user_id
af_currency
af_original_transaction_id
af_order_id
af_purchase_token
af_transaction_id
af_product_id
android_id
idfa
ip
appsflyer_id
af_purchase_date_ms
af_store
af_environment
af_revenue
af_net_revenue
af_net_revenue_tax_name
af_net_revenue_tax_rate
af_net_revenue_tax_exclusive
af_net_revenue_country
af_net_revenue_subdivision
af_net_revenue_postal_code
af_net_revenue_factors

Purchase free (af_purchase_free)

Description

Recorded when a user makes a purchase that has no revenue amount. All revenue parameters will display 0.

Parameters

app_id
customer_user_id
af_currency
af_original_transaction_id
af_order_id
af_purchase_token
af_transaction_id
af_product_id
android_id
idfa
ip
appsflyer_id
af_purchase_date_ms
af_store
af_environment
af_revenue
af_net_revenue
af_net_revenue_tax_name
af_net_revenue_tax_rate
af_net_revenue_tax_exclusive
af_net_revenue_country
af_net_revenue_subdivision
af_net_revenue_postal_code
af_net_revenue_factors

Purchase canceled (af_purchase_canceled)

Description

Recorded when a user cancels a purchase.

Parameters

app_id
customer_user_id
af_currency
af_original_transaction_id
af_order_id
af_purchase_token
af_transaction_id
af_product_id
android_id
idfa
ip
appsflyer_id
af_purchase_date_ms
af_store
af_environment

Purchase pending (af_purchase_pending)

Description

Recorded when a user makes a purchase but the payment isn't yet processed.

Parameters

app_id
customer_user_id
af_currency
af_original_transaction_id
af_order_id
af_purchase_token
af_transaction_id
af_product_id
android_id
idfa
ip
appsflyer_id
af_purchase_date_ms
af_store
af_environment

Refund (af_purchase_refund)

Description

Recorded when a purchase is refunded.

Parameters

app_id
customer_user_id
af_currency
af_original_transaction_id
af_order_id
af_purchase_token
af_transaction_id
af_product_id
android_id
idfa
ip
appsflyer_id
af_purchase_date_ms
af_store
af_environment
af_discount_type
event_revenue_usd
event_revenue (included in the event when the revenue exceeds zero)
store_commission
af_revenue
af_net_revenue
af_net_revenue_factors
af_net_revenue_tax_name
af_net_revenue_tax_rate
af_net_revenue_tax_exclusive
af_net_revenue_country
af_net_revenue_subdivision
af_net_revenue_postal_code

Test purchase (af_purchase_sandbox_sdk)

Description

Recorded when testing a purchase recorded via SDK in sandbox environment.

Parameters

app_id
customer_user_id
af_currency
af_original_transaction_id
af_order_id
Af_purchase_token
af_transaction_id
af_purchase_state
af_product_id
android_id
idfa
ip
appsflyer_id
af_net
af_sandbox_revenue

Test purchase (af_purchase_sandbox_s2s)

Description

Recorded when testing a purchase reported via S2S in a sandbox environment.

Parameters

app_id
customer_user_id
af_currency
af_original_transaction_id
af_order_id
af_purchase_token
af_transaction_id
af_purchase_state
af_product_id
android_id
idfa
ip
appsflyer_id
af_net
af_sandbox_revenue

Subscription-related events and parameters

The following sections display the subscription-related events that AppsFlyer measures, and the parameters that are recorded for each event. See the event parameter dictionary for an explanation of the included parameters.

All generated events:

Are considered S2S events.
Are accessible in raw data reports (as organic or non-organic in-app events).
Can be sent via postbacks to partners.
Can be used in SKAN Conversion Studio.

Note: Depending on the user device platform, some parameters aren't always populated for an in-app event.

Trial started (af_ars_trial_started)

Description

Recorded when a subscriber begins a trial period.

Parameters

app_id
customer_user_id
af_currency
af_expires_date_ms
Af_subscription_ownership_type
af_original_transaction_id
af_order_id
Af_purchase_token
af_transaction_id
af_product_id
android_id
idfa
ip
appsflyer_id
af_purchase_date_ms
af_store
af_environment
af_period_type

Trial canceled (af_ars_trial_canceled)

Description

Recorded when a subscriber cancels the automatic renewal of the subscription during the trial period. If a user doesn't restore the auto-renewal within the trial period, a churn event follows.

Parameters

app_id
customer_user_id
af_currency
af_expires_date_ms
Af_subscription_ownership_type
af_original_transaction_id
af_order_id
Af_purchase_token
af_transaction_id
af_product_id
android_id
idfa
ip
appsflyer_id
af_purchase_date_ms
af_store
af_environment
af_period_type

Trial churned (af_ars_trial_churned)

Description

Recorded when a subscriber churns following a trial period. This happens after auto-renewal cancelation and trial period expiration. It can also follow a billing or technical issue with the renewal leading to churn.

Parameters

app_id
customer_user_id
af_currency
af_expires_date_ms
Af_subscription_ownership_type
af_original_transaction_id
af_order_id
Af_purchase_token
af_transaction_id
af_product_id
android_id
idfa
ip
appsflyer_id
af_purchase_date_ms
af_store
af_environment
af_period_type
af_reason

Trial converted (af_ars_trial_converted)

Description

Recorded when a fully priced renewal starts, following a trial period.

Parameters

app_id
customer_user_id
af_currency
af_expires_date_ms
Af_subscription_ownership_type
af_original_transaction_id
af_order_id
af_purchase_token
af_transaction_id
af_product_id
android_id
idfa
ip
appsflyer_id
af_purchase_date_ms
af_store
af_environment
af_period_type
af_discount_id
af_discount_type
event_revenue_usd
store_commission
af_revenue (included in the event only when the revenue exceeds zero)
af_net_revenue
af_net_revenue_factors
af_net_revenue_tax_name
af_net_revenue_tax_rate
af_net_revenue_tax_exclusive
af_net_revenue_country
af_net_revenue_subdivision
af_net_revenue_postal_code

Subscription started (af_ars_subscription_started)

Description

Recorded when a discounted or a fully priced subscription starts.

Note:

New subscriptions can only be recorded via the SDK connector.
For iOS, if a subscriber repurchases a subscription they already own, the SDK connector reports a successful receipt validation back to the app, but doesn't record a new transaction in AppsFlyer.

Parameters

app_id
customer_user_id
af_currency
af_expires_date_ms
af_subscription_ownership_type
af_original_transaction_id
af_order_id
af_purchase_token
af_transaction_id
af_product_id
android_id
idfa
ip
appsflyer_id
af_purchase_date_ms
af_store
af_environment
af_period_type
af_discount_id
af_discount_type
event_revenue_usd
event_revenue (included in the event when the revenue exceeds zero)
store_commission
af_revenue
af_net_revenue
af_net_revenue_factors
af_net_revenue_tax_name
af_net_revenue_tax_rate
af_net_revenue_tax_exclusive
af_net_revenue_country
af_net_revenue_subdivision
af_net_revenue_postal_code

Subscription canceled (af_ars_subscription_canceled)

Description

Recorded when an auto-renewal subscription is canceled in the middle of a billing period. If a user doesn't restore the auto-renewal within the same billing period, a churn event follows.

Parameters

app_id
customer_user_id
af_currency
af_expires_date_ms
af_subscription_ownership_type
af_original_transaction_id
af_order_id
af_purchase_token
af_transaction_id
af_product_id
android_id
idfa
ip
appsflyer_id
af_purchase_date_ms
af_store
af_environment
af_period_type

Subscription paused (af_ars_subscription_paused) - Android only

Description

Recorded when a user pauses an active subscription.

Parameters

app_id
customer_user_id
af_currency
af_expires_date_ms
af_subscription_ownership_type
af_original_transaction_id
af_order_id
af_purchase_token
af_product_id
android_id
idfa
ip
appsflyer_id
af_purchase_date_ms
af_store
af_environment
af_period_type

Subscription resumed (af_ars_subscription_resumed)

Description

Recorded when a fully priced subscription is resumed following a churned or refunded subscription.

Parameters

app_id
customer_user_id
af_currency
af_expires_date_ms
af_subscription_ownership_type
af_original_transaction_id
af_order_id
af_purchase_token
af_transaction_id
af_product_id
android_id
idfa
ip
appsflyer_id
af_purchase_date_ms
af_store
af_environment
af_period_type
af_discount_id
af_discount_type
af_reason
event_revenue (included in the event when event revenue exceeds zero)
store_commission
af_revenue
af_net_revenue
af_net_revenue_factors

Subscription churned (af_ars_subscription_churned)

Description

Recorded when a subscriber churns. This usually happens after auto-renewal cancelation or billing period expiration. It can also follow a billing or technical issue, with the renewal leading to churn.

Parameters

app_id
customer_user_id
af_currency
af_expires_date_ms
Af_subscription_ownership_type
af_original_transaction_id
af_order_id
Af_purchase_token
af_transaction_id
af_product_id
android_id
idfa
ip
appsflyer_id
af_purchase_date_ms
af_store
af_environment
af_period_type
af_reason

Subscription refunded (af_ars_subscription_refunded)

Description

Recorded when a subscriber is issued a refund.

Note:

This event is usually generated along with a negative value. In cases where it is impossible to detect which transactions were refunded, or details of the refund aren't included in the notification, the refund event shows no value.

Parameters

app_id
customer_user_id
af_reason
af_subscription_ownership_type
af_discount_id
af_discount_type
af_original_transaction_id
af_order_id
af_purchase_token
af_refunded_transaction_ids
event_revenue_usd
event_revenue (included in the event when the revenue exceeds zero)
af_product_id
android_id
idfa
ip
appsflyer_id
af_store
af_environment
af_period_type
store_commission
af_revenue
af_net_revenue
af_net_revenue_factors
af_net_revenue_tax_name
af_net_revenue_tax_rate
af_net_revenue_tax_exclusive
af_net_revenue_country
af_net_revenue_subdivision
af_net_revenue_postal_code

Subscription billing grace (af_ars_subscription_billing_grace)

Description

Recorded when a subscription renewal fails due to a billing issue and the subscriber enters the billing grace period.

Parameters

app_id
customer_user_id
af_currency
af_expires_date_ms
Af_subscription_ownership_type
af_original_transaction_id
af_order_id
Af_purchase_token
af_transaction_id
af_product_id
android_id
idfa
ip
appsflyer_id
af_purchase_date_ms
af_store
af_environment
af_period_type

Subscription renewed (af_ars_subscription_renewed)

Description

Recorded when an auto-renewal subscription takes place.

Parameters

app_id
customer_user_id
af_currency
af_expires_date_ms
af_subscription_ownership_type
af_original_transaction_id
af_order_id
af_purchase_token
af_transaction_id
af_product_id
android_id
idfa
ip
appsflyer_id
af_purchase_date_ms
af_store
af_environment
af_period_type
af_discount_id
af_discount_type
event_revenue_usd
event_revenue (included in the event when the revenue exceeds zero)
store_commission
af_revenue
af_net_revenue
af_net_revenue_factors

Subscription changed (af_ars_subscription_xgraded)

Description

Recorded when a subscriber upgrades, downgrades, or cross-grades to a different product.

Parameters

app_id
customer_user_id
af_currency
af_expires_date_ms
af_subscription_ownership_type
af_original_transaction_id
af_order_id
af_purchase_token
af_transaction_id
af_product_id
android_id
idfa
ip
appsflyer_id
af_purchase_date_ms
af_store
af_environment
af_period_type
af_discount_id
af_discount_type
event_revenue_usd
event_revenue (included in the event when the revenue exceeds zero)
store_commission
af_revenue
af_net_revenue
af_net_revenue_factors

Existing subscriber (af_ars_existing_subscriber)

Description

Recorded when the SDK connector is notified about a subscriber in the middle of a billing cycle, before getting a follow-up server notification that transitions the subscriber to another relevant lifecycle stage. This event is usually generated during your onboarding and SDK connector adoption period.

Parameters

app_id
customer_user_id
country
af_currency
af_expires_date_ms
af_subscription_ownership_type
af_original_transaction_id
af_order_id
af_purchase_token
af_transaction_id
af_product_id
android_id
idfa
ip
appsflyer_id
af_purchase_date_ms
af_store
af_environment
af_period_type
af_cuids
af_validated

Test purchase (af_ars_sandbox_sdk)

Description

Recorded when testing a purchase recorded via SDK in sandbox environment.

Parameters

app_id
customer_user_id
country
af_currency
af_expires_date_ms
af_subscription_ownership_type
af_discount_id
af_discount_type
af_original_transaction_id
af_order_id
af_purchase_token
af_transaction_id
af_product_id
android_id
idfa
ip
appsflyer_id
af_purchase_date_ms
af_store
af_environment
af_period_type
af_cuids
af_validated
af_net
af_sandbox_revenue

Test purchase (af_ars_sandbox_s2s)

Description

Recorded when testing a purchase reported via S2S in a sandbox environment.

Parameters

app_id
customer_user_id
country
af_currency
af_expires_date_ms
af_subscription_ownership_type
af_discount_id
af_discount_type
af_original_transaction_id
af_order_id
af_purchase_token
af_transaction_id
af_product_id
android_id
idfa
ip
appsflyer_id
af_purchase_date_ms
af_store
af_environment
af_period_type
af_cuids
af_validated
af_net
af_sandbox_revenue

Parameter dictionary

Parameters for IAP and subscription events display in raw data reports either as their own columns or populated as part of the Event value.

The parameters that have their own columns are:

app_id
customer_user_id
country_code
af_currency
event_revenue_usd
af_revenue
android_id
ip
idfa
appsflyer_id

See the data fields dictionary for more details about these parameters.

The following table describes the raw data parameters available in ARS and VIAP events.

Parameter	Remarks	Product
af_cancelation_date_ms	Date of the cancelation	IAP
af_reason	In cancelation or churn-related events, the reason a user churned or canceled. Possible values: iOS: cancel_intent billing_issue declined_price_increase product_unavailable Android: I don't use this service enough Technical issues Cost-related reasons I found a better app Other In subscription resumed events, the reason a user resumed their subscription. Possible values: Android: paused and resumed disabled and enabled auto-renew In refund-related events, the reason why the user received a refund. Possible values: iOS: 1: issue with your app 0: another reason	IAP Subscription
af_expires_date_ms	The expiration date of the current subscription billing cycle	Subscription
af_subscription_ownership_type	FAMILY_SHARED means the user has access via family sharing. PURCHASED means the paying user made the purchase.	Subscription
af_discount_id	The offer ID presented to the user during the initial purchase. The ID is populated only when there is a discount code.	IAP Subscription
af_discount_type	The discount type redeemed by the user. Possible values: IOS introductory promotional offer_codes win_back Android intro price one_time_code vanity_code	Subscription
af_original_transaction_id	The original transaction ID iOS only	IAP Subscription
af_order_id	The order ID for the transaction Android only	IAP Subscription
af_purchase_token	The purchase token for the transaction Android only	IAP Subscription
af_transaction_id	The ID of the transaction iOS only	IAP Subscription
af_purchase_state	Possible values: Purchased Canceled Pending	IAP
af_original_transaction_id	The original ID of the transaction iOS only	IAP Subscription
af_refunded_transaction_ids	An array of all refunded transaction IDs iOS only	IAP Subscription
af_product_id	The subscription product ID	IAP Subscription
af_purchase_date_ms	The purchase date for the reported product ID in-app event	IAP Subscription
af_store	The app store the subscription product was purchased from	IAP Subscription
af_environment	The environment from which data is received, either production or sandbox.	IAP Subscription
af_period_type	Subscription or trial period type. Possible values: trial intro normal	Subscription
store_commission	The calculated percentage of commission the store gets from the purchased product. Displayed as a decimal. Example: 30	IAP Subscription
af_net_revenue	Net revenue calculated based on all factored reasons. See af_net_revenue_factors.	IAP Subscription
af_net_revenue_factors	An array representing all factored reasons that produce the reported af_net_revenue amount. Example value: store_commission	IAP Subscription
af_net_revenue_tax_name	Name appearing in the customer invoice that describes the specific type of tax. Example: Sales, VAT, GST	IAP Subscription
af_net_revenue_tax_rate	Number up to 4 decimal places representing the tax percentage collected. Example: 7.25	IAP Subscription
af_net_revenue_tax_exclusive	Boolean parameter, either true or false. False means tax is included in the overall revenue. True means tax is in addition to the overall stated revenue. For example, in the USA or Canada, where the sticker price doesn't include sales tax.	IAP Subscription
af_net_revenue_country	Two-letter ISO country code for which the tax is applied. Example: CA Note: For United Kingdom, the code implemented is UK, not GB.	IAP Subscription
af_net_revenue_subdivision	For some countries, there can be an additional state/subdivision. This is handled according to ISO 3166-2 subdivision codes. Includes the country code and subdivision code. Example: US-CA	IAP Subscription
af_net_revenue_postal_code	String of letters and/or numbers Example: L4J8E3	IAP Subscription
af_cuids	In the context of ARS, this parameter contains an array with all CUIDs. The array of CUIDs displays irrespective of the device IDs. Thus, the same CUIDs can display for more than one device ID.	Subscription

Net revenue

Net revenue is a business logic layer built to serve the AppsFlyer in-app purchase and subscription revenue solution. It automatically calculates the net revenue value for each incoming transaction in real time and includes it in reports. Net revenue considers the following factors in the gross-to-net revenue calculation:

Store commission:
- Is calculated and reported automatically. No action on your part is required.
- For purchases, store commission is 30%.
- For, subscriptions, commission is automatically calculated on a per-subscriber basis, taking into account the lifetime of the subscriber, (App Store: starting at 30% commission, and reducing to 15% after a year, Play Store: 15% commission).
- Related net revenue parameters are available in raw data reports.
Tax:
- Tax is reported by default for any transaction measured by ROI360 using the default tax rate configuration.
- This applies for tax inclusive countries (where tax is included in the sticker price). So for example, in the UK, if the app store charges an end-user £10, the net revenue will by default deduct the 20% tax and display £8. For tax exclusive countries, such as USA, where the sticker price doesn't include tax, revenue and net revenue parameters don't include tax by default.
- The configuration can be edited using the dedicated tax API. This JSON file displays all supported countries and their default tax rates. The developer can edit it or use it as is in the API.

When viewing Net revenue in reports, the following parameters contain the net revenue data. See the parameter dictionary for more details.

Parameter	Net revenue factor
store_commission	Store commission
af_net_revenue_tax_name	Tax
af_net_revenue_tax_rate	Tax
af_net_revenue_tax_exclusive	Tax
af_net_revenue_postal_code	Tax
af_net_revenue_country	Tax
af_net_revenue_subdivision	Tax
af_net_revenue	Store commission Tax
af_net_revenue_factors	Store commission Tax

Troubleshooting and disprepancies

Symptom	Explanation / Solution
AppsFlyer shows fewer in-app purchase and subscription events than the actual app stores.	In AppsFlyer, events are only generated for users who have updated to a version of the app that includes the SDK connector. Meanwhile, the app stores log every event, regardless of the user's app version. As a result, until full adoption of the updated app version, a discrepancy between the revenue data from the app and the store data is expected.

Traits and limitations

Specification	Product	Remarks
Installment subscriptions (Android)	Subscription revenue	Not supported
Subscription pending transactions (Android)	Subscription revenue	Not supported
New subscriptions	Subscription revenue	Only recorded via the AppsFlyer purchase SDK
Price change	Subscription revenue	If subscription revenue doesn't receive an SDK-originated notification with the new product price, subscription revenue continues to report the previous product price as revenue. Once the new product price is received from the purchase SDK, the new price is recorded.
Gross revenue	IAP Subscription revenue	Supported
Net revenue	IAP Subscription revenue	Supported in raw data only
Tax	Subscription revenue	Supported
Net revenue store commission	IAP Subscription revenue	For iOS, the 15% for subscribers older than 1 year: Supported in raw data only Small business programs: Not supported
Refunds	IAP	Can be reported until 180 days after the original purchase.
Deduplication	IAP Subscription revenue	Supported for transactions reported up to 180 days after event date.
SDK strict mode	IAP Subscription revenue	ROI360 subscriptions and IAP are supported under SDK strict mode from the: AppsFlyer iOS purchase SDK connector V6.13.0 Unity purchase SDK connector V2.0.1
Currency	IAP Subscription revenue	Revenue is reported in the original currency (using the event_revenue parameter) and in USD (using the event_revenue_usd parameter).
Data freshness	IAP Subscription revenue	Transaction-level store revenue report: Hourly Device-level store revenue report: Every 8 hours