Sandbox
How it is detected
There is no sandbox switch in the dashboard. We read it from what the store returns, and set the sandbox flag in the validation response to true.
To produce sandbox receipts, follow the store's own instructions — usually signing in on the device with a test account.
If you use Server Webhooks, check that flag to ignore test purchases on your backend.
What is different
| Production | Sandbox | |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction storage | The plan's retention period | 1 hour |
| User storage | The plan's retention period | 1 hour |
| Counts against your quota | Yes | No |
| Shown in the dashboard | Production tab | Sandbox tab, last two weeks |
The one-hour lifetime is what lets you run the same test again and again from a clean state. It also means a test session resets itself if you leave it for an hour.
Do not mix sandbox and production receipts on the same user identifier. The sandbox record disappears after an hour and takes that user's test inventory with it.
When testing subscriptions, compare the renewal period against that one hour. A renewal cycle longer than an hour will outlive the record, and the next renewal arrives with nothing to attach to.
Successful sandbox transactions appear in the App View so you can check them.