Cannot purchase upgrade/unlock on ipad

Trouble with Synthesia, your keyboard, or adapter? Think you found a bug?
When describing problems, always mention your OS and game version (shown at the bottom of the title screen).

If your keyboard has USB or MIDI ports, there is a tremendously high chance (>99%) it will work with Synthesia. See what you'll need on the keyboards page.
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Frani
Posts: 3

Post by Frani »

After the payment process is complete, the app attempts to connect to the app store but fails. I get an error message after that telling me the purchase couldn't be completed and to contact iTunes support at http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/ww/.

Am I doing something wrong?

EDIT: Forgot to introduce myself. I'm Fran, from Peru. I've been using synthesia on PC for quite some years now. Thank you very much for your help.
My ipad is a iPad Pro 9.7-inch (32GB, Wi-Fi, Silver) 2016 MLMP2LL/A. Everything is updated to the latest version. There's plenty of money in my App Store Wallet, so that shouldn't be the problem.
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

Hmm, it does feel like we've heard about this problem a little more often, recently. This is usually something completely out of our control. Our code just says "App Store, please complete the transaction" and all we get back is an "OK" or "something went wrong" with no additional details. So it's hard to diagnose what might be going wrong.

Sometimes it takes an iPad restart. Sometimes it's agreeing to updated terms in the App Store section of the Settings app. Sometimes it just takes updating a credit card expiration date. And most frustrating of all, sometimes it just takes waiting a couple hours or days and trying again, when the App Store happily says "OK" when nothing else has changed in the meantime. :?

I have a conspiracy theory that after about six months without releasing an update -- which feels roughly about when these reports tend to increase a bit -- it's Apple beginning to "punish" the app developer with random denials.
Frani
Posts: 3

Post by Frani »

Thank you very much for replying. After tons of restarting the ipad and not losing faith it casually went through like nothing a while ago. I think it decided to work at random. Anyway I'm glad I could manage to get Synthesia unlocked on my ipad. I wish I had some procedures or words of wisdom to share with the community.
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

See! Isn't it frustrating?! :(

Oh well. I am happy to hear you were eventually able to get it working!
febLey
Posts: 3

Post by febLey »

I had this problem too.

I hit the purchase button repeatedly for about 10 minutes and suddenly it worked.
Frani
Posts: 3

Post by Frani »

I don't know what did it in my case. Perhaps it was the turning on and off. Perhaps it was turning the ipad off and leaving it alone for a day. Maybe the begging? we'll never know. :lol:
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

I've been referring people (asking questions via email about similar trouble) to this forum topic, so I'll include one more bit of information that just helped someone that had been struggling with the "Restore Purchase" button:

As long as you're still using the same Apple ID that made the original purchase, sometimes the actual Buy operation is more reliable than the Restore. The App Store won't let you buy the same ("non-consumable") in-app purchase more than once. Instead, you'll get a different prompt asking if you'd "like to get it again for free".

It's a little scary because you have to confirm the purchase (before you get the "again for free" message), but this is what it looks like in a blurry video.
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

I've heard from another user that was eventually able to find a solution to their purchasing trouble:
My AppStore ID was registered many years ago, when a bank account verification was not yet required. Since I am only using iTunes gift cards, a bank account was not added since.

After so many failed in-app purchase attempts I have just added a bank account to my AppStore ID. And guess what: the next attempt was successful, and the fee even was deducted from the gift card credit!
So, that might be worth a shot if you are in the same situation.
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