Why Our Paywall Didn’t Work (And the Hidden App Store Step That Fixed It)

Sometimes, the hardest bugs aren’t caused by code.

They’re caused by missing steps you didn’t even know existed.

The situation: everything looked correct

We had fully integrated our payment system:

• RevenueCat was set up
• Products and entitlements were configured
• Paywalls were implemented inside the app

Everything had been checked—multiple times.

And yet, something wasn’t working.

The problem we couldn’t explain

After users swiped through a certain number of photos, the paywall was supposed to appear.

Instead, we saw an error message.

A red warning appeared—suggesting that no products or categories had been configured in RevenueCat.

But that wasn’t true.

Everything was already there.

We double-checked it again… and again.

Still no success.

The real issue: outside the app

After extensive research, we finally discovered the root cause.

The problem wasn’t in our app. It wasn’t in RevenueCat.

It was in App Store Connect.

More specifically, in the business setup section.

The missing piece

To enable payments properly, Apple requires additional steps:

• Adding and verifying bank account details
• Completing tax information
• Submitting required agreements

Until these steps are completed and approved, payments simply won’t work.

Even if everything else is configured perfectly.

This also means that services like RevenueCat cannot process transactions correctly—because the foundation isn’t fully activated.

Why this is easy to overlook

The tricky part?

There’s no obvious, direct error pointing to this.

Instead, you see misleading messages—like missing product configurations—even though the real issue lies elsewhere.

This can easily lead to hours (or days) of unnecessary debugging.

The reality of verification delays

Another important lesson:

These verification processes take time.

We started the setup on May 1st—and by May 3rd, it was still not fully completed.

Part of this delay may be due to timing (weekends can slow things down), but in general:

App Store financial verification is not instant.

It requires patience.

What we learned

This experience reinforced a few key lessons:

• Not all issues are technical
• External systems can block internal functionality
• Payment flows depend on full platform compliance
• Verification steps are critical—not optional

Moving forward

Now that we’ve identified the issue, everything is in motion.

Once the verification is complete, the paywall will function exactly as intended—and we can finally move forward with the next phase of growth.

If you’re exploring our app, you’re catching it at an exciting moment. Try it now and experience how everything comes together—smooth, fast, and built to continuously improve.