GitHub Start free

What does the App Store notification TEST mean?

The App Store notification TEST is a sample notification that Apple sends only when you request it, to check that your server receives notifications.

Quick facts#
Notification notificationType TEST
Where App Store Server Notifications v2 (responseBodyV2DecodedPayload)
Sent by The App Store server, to your notification URL
What Apple says The App Store server sends it when you call the Request a Test Notification endpoint. You get it only at your request.

What triggers it#

  • You called Request a Test Notification in the App Store Server API,.
  • It carries no purchase, so there is nothing to apply.
  • Apple's Get Test Notification Status endpoint shows whether the delivery worked.

What your server should do#

  1. Verify the signedPayload with Apple's App Store Server Library (SignedDataVerifier.verifyAndDecodeNotification) before you act on anything in it.
  2. Answer 200 so Apple records success.
  3. Do not treat it as a customer event.
  4. If it does not arrive, call Get Test Notification Status for the failure reason.
  5. Answer HTTP 200 (any code from 200 to 206) once you have stored the notification. Apple retries other answers five times, at 1, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours after the previous attempt, so make your handler safe to run twice (the payload carries a notificationUUID).

Example#

JavaScript
// Run on the decoded payload, after you verified Apple's signature.
const notification = {"notificationType":"TEST","data":{"environment":"Sandbox","bundleId":"com.example.app"}};

function decide(n) {
  if (n.notificationType !== "TEST") return "ignore";
  return "answer 200, do not touch any customer";
}

console.log(decide(notification));

Run-checked: npm run check:snippets runs this snippet with Node and compares its output with answer 200 (checked 2026-10-03).

How RevenueDot handles it#

RevenueDot verifies Apple's signature, checks the bundle ID, stores the notification and answers 200. A purchase RevenueDot has not seen is applied only when the app's Track new purchases from server-to-server notifications setting is on. RevenueDot stores the test notification, answers 200 and counts it as received, so the app's notification status in setup health can turn ready. It applies nothing and sends no webhook event.

Source#

Checked: 2026-10-03

Edit this page on GitHub ↗ View as Markdown Last updated