IPHONE in-app purchase: is it possible to verify a receipt without using an external server? - iphone

Question

I have a receipt of a recorded transaction stored by the application when the transaction was done and I would like to ask apple's servers if this receipt is valid.
Is there a way to do this without using an external server?

Answer 1

I would like to ask Apple's servers if this receipt is valid.
Is there a way to do this without using an external server?
Perhaps it's just me, but it seems like you are asking to contact a server without contacting a server, which is quite impossible I'm afraid.

Answer 2

As far as I know, there are few json service provided by Apple:
One for the In App sandbox (before the submission):
https://sandbox.itunes.apple.com/verifyReceipt
One for the App Store version:
https://buy.itunes.apple.com/verifyReceipt
You can call them sending your receipt:
{
"receipt-data" : "(actual receipt bytes here)"
}
And it returns the answer:
{
"status" : 0,
"receipt" : { ... }
}
I assume you can make a direct call to the service within your iPhone app OR you can call your own server script that work as a proxy to the Apple service. It depends on your app logic. If you need to check the receipt on your server (IE. to authorize a download) you should call your server script otherwise you can verify the receipt directly from the app.
Doc reference:
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/NetworkingInternet/Conceptual/StoreKitGuide/VerifyingStoreReceipts/VerifyingStoreReceipts.html

Answer 3

this case is solved. It is possible to do that using just the iphone.

Answer 4

To clarify:
Only the Apple Server can give information about the validity of a
transaction receipt. Indeed you have to contact this server even just
to find out if a product is still active (or if the user has
cancelled the subscription).
On the web, you get the impression that
it is not at all, or at least not in any safe way, possible to
contact this Apple Server simply via HTTP-POST out of your app.
Everybody seems to be convinced you need to have a web server which
is contacted from your app, and that you should only contact Apple's
server from your web server.
Apple, however, even provides implementation code (I wish I had found that earlier) on how to contact the verification server safely without another web server in between:
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#releasenotes/StoreKit/IAP_ReceiptValidation/_index.html
This implementation is similar to what lomanf mentioned, just in more detail and with all the security needed to make it work even with iOS 5.x.
So the answer is most definitely: Yes.