Questions About Automatic Subscription Lifecycle Events in Firebase Analytics (StoreKit 2, in_app_purchase, app_store_subscription_convert)

[ibrahimdevs]

Hi everyone,
I’m working on subscription tracking for iOS using Firebase Analytics, and I have a few questions regarding how subscription lifecycle events are automatically sent — especially when using StoreKit 2. I want to clarify these points so I can properly configure my Google Ads campaigns.

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1. in_app_purchase event — not sent automatically on iOS with StoreKit 2?

Based on the documentation, it seems that the in_app_purchase event is not automatically logged when using StoreKit 2:

https://firebase.google.com/docs/analytics/measure-in-app-purchases#implementation-apple

I also verified this in the Firebase dashboard — for iOS, this event is almost never logged, which matches what the documentation says.

So my question is:
Do we need to manually send the in_app_purchase event ourselves after a successful purchase when StoreKit 2 is in use?

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2. Why is app_store_subscription_convert still being logged on iOS even though in_app_purchase is not?

Even though StoreKit 2 is in use and in_app_purchase is not automatically logged, I still see app_store_subscription_convert events appearing in the dashboard for iOS.
Is this expected behavior?

According to Google’s documentation:

https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9234069

“Requires an initial subscription that was made on or after July 1, 2019. An initial free-trial subscription is logged as an in_app_purchase with the subscription parameter set to true.”

This suggests that if in_app_purchase is not automatically logged, then app_store_subscription_convert should also not be logged automatically.
But I do see it being logged.

Is this event still automatically collected even without the in_app_purchase event being present?
Or is there some kind of fallback behavior happening here?

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3. How exactly does app_store_subscription_convert decide when to fire?

Since this event is sent by the SDK, I want to confirm the logic behind when it is triggered.

My understanding:

• The event is only sent if the user opens the app after the trial converts.

• Example:

  • 10 users convert from trial to paid today
  • Only 6 of them open the app afterwards
  • The other 4 never open the app again

• In this case, does Firebase only log app_store_subscription_convert for those 6 users?

I want to confirm whether this understanding is correct.

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Thanks in advance!

If anyone has insights or can clarify how Firebase handles these events under StoreKit 2, it would be extremely helpful.
Thanks!
@paulb777 @ncooke3 @andrewheard