Google Play · RevenueCat BILLING_ISSUE
Recover Play subscribers stuck on a failed payment
A large share of Play “cancels” are not people walking away — they are cards that failed. FixMySub listens for RevenueCat’s BILLING_ISSUE event and nudges the subscriber (push and/or email) to fix the payment method. We sit on top of Play’s own grace period and in-app messages, not instead of them.
Play leaks more than the App Store
Same report, same source. Do not treat these as FixMySub’s numbers — they are RevenueCat’s.
RevenueCat’s phrasing: “The primary platform difference is not unsubscribe behavior — it’s billing reliability.”
Two layers. Don’t skip the Play Console.
Layer 1 · Google / RevenueCat SDK
- Grace period and account hold in Play Console (RevenueCat documents a 60-day recovery window).
- Play In-App Messaging — RevenueCat SDK v7 shows it automatically.
- That catches users who open the app during grace / hold.
Layer 2 · FixMySub
- Same BILLING_ISSUE webhook RevenueCat already fires to Braze / OneSignal / etc.
- Push + email for users who have not opened the app.
- No extra CDP. Your FCM, our SendGrid, join key = RC
app_user_id.
The RC article is explicit: platform tools are a floor. Push and email are the complementary channel for people who never launch the app after the decline. Read their dunning section →
What FixMySub actually sends
RevenueCat recommends a Day 0 / 1–3 / 7 / 14 cadence. We ship a smaller default: immediate message, then a 12-hour follow-up push if still unresolved. We do not claim Google’s 2× in-app or 40% Truecaller recovery rates as our own.
Hour 0
BILLING_ISSUE received
Push and/or email: payment failed, update the method.
+12 hours
Still not renewed
Follow-up push. Workflow stops on RENEWAL.
If they pay
Marked recovered
No more recovery messages for that incident.
FAQ
Is this instead of Google Play grace period and in-app messages?
No. Configure grace period, account hold, and Play In-App Messaging first (RevenueCat SDK v7 shows the Play snackbar automatically). FixMySub is the out-of-app nudge when BILLING_ISSUE fires and the user is not in the app.
Where does the 31% / 32.3% figure come from?
RevenueCat’s 2026 State of Subscription Apps, as reported in their post “Google Play’s billion-dollar billing leak.” They publish 32.3% of Play cancellations as involuntary billing errors (15.2% on the App Store). FixMySub did not invent this number.
What event do you listen to?
RevenueCat BILLING_ISSUE (and BILLING_ISSUE_DETECTED). That is the same event RC sends to other messaging tools. We match it to the user you registered via app_user_id.
Do you guarantee a recovery rate?
No. Google and RevenueCat publish platform and case-study rates (grace period, in-app messages, Truecaller). Those are not FixMySub’s results. We send the message; the store still owns the charge retry.