App Store and Google Play payments
Who handles the charge, receipt, renewal and refund when you bought Premium in the App Store or Google Play, and what to do about a missing purchase.
When you buy Premium in the App Store or in Google Play, the store sells it to you. Apple handles the charge and the receipt for an App Store purchase. Google Play takes the payment and keeps the receipt for a Google Play purchase. ForestVPN has no billing record beyond the store's signed receipt, so the store is where a charge can be seen, changed or refunded.
Symptoms
- You paid, and Premium is not on.
- A charge appears twice in your purchase history.
- You cannot find a receipt.
- The price is not the one you expected.
- A subscription renewed and you wanted it to stop.
- You want your money back.
Likely causes
- A different store account. Premium belongs to the Apple Account or Google account that paid. A device signed in to another one finds nothing.
- Two purchases. A subscription started twice, or on two accounts, is two charges in the store.
- Regional pricing and tax. What you pay is set by the store for your region and may differ with local pricing and tax. The price, the renewal price and the cancellation path are shown before you buy.
- Auto-renewal. A subscription renews at the end of each period unless it is cancelled in time.
- A free trial that ran out. The three-day free trial is offered on the yearly term in the App Store only, Apple decides who is eligible, and a trial you do not cancel turns into a paid year.
Fix each cause
Premium is not on after paying.
- Check that the device is signed in to the same Apple Account or Google account that paid.
- Open ForestVPN, go to Account, and choose Restore Purchases (Apple) or Restore purchases (Android). See restore your Premium. Restoring never charges you.
- If the device that paid is gone, see using your subscription on another device. For an Apple purchase, your Apple order ID can claim a purchase that no account holds.
A receipt. For the App Store, look for the receipt email Apple sent when you subscribed; Apple's Report a Problem page also lists what an Apple Account bought. For Google Play, Google keeps the receipt, so look in the Google account that paid.
A double charge. The store's purchase history is the record, and only the store can reverse a charge. Check whether it shows two purchases. ForestVPN cannot see a charge and cannot reverse it.
A different price. The store sets the price for your region. A price that differs from the one you saw elsewhere can be local pricing or tax. ForestVPN does not set the amount you are charged.
Stopping a renewal.
- App Store: cancel in your Apple Account settings under Subscriptions, at least 24 hours before the period ends.
- Google Play: cancel in the Play Store under Subscriptions.
Cancelling takes effect at the end of the paid period and returns you to the free plan. Nothing is deleted, and you are not locked out.
A refund. Apple refunds App Store purchases and Google refunds Google Play purchases. ForestVPN cannot do either, and cannot cancel a store subscription for you. Request the refund from Apple, through its Report a Problem page, or from Google, through Google Play help.
Still stuck
Write to support with a support code from Account → Get help, and say which store the purchase was in. Never send your account number: support does not need it. Support cannot charge, refund or cancel a store purchase.