Google Play Store SubscriptionPurchase.Get API response clarification

Question

I am looking at this document from Google Developer API for Subscription Purchases response the link below:

https://developers.google.com/android-publisher/api-ref/purchases/subscriptions#methods

Specifically, for the field linkedPurchaseToken, two scenarios are mentioned:

1. Re-signup of a canceled but non-lapsed subscription
2. Upgrade/downgrade from a previous subscription

I am not sure when does the scenario #1 occur. Tried purchasing, canceling and restoring (while not-lapsed) an auto-renewable subscription, but I did not get a linkedPurchaseToken in the response after the restore.

Here are the responses in the three cases:

After Purchase:

{
    "kind": "androidpublisher#subscriptionPurchase",
    "startTimeMillis": "1573546099994",
    "expiryTimeMillis": "1573548136296",
    "autoRenewing": true,
    "priceCurrencyCode": "INR",
    "priceAmountMicros": "85000000",
    "countryCode": "IN",
    "developerPayload": "",
    "paymentState": 1,
    "orderId": "GPA.3359-7048-7648-05268",
    "purchaseType": 0,
    "acknowledgementState": 1
}

After cancellation:

{
    "kind": "androidpublisher#subscriptionPurchase",
    "startTimeMillis": "1573546099994",
    "expiryTimeMillis": "1573548016296",
    "autoRenewing": false,
    "priceCurrencyCode": "INR",
    "priceAmountMicros": "85000000",
    "countryCode": "IN",
    "developerPayload": "",
    "paymentState": 1,
    "cancelReason": 0,
    "userCancellationTimeMillis": "1573546553870",
    "cancelSurveyResult": {
        "cancelSurveyReason": 0
    },
    "orderId": "GPA.3359-7048-7648-05268",
    "purchaseType": 0,
    "acknowledgementState": 1
}

After restoring:

{
    "kind": "androidpublisher#subscriptionPurchase",
    "startTimeMillis": "1573546099994",
    "expiryTimeMillis": "1573548136296",
    "autoRenewing": true,
    "priceCurrencyCode": "INR",
    "priceAmountMicros": "85000000",
    "countryCode": "IN",
    "developerPayload": "",
    "paymentState": 1,
    "orderId": "GPA.3359-7048-7648-05268",
    "purchaseType": 0,
    "acknowledgementState": 1
}

Is there a clue in what situation I should get the linkedPurchaseToken for #1 scenario?

Answer 1

Re-signup of a canceled but non-lapsed subscription:

Once the subscription is cancelled from Play Store->Subscriptions, you can Resubscribe/Re-signup in two ways-

1) Resubscribe from within the app - Purchase token is different, Developer API for Subscription Purchases will give response with linkedPurchaseToken present.

You can allow users to resubscribe within your app by applying the same in-app product purchase flow as with a cancelled subscription by using the same product ID. as mentioned here.

2) Restore from play store - will be restored as it is. Purchase token is same in this case, hence you will get no linkedPurchaseToken in this case.