App Store Connect — your one-sitting session

A1 — Paid Applications Agreement GATES EVERYTHING

Nothing IAP works — not even sandbox test purchases — until this shows Active. StoreKit returns an empty product list until then.

1. App Store Connect → Business (older guides call it "Agreements, Tax, and Banking").
2. Under Agreements, find Paid Applications → View and Agree to Terms. Read, tick, accept.
3. Status becomes "Pending — add banking and tax info". That is expected; A2 clears it.

A2 — Banking and tax WAIT: hours–48h

1. Bank account: the account that receives Apple payouts. You need: bank name, IBAN, SWIFT/BIC, account-holder name exactly as the bank has it. UAE accounts are fine.
2. Tax forms: the U.S. W-8BEN — a short digital questionnaire inside ASC, not a paper form. "No U.S. activities" is the normal path. Complete only what ASC marks required.
3. Contacts: senior / financial / technical / legal — you for all of them is fine.

A3 — Small Business Program 15% NOT 30%

Free, ~5 minutes, no downside at our scale.

1. Go to the SBP page → Enroll (as Account Holder).
2. You confirm: latest Paid Apps Agreement accepted (A1) · Associated Developer Accounts: none · prior-year proceeds under US$1M (new accounts qualify automatically).

The 15% rate starts 15 days after the end of the Apple fiscal month in which approval lands — enrolling now, before launch, makes that lag irrelevant. ($1M is measured in proceeds ≈ $1.18M gross; crossing it mid-year puts the remainder of that year at 30%.)

A4 — Server notifications + API key

1. Notifications URL: ASC → Apps → ELA → General → App Information → App Store Server Notifications → set Production URL https://api.ela.now/webhooks/appstore and the staging URL as Sandbox, version 2. (I can do this step if you prefer — say so.)
2. In-App Purchase API key: ASC → Users and Access → Integrations → In-App Purchase → generate a key. Download the .p8 ONCE (it can never be re-downloaded), note the Key ID and Issuer ID, and hand all three to me over a secure channel — it goes root-only on the VPS like the APNs key.

A5 — Sandbox test account 5 MIN

ASC → Users and Access → Sandbox → Test Accounts → +. One tester, fresh email alias (e.g. stevan+elasandbox1@…), region United Arab Emirates (so sandbox prices render in AED). Never sign a real device's main Apple ID into it — it is entered only when a StoreKit sandbox sheet prompts.

A6 — Subscription group + the three products

ASC → Apps → ELA → Monetization → Subscriptions.

Create the group

• Reference Name (internal): ELA Essential Membership
• Add an English group localization: Display Name ELA Membership (what members see in iOS Settings → Subscriptions). App Name Display Option: "Use App Name".

Create the three products (repeat ×3 — Product IDs are IMMUTABLE, type exactly)

Copy law: every tier gets the full firm response — never write "notification-only" or imply weekly is lesser.

Per-product settings

• Family Sharing: OFF for all three (entitlement-security law — and Apple never lets you turn it off once on).
• Tax category: leave the default unless the accountant says otherwise.
• Availability: all countries and regions — Dubai expats keep UK/US/IN/PH Apple IDs; restricting to UAE refuses real customers. KYC in our onboarding stays the territory gate.
• Pricing: base storefront United Arab Emirates (AED), enter the price, let ASC auto-generate the other 174 storefronts, then review Saudi / Qatar / UK / US against the matrix below. If the picker doesn't offer the exact value, pick the nearest and tell me the final numbers.
• Review Information: leave blank today (needed for submission, not sandbox). P5 uploads a real paywall screenshot + review notes.

Ranking

Put all three at the SAME level (level 1). Same service, different durations → interval switches take effect at the next renewal, no proration — exactly your ruling. (Different levels would fire immediate prorated refunds — noise we don't want.)

Billing Grace Period

On the Subscriptions page, Set Up Billing Grace Period: duration 16 days (Apple auto-caps weekly at 6) · All Renewals · Production and Sandbox.

Tell engineering

Send me: the agreement's Active date · the final confirmed price points per storefront (if any differed from the tables) · the .p8 key trio (A4). Sandbox drills start the moment the agreement is Active and the products exist.