I’ve found several installations of our app from Shopify staff that are creating test recurring subscriptions. Our app offers a free trial period followed by paid plans (no free plan available). These test subscriptions are never charged and don’t expire, giving the staff permanent access to our app. This isn’t something we allow on our production app to anyone else.
What is the requirement for us to support these installations? I have disabled these accounts as they mostly seem dormant or unused, but wondering if there is any requirement to allow them access. They do not appear to be part of app review/testing.
One potential reason is that this is the Shopify App Audit team running a routine test to make sure your app is functional and is meeting the Shopify App Store requirements and ToS.
Or potentially their sales team that is evaluating apps to recommend to high value merchants that have a services plan with Shopify.
Is it fair that Shopify can override pricing without consent? Possibly. I can see that.
Based on the user’s name and their role at Shopify the ones I’ve seen are mostly the latter. My question is more what my requirement is to support them long term?
Am I required to allow access forever? Can I switch them off after 90 days for example?
Just confirming that there isn’t a requirement to provide permanent access to inactive Shopify staff/test installs indefinitely. The main thing is that your app remains reviewable and functional for App Review/App Excellence checks when those are happening, and that any review/testing credentials you provide stay valid.
Like Luke (@Dylan!) mentioned, it’s also possible that our sales teams are demoing your app as a solution to merchants as a recommendation, so that can be a benefit as well.
If these credentials aren’t part of an active review or quality check though, I would say that it’s reasonable to handle them under your normal inactive/test-account policy, such as disabling access after a set period. I’d just make sure your team can re-enable access or provide fresh testing access if Shopify reaches out through the normal review/quality-check process.
Thanks for the confirmation @Alan_G, we’ll ensure there is a process built around these going forward to give access for a set period and the staff can always reach out for extended access.
