Refund defense for Google Play.
Google Play lets you contest exactly one kind of refund: a chargeback under review. Refund Sensor connects to Google Play's real-time notifications, catches every chargeback the moment it opens and submits a decline recommendation inside Google's window, and tracks all other refunds and voided purchases with the same dashboards and analytics as the App Store.
- Real-time notifications
- No code changes
- Free to start
From chargeback signal to defended revenue
On Google Play, only chargebacks are yours to contest
On the App Store, Apple asks for your input with a consumption request on ordinary refund requests. Google Play is different: it opens a review, and asks for your recommendation, only when a customer disputes the charge with their payment provider. That review closes in about 24 hours. Every other refund and voided purchase is decided without you and shows up only after the money and the entitlement are gone.
Refund Sensor closes both gaps. It never misses that 24-hour window, and it keeps a record of the refunds Google decides on its own, which is the part most teams have no visibility into at all, so you can finally see where Android revenue is going and which products it leaks from.
Everything you need for Android chargeback defense
Real-time developer notifications
We wire up and verify Google Play RTDN over Pub/Sub, so refund and lifecycle events reach you within seconds instead of after the fact.
Voided purchase tracking
Every voided or refunded purchase is captured and reconciled against the order, so silent background refunds no longer slip past you. Google decides these on its own, so they are recorded rather than contested.
Chargeback review defense
When a chargeback goes under review, we submit a decline recommendation with delivery and consumption evidence through Google's Play Developer API, inside Google's roughly 24-hour window.
One dashboard for both stores
Google Play cases sit alongside your App Store cases with the same timelines, success-rate analytics, and revenue-protected reporting.
No code changes
Everything runs through Play Console and Google's APIs. There is nothing to add to your app and no release to resubmit.
Encrypted, least-privilege access
We use a scoped OAuth token to read financial data and manage orders. No user personal data is collected, and secrets are encrypted at rest.
What you need before you start
Play Console access
Under the same Google account you connect with.
Two account permissions
"View financial data" and "Manage orders and subscriptions".
A Google Cloud project
Somewhere for your Pub/Sub topic to live. We do the rest.
From connect to first defended chargeback
Sign in, grant two permissions, and Refund Sensor takes it from there.
- 1
Continue with Google
From the connect wizard, choose Google Play and sign in with Google. Grant the requested scopes, and we keep an encrypted OAuth refresh token, so there is no service-account JSON to download or rotate.
- 2
Grant Play Console permissions
In Play Console, open Users & permissions and give the connected account the two permissions above for this app.
- 3
Let us provision real-time notifications
Refund Sensor creates the Pub/Sub topic and push subscription in your Google Cloud project, grants Google Play the publisher role, and registers it as the app's notification endpoint. There is nothing to paste into Play Console.
- 4
Wait for the first refund event
Google has no test button, so the app shows "Awaiting first refund event" until a real one arrives. If auto setup ever fails, the app card tells you exactly which permission is missing.
- 5
Chargebacks start defending automatically
From then on, every chargeback review is answered with a decline recommendation backed by delivery and engagement evidence, and every other refund or voided purchase is tracked in your dashboard.
Google Play refund questions
Only chargebacks. Google Play opens a refund review, and asks for your recommendation, when a customer disputes a charge with their payment provider. Every other Google Play refund, including user-requested refunds and developer-issued refunds, is decided by Google without your input, so Refund Sensor records those for reporting rather than contesting them. Apple is different: Apple asks for your input on ordinary refund requests too.
It depends on your mix. Chargebacks are usually a small share of refunds but a large share of lost revenue, because disputed orders skew high value. Your dashboard splits contested from uncontested from day one, so you can size it against your own numbers rather than someone else's benchmark.
No. We work from the order, product, and financial details Google provides, plus delivery and engagement signals. We do not collect your users' personal data, and secrets are encrypted at rest.
In real time, as the notification arrives. Google leaves roughly 24 hours on a chargeback review, and one left unanswered is decided without your input. Because Refund Sensor replies automatically, that answer never depends on someone being awake, at a desk, or back from the weekend.
No. Everything happens server to server between Refund Sensor and Google. Your app is untouched, nothing new appears in the purchase flow, and the customer simply sees Google's decision the way they always have.
Defend your Google Play revenue
Connect your app and start answering Android chargebacks in real time. Free to start, no credit card, no code changes.