Glossary

Entitlement

A server-side record of what a user is allowed to access because of a verified purchase — the single source of truth for feature gating.

Definition

An entitlement is a normalized, server-side record that answers one question: "Does this user have access to this feature?" It decouples the store's purchase model (one-time, subscription, consumable) from your app's feature-gating logic. When your backend verifies a Google Play purchase token or an Apple JWS transaction, it stores the result as an entitlement — usually with a state (active, expired, grace period) and an expiry date.

Entitlements are the foundation of server-side purchase verification. Instead of trusting the client to report whether a user paid, your backend checks the entitlement record on every gated request. This eliminates class of attacks where a modified client fakes a "verified" response.

Examples

Related terms

Server-side receipt validation

Entitlements are the output of server-side validation — the proof that a purchase is real.

Purchase token

The raw credential that gets verified to produce an entitlement record.

Paywall

The UI that starts the purchase flow which ultimately creates an entitlement.

Entitlements in one REST call

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