Google debuted its brand new Purchase Status API today, pitching the product to developers looking for a way to remotely verify their app's in-app purchases through Google Play. It's a backend product that enables the remote query of the status of a specific in-app product or subscription, and it supports cancelling said subscription, if desired. It should also be noted that a unique purchase token is required to make the call, and that token is only given to the device. The API itself is built using HTTP and JSON, so any standard web stack can communicate with it. In short, this is a good API for verifying and following up on a purchase after it has been made.

Google has provided a full overview for anyone who may be interested. Developers can get started by setting up a project in the Google APIs Console and getting a Client ID and shared secret to present when calling the API. These calls will be authenticated using OAuth 2.0.

This update has less of an impact on end users than the last. The most you can take from this is the warm reassurance that in-app purchases are not going away any time soon. There's nothing else to see here.

Source: Android Developers