POS enrollment

Appfox Subscriptions includes a native POS UI extension that allows staff to enroll customers in subscription selling plans directly at the register. This feature works with Shopify POS 10.15 or later and requires Shopify Payments.

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Requirements

Before you can enroll customers in subscriptions at the register, make sure you meet these requirements:

• Shopify POS 10.15 or later — Older POS versions cannot display or use the Subscriptions tile
• Shopify Payments enabled — Selling plans at checkout require Shopify Payments as the payment processor
• Products published to POS channel — Subscription plans must be attached to products that are published to the Shopify POS sales channel
• Appfox Subscriptions installed — The merchant must have installed and configured Appfox Subscriptions in the Shopify admin
• Active subscription plans — You must have at least one active subscription plan with products attached

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How it works

When staff add products to the cart in Shopify POS:

1. Products with available subscription selling plans show the Subscriptions tile as enabled on the smart grid
2. Tapping the tile opens a modal showing all subscription-eligible items in the cart
3. Staff select a subscription plan for each item or remove a previously applied plan
4. When the customer completes checkout with Shopify Payments, the subscription contract is created

The subscription contract is managed the same way as online subscriptions — billing, dunning, customer portal access, and contract management all work identically.

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Setup: Add the Subscriptions tile to POS

After installing Appfox Subscriptions, you must add the Subscriptions tile to your POS smart grid: The tile will now appear in your POS smart grid when viewing the cart.

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Tile states

The Subscriptions tile displays different states based on cart contents:

• Disabled (grayed out): “No subscription items” — The cart is empty or contains no products with subscription plans
• Enabled (active): “Subscriptions available” — At least one item in the cart has available subscription plans

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Staff checkout workflow

Once the tile is added, staff can enroll customers at the register:

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What happens after checkout

When the transaction completes:

1. The subscription contract is created in Appfox Subscriptions
2. The customer receives an order confirmation email
3. The customer receives a subscription welcome email (if enabled in Emails settings)
4. The subscription appears in the Subscriptions dashboard
5. The customer can manage their subscription through the customer portal

Subscriptions created at the POS register are managed the same way as online subscriptions. You can view, pause, resume, edit, and cancel them from the Appfox dashboard.

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Limitations

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Subscription-only products

Shopify POS does not support products that require a selling plan. Customers at the register can always choose to buy a product as a one-time purchase, even if you’ve configured it as subscription-only online.

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Plan category

Only selling plans marked as SUBSCRIPTION category are shown in the POS modal. PRE_ORDER and TRY_BEFORE_YOU_BUY plans are not supported at the register.

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Payment processor

Subscription enrollment at the register requires Shopify Payments. Third-party payment gateways cannot process selling plans in POS. This is a Shopify platform requirement.

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Discounts

Subscription discounts configured in your selling plans apply normally at the register. The discounted price is shown in the POS cart after a plan is applied.

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Troubleshooting

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The Subscriptions tile is missing

• Make sure you added the tile to the smart grid (see setup steps above)
• Verify that Appfox Subscriptions is installed in your Shopify admin
• Restart the POS app and check again

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The tile is grayed out (disabled)

The tile shows “No subscription items” when:

• The cart is empty
• The cart contains products with no active subscription plans
• The products in the cart are not published to the POS sales channel

How to fix:

1. Check that your subscription plans are active in Plans
2. Verify that the products are published to the Point of Sale sales channel (in Shopify admin → Products → [product] → Sales channels)
3. Add a subscription-eligible product to the cart

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Subscription plans don’t appear in the modal

• Confirm the products have subscription plans attached in Plans
• Ensure the plans are active (not paused or archived)
• Verify the plan type is SUBSCRIPTION (not PRE_ORDER or TRY_BEFORE_YOU_BUY)

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Checkout fails with a subscription applied

• Verify Shopify Payments is enabled and working
• Check that the customer’s payment method is valid
• Remove the subscription and complete as a one-time purchase if needed

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Customer can’t find their subscription after purchase

• Direct the customer to log into their customer account on your store
• They can click Manage Subscriptions to view and manage their subscription
• If the customer account extension is not enabled, see Add Manage Subscriptions

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Custom POS and third-party systems

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Third-party POS systems

Third-party POS systems and custom POS extensions cannot create subscriptions through the Appfox Subscriptions API. Subscription enrollment at the register is only available through the native Shopify POS tile.

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Managing existing contracts via API

Custom POS backends and third-party systems can still use the Appfox Subscriptions External API to:

• Look up existing subscription contracts
• Pause and resume subscriptions
• Cancel subscriptions
• Update contract details

The API is server-to-server and is included for every store while Appfox Subscriptions is free. See API documentation for details.

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Need help? Contact support@getappfox.com.