Fix/632 show generic error to customers when invalid keys (#4536)

* Update Invalid API key error message during checkout

Author: diegocurbelo

changelog.txt

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 * Fix - 3DS authentication modal not shown when using Google Pay
 * Update - Improve Stripe API connector logging to include request/response context
 * Fix - Require credit cards to be enabled before Apple Pay and Google Pay can be enabled in PMC
+* Tweak - Update checkout error message for invalid API key to be more generic and user-friendly
 
 = 9.7.1 - 2025-07-28 =
 * Add - Add state mapping for Lithuania in express checkout

includes/payment-methods/class-wc-stripe-upe-payment-gateway.php

@@ -1283,6 +1283,13 @@ private function handle_process_payment_error( WC_Stripe_Exception $e, $order )
 			$e->getLocalizedMessage()
 		);
 
+		// If the error message is 'Invalid API Key...', we want to show a more generic error message,
+		// as the user won't be able to do anything about it.
+		// The log and the order note will still show the full error message for debugging purposes.
+		if ( 0 === strpos( $e->getLocalizedMessage(), 'Invalid API Key' ) ) {
+			$error_message = __( "We're not able to process this payment. This may be an error on our side. Please contact us if you need any help placing your order.", 'woocommerce-gateway-stripe' );
+		}
+
 		wc_add_notice( $error_message, 'error' );
 
 		WC_Stripe_Logger::log( 'Error: ' . $e->getMessage() );

readme.txt

@@ -125,5 +125,7 @@ If you get stuck, you can ask for help in the [Plugin Forum](https://wordpress.o
 * Fix - 3DS authentication modal not shown when using Google Pay
 * Update - Improve Stripe API connector logging to include request/response context
 * Fix - Require credit cards to be enabled before Apple Pay and Google Pay can be enabled in PMC
+* Tweak - Update checkout error message for invalid API key to be more generic and user-friendly
+
 
 [See changelog for full details across versions](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/woocommerce/woocommerce-gateway-stripe/trunk/changelog.txt).