The Push Notifications Console now includes metrics for notifications sent in production through the Apple Push Notification service (APNs). With the console’s intuitive interface, you’ll get an aggregated view of delivery statuses and insights into various statistics for notifications, including a detailed breakdown based on push type and priority.
Introduced at WWDC23, the Push Notifications Console makes it easy to send test notifications to Apple devices through APNs.
Learn more.
APNS
RSS for tagSend push notifications to Mac, iOS, iPadOS, tvOS devices through your app using the Apple Push Notifications service (APNs).
Posts under APNS tag
200 Posts
Selecting any option will automatically load the page
Post
Replies
Boosts
Views
Activity
Team-scoped keys introduce the ability to restrict your token authentication keys to either development or production environments. Topic-specific keys in addition to environment isolation allow you to associate each key with a specific Bundle ID streamlining key management.
For detailed instructions on accessing these features, read our updated documentation on establishing a token-based connection to APNs.
We are facing an issue: push notifications are not being received. We are using the Marketing Cloud SDK for push notifications.
On install, the app correctly registers for push notifications. We pass the required information to Marketing Cloud — for example, contact key, token, etc. Marketing Cloud also confirms that the configuration is set up, and we have tried sending push notifications with proper delivery settings.
The issue is that after some time, the device gets automatically opted out in the Marketing Cloud portal. When we consulted their team, they said this is caused by the “DeviceTokenNotForTopic” error received from APNs. I have verified the certificates and bundle ID from my end — everything looks correct.
Device: iPhone 15, iPhone 17
iOS: 18.7.2, 26.1
I’m building a firefighter app that needs to automatically check in a firefighter when they arrive at the station and check them out when they leave — even if the app is killed. We need reliable enter/exit detection, low latency, and only one fixed location per user.
We’re evaluating Region Monitoring, which works in the killed state but may introduce delays and inconsistent accuracy. To ensure mission-critical reliability, we are considering the Location Push Service Extension, since it can fetch precise location on demand and wake the extension even when the app is terminated.
Before requesting the restricted entitlement, we need clarification on Apple’s expectations:
Is Region Monitoring recommended for this fixed-location use case?
Would Apple consider approving the Location Push Service Extension for a public-safety workflow?
What prerequisites do we need before submitting the entitlement request (Always permission, prototype, privacy disclosures, etc.)?
What details should be included in the justification form?
Our goal is to follow the most reliable and Apple-approved approach for firefighter check-in/out. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
We are encountering the following issue with our VoIP application for iPhone, published on the App Store, and would appreciate your guidance on possible countermeasures.
The VoIP application (callee side) utilizes a Wi-Fi network. The sequence leading to the issue is as follows:
VoIP App (callee): Launches
iPhone (callee): Locks (e.g., by short-pressing the power button)
VoIP App (callee): Transitions to a suspended state
VoIP App (caller): Initiates a VoIP call
VoIP App (callee): Receives a local push notification
VoIP App (callee): Creates a UDP socket for call control (for SIP send/receive)
VoIP App (callee): Creates a UDP socket for audio stream (for RTP send/receive)
VoIP App (callee): Exchanges SIP messages (INVITE, 100 Trying, 180 Ringing, etc.) using the call control UDP socket
VoIP App (callee): Answers the incoming call
VoIP App (callee): Executes performAnswerCallAction()
Immediately after executing performAnswerCallAction() in the above sequence, the sendto() function for both the "UDP socket for call control (SIP send/receive)" and the "UDP socket for audio stream (RTP send/receive)" occasionally returns errno = 57 (ENOTCONN). (of course The VoIP app itself does not close the sockets in this timing)
Given that the user has performed an answer operation, the iPhone is in an active state, and the VoIP app is running, what could be the possible reasons why the sockets suddenly become unusable?
Could you please provide guidance on how to avoid such socket closures?
Our VoIP app uses SCNetworkReachabilitySetCallback to receive network change notifications, but no notifications regarding network changes were received at the time errno = 57 occurred.
Is it possible for sockets used by an application to be closed without any notification to the application itself?
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
Notifications
Tags:
APNS
User Notifications
PushKit
Push To Talk
:
Hello, I’m seeking clarification on whether Apple provides any framework or API that enables deep integration between Siri and advanced AI assistants (such as ChatGPT), including system-level functions like voice interaction, navigation, cross-platform syncing, and operational access similar to Siri’s own capabilities. If no such option exists today, I would appreciate guidance on the recommended path or approved third-party solutions for building a unified, voice-first experience across Apple’s ecosystem. Thank you for your time and insight.
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
Hardware
Tags:
Foundation
APNS
Design
App Tracking Transparency
Good morning,
We are implementing Live Activities in a push-to-start flow. We wrap the listener for push to start tokens in a high priority task:
if ptsListenerTask == nil || ptsListenerTask?.isCancelled == true {
ptsListenerTask = Task(priority: .high) { [weak self] in
for await pushToken in Activity<LiveAuctionAttributes>.pushToStartTokenUpdates {
//Send token to back-end
}
}
I've tried a few variations of this and they work well on most devices. I have seen a couple of devices that refuse to issue a push to start token.
The user will have logging for the init flow and starting the PTS listener then the logs just go silent, nothing happens.
One thing that seemed to work was getting the user to start a Live Activity manually (from our debugging tool) then the PTS token gets issued.
This is not very reliable and working a mock live activity into the flow for obtaining a PTS token is a poor solution.
Is anyone else seeing this and is there a known issue with obtaining PTS tokens?
Thanks!
Brad
Hi,
We recently updated our app icon, but the push notification icon has not been updated on some devices. It still shows the old icon on:
• iPhone 16 Pro — iOS 26
• iPhone 14 — iOS 26
• iPad Pro 11” (M4) — iOS 18.6.2
• iPhone 16 Plus — iOS 18.5
After restarting these devices, the push notification icon is refreshed and displays the new version correctly.
Could you advise how we can ensure the push notification icon updates properly on all affected devices without requiring users to restart?
Thank you.
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
Notifications
Tags:
APNS
Developer Tools
iOS
User Notifications
Hi, We recently updated our app icon, but the push notification icon has not been updated on some devices. It still shows the old icon on: • iPhone 16 Pro — iOS 26 • iPhone 14 — iOS 26 • iPad Pro 11” (M4) — iOS 18.6.2 • iPhone 16 Plus — iOS 18.5
After restarting these devices, the push notification icon is refreshed and displays the new version correctly.
Could you advise how we can ensure the push notification icon updates properly on all affected devices without requiring users to restart?
Thank you.
Since upgrading to Xcode 26 beta 4 and using the iOS 26 simulator for testing our app, we've stopped being able to receive device tokens for the simulator from the development APNS environment.
The APNS environment is able to return meta device information (e.g. model, type, manufacturer) but there are no device tokens present. When running the same app using the iOS 18.5 simulator, we are able to register the device with the same APNS environment and receive a valid device token.
We have an app in Swift that uses push notifications. It has a deployment target of iOS 15.0
I originally audited our app for iOS 26 by building it with Xcode 26 beta 3. At that point, all was well. Our implementation of application:didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken was called.
But when rebuilding the app with beta 4, 5 and now 6, that function is no longer being called.
I created a simple test case by creating a default iOS app project, then performing these additional steps:
Set bundle ID to our app's ID
Add the Push Notifications capability
Add in application:didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken: with a print("HERE") just to set a breakpoint.
Added the following code inside application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: along with setting a breakpoint on the registerForRemoteNotifications line:
UNUserNotificationCenter.current().requestAuthorization(options: [.badge, .alert, .sound]) { granted, _ in
DispatchQueue.main.async {
UIApplication.shared.registerForRemoteNotifications()
}
}
Building and running with Xcode 26 beta 6 (17A5305f) generates these two different outcomes based upon the OS running in the Simulator:
iPhone 16 Pro simulator running iOS 18.4 - both breakpoints are reached
iPhone 16 Pro simulator running iOS 26 - only the breakpoint on UIApplication.shared.registerForRemoteNotifications is reached.
Assuming this is a bug in iOS 26. Or, is there something additional we now need to do to get push notifications working?
Provisioning profiles created for my App ID are not including the Push Notifications capability, even though Push Notifications is enabled in the App ID configuration in Apple Developer Portal.
I have enabled Push Notifications for my App ID (com.abc.app) in the Apple Developer Portal. The capability shows as enabled and saved. However, when provisioning profiles are generated (either manually or through third-party tools like Expo Application Services), they do not include:
The Push Notifications capability
The aps-environment entitlement
This results in build failures with the following errors:
Provisioning profile "*[expo] com.abc.app AppStore [timestamp]" doesn't support the Push Notifications capability.
Provisioning profile "*[expo] com.abc.app AppStore [timestamp]" doesn't include the aps-environment entitlement.
Steps Taken
✅ Enabled Push Notifications in App ID configuration (com.mirova.app)
✅ Saved the App ID configuration multiple times
✅ Waited for Apple's systems to sync (waited 5-10 minutes)
✅ Removed and re-added Push Notifications capability (unchecked, saved, re-checked, saved)
✅ Created Push Notification key in Apple Developer Portal
✅ Verified Push Notifications is checked and saved in App ID
❌ Provisioning profiles still created without Push Notifications capability
Expected Behavior
When Push Notifications is enabled for an App ID, any provisioning profiles created for that App ID should automatically include:
Push Notifications capability
aps-environment entitlement (set to production or development)
Actual Behavior
Provisioning profiles are created without Push Notifications capability, even though:
Push Notifications is enabled in App ID
App ID configuration is saved
Sufficient time has passed for sync
Additional Information
Push Notification Key: Created and valid (Key ID: 3YKQ7XLG9L and 747G8W2J68)
Distribution Certificate: Valid and active
Provisioning Profile Type: App Store distribution
Third-party Tool: Using Expo Application Services (EAS) for builds, but issue persists with manually created profiles as well
Questions
Is there a delay or sync issue between enabling Push Notifications in App ID and it being available for provisioning profiles?
Are there any additional steps required to ensure Push Notifications is included in provisioning profiles?
Is there a known issue with Push Notifications capability not being included in provisioning profiles?
Should I create the provisioning profile in a specific way to ensure Push Notifications is included?
Environment
Platform: iOS
Build Type: App Store distribution
Xcode Version: (via EAS cloud build)
Thank you for your assistance. I've been unable to resolve this issue and would appreciate any guidance.
iOS Deployment Target: Latest
Is it possible for an iOS app to programmatically detect if its built for TestFlight/App Store distribution versus built for development?
The motivation for doing this is so that the app can detect if a push server should send pushes using the Apple production server or the sandbox server - when the app sends the push token to the server, I'd like it to additionally send an indicator to the server so the server knows which of the Apple servers to use.
Is there a way to achieve this?
TIA
(I truly appreciate all the responses you all have written for me :bow: )
I was under the assumption that for Live Activity, in order for you to be able to update the Activity, you need an update token. And for the OS to issue you the update token, user must hit the "Allow" from the lock screen.
However based on these screenshots it seems that you don't need to hit "Allow" to be able to update the Live Activity.
Live Activity was updated — even without the user hitting "Allow"
So now I'm wondering if:
Is hitting Allow required for the update token to get issued? Or that assumption is incorrect? In our tests (when connected to Proxyman, the OS emits the update token after user hits "Allow" / "Always Allow")
If you don't hit allow, are there alternate ways to update the Live Activity without having the update token?
I'm guessing you could set a short stale time and then when the OS launches the app in the background you query the server and then update the Live Activity. Is that a worthy approach?
I also noticed that the "The Philly Inquirer" App has 'Background App Refresh" enabled, but this happened in 2 minutes. In our architecture assessments, after reviewing Apple's docs on 'Background Processing", we didn't think of it as a viable option, because it can't guarantee if the OS is given time in the next 2 minutes or 10 hours later when the phone is getting charged again.
Are any of these workarounds viable or are there alternate approaches?
Our requirement is:
be able to use Live Activity between 2-72hrs after app install. (I mention this because perhaps Apple may impost some restrictions for new installs)
be able to update an active Live Activity within 1-2 minutes after it has began.
We are observing an issue where the iOS Notification Service Extension (NSE) is terminated by the system during startup, before either didReceive(_:withContentHandler:) or serviceExtensionTimeWillExpire(_:) is invoked. When this occurs, the notification is delivered without modification (for example, an encrypted payload is shown to the user). System logs frequently contain the message “Extension will be killed because it used its runtime in starting up”.
During testing, we observed that CPU-intensive operations or heavy initialization performed early in the extension lifecycle — especially inside init() or directly on the main thread in didReceive often cause the system to kill the NSE almost immediately. These terminations happen significantly earlier than the commonly observed ~30-second execution window where the OS normally invokes serviceExtensionTimeWillExpire(_:) before ending the extension. When these early terminations occur, there is no call to the expiry handler, and the process appears to be forcefully shut down.
Moving the same operations to a background thread changes the behavior: the extension eventually expires around the usual 30-second window, after which the OS calls serviceExtensionTimeWillExpire(_:).
We also observed that memory usage plays a role in early termination. During tests involving large memory allocations, the system consistently killed the extension
once memory consumption exceeded a certain threshold (in our measurements, this occurred around 150–180 MB). Again, unlike normal time-based expiration, the system did not call the expiry handler and no crash report was produced.
Since Apple’s documentation does not specify concrete CPU, memory, or startup-cost constraints for Notification Service Extensions or any other extensions beyond the general execution limit, we are seeking clarification and best-practice guidance on expected behaviors, particularly around initialization cost and the differences between startup termination.
NSE Setup:
class NotificationService: UNNotificationServiceExtension {
static var notificationContentHandler: ((UNNotificationContent) -> Void)?
static var notificationContent: UNMutableNotificationContent?
static var shoudLoop = true
override func didReceive(_ request: UNNotificationRequest,
withContentHandler contentHandler: @escaping (UNNotificationContent) -> Void) {
NotificationService.notificationContentHandler = contentHandler
NotificationService.notificationContent =
request.content.mutableCopy() as? UNMutableNotificationContent
NotificationService.notificationContent!.title = "Weekly meeting"
NotificationService.notificationContent!.body = "Updated inside didReceive"
// Failing scenarios
}
override func serviceExtensionTimeWillExpire() {
NotificationService.shoudLoop = false
guard let handler = NotificationService.notificationContentHandler,
let content = NotificationService.notificationContent else { return }
content.body = "Updated inside serviceExtensionTimeWillExpire()"
handler(content)
}
}
I’m testing remote push notifications on macOS, and although notifications are received and displayed correctly, my Notification Service Extension (NSE) never gets invoked.
The extension is properly added as a target in the same app, uses the UNNotificationServiceExtension class, and implements both didReceive(_:withContentHandler:) and serviceExtensionTimeWillExpire(). I’ve also set "mutable-content": 1 in the APNS payload, similar to how it works on iOS — where the same code correctly triggers the NSE. On macOS, however, there’s no sign that the extension process starts or the delegate methods are called.
import UserNotifications
class NotificationService: UNNotificationServiceExtension {
override func didReceive(_ request: UNNotificationRequest,
withContentHandler contentHandler: @escaping (UNNotificationContent) -> Void) {
let modified = (request.content.mutableCopy() as? UNMutableNotificationContent)
modified?.title = "[Modified] " + (modified?.title ?? "")
contentHandler(modified ?? request.content)
}
override func serviceExtensionTimeWillExpire() {
// Called if the extension times out before finishing
}
}
And the payload used for testing:
{
"aps": {
"alert": {
"title": "Meeting Reminder",
"body": "Join the weekly sync call"
},
"mutable-content": 1
},
"MEETING_ORGANIZER": "Alex Johnson"
}
Despite all correct setup steps, the NSE never triggers on macOS (while working fine on iOS).
Can anyone confirm whether UNNotificationServiceExtension is fully supported for remote notifications on macOS, or if additional configuration or entitlement is needed?
I'm specifically focused on Live Activity, but I think this is somewhat a general question. The app could get a few callbacks when:
There's a new payload (start, update, end)
There's a new token (start, update)
There's some other lifecycle event (stale, dismissed)
Assuming that the user didn't force kill the app, would the app get launched in all these scenarios?
When OS launches the app for a reason, should we wrap our tasks with beginBackgroundTask or that's unnecessary if we're expecting our tasks to finish within 30 seconds? Or the OS may sometimes be under stress and give you far less time (example 3 seconds) and if you're in slow internet, then adding beginBackgroundTask may actually come in handy?
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
Processes & Concurrency
Tags:
APNS
Background Tasks
ActivityKit
I am looking for advice for debugging a wallet pass not updating for some customers after successfully posting an APNS notification (pass identifier as topic, no expiration, priority 10).
Is there an exhaustive list of reasons for a wallet pass not updating or a guide for making sure updates happen reliably? Are there are any guarantees made as to when the pass is updated? We noticed it is either never updating or the update happens much later for some customers. Usually toggling "Automatic Updates" in Pass Details updates the pass immediately for affected customers.
Can it be caused by an error in the implementation of the Wallet Passes Web Service? We generate passes on the fly as a response to /v1/passes/{passTypeIdentifier}/{serialNumber}. I noticed that we also sometimes receive HEAD requests to this endpoint despite the documentation only mentioning the GET method. I was previously returning a HTTP status code 405 (Method Not Allowed). I have now updated it to also respond with headers (Content-Type, Content-Disposition and Last-Modified) for the pass for HEAD requests, but I don't know if it makes a difference.
Here is a list of issues on the customer side I was thinking of:
No connection to the internet
Low power mode (does it prevent or throttle updates?)
What happens if there is an error? Does it keep trying or does it just fail silently? In the latter case it might make sense to keep sending APNS notifications until the pass is requested successfully.
I know that you can use the PassKit framework in iOS apps to update (replace) passes. Would this be more reliable than a stand-alone Wallet pass?
We are observing an weird behaviour where a user uninstalled the app back in February (more than a month ago) but APNs is still accepting push notifications are returning success responses.
We know that using APNs response codes for uninstall tracking is not reliable and that Apple will use fuzzy schedule to invalidate tokens.
However, showing successful responses for month+ old tokens seems a bit misleading and results in wasted token processing for both us and Apple.
Could you please confirm that invalidation (or fuzzy schedule) could take more than months to invalidate tokens on the APNs side? Is that expected or is this a bug somewhere?
Having some discussion about when we should clear out a token from our servers.
Docs say:
Don’t retry notification responses with the error code BadDeviceToken, DeviceTokenNotForTopic, Forbidden, ExpiredToken, Unregistered, or PayloadTooLarge. You can retry with a delay, if you get the error code TooManyRequests.
The way I see it is that with the exception of PayloadTooLarge, all other errors means you should remove the token from your server. Either because:
The token is no longer good
The token is good, but this is just not the right:
environment (sandbox vs production)
topic (the token is from a different bundle id or developer team)
target (app vs live activity appex)
Do I have it right?
Extra context: when using the "JSON Web Token Validator" tool, a colleague reported that a 410 -Expired token (from couple days back) was still valid today. This raises questions about when tokens should actually be deleted and how these error codes should be interpreted.
Also is it possible for the docs to get updated for us to explicitly know if a token should get removed and not leave it for interpretation?
Hi everyone,
I'm developing a custom Apple Wallet pass using a Django backend and exposing my local server through ngrok during development. For the first ~30 minutes, everything works exactly as expected: the pass registers correctly, silent push notifications trigger instant updates, Wallet immediately performs the GET request to fetch the new .pkpass, and the changeMessage displays almost instantly on the lock screen.
At some point, however, the pass stops updating entirely. Apple APNs continues to return 200 OK for every silent push I send, but the device never performs the required GET /v1/passes// call to download the updated pass. As a result, even the internal content of the pass (ex: points/balance fields) no longer updates, which confirms that Wallet is not fetching the new .pkpass at all. No changeMessage appears either.
This behavior has been described informally by other developers as Apple Wallet Pass Update Throttling, where the Wallet daemon begins ignoring silent pushes after repeated updates or certain internal conditions. I’m trying to confirm whether this is indeed throttling, what triggers it, and how to avoid it during development.
I'm experiencing a critical regression on iOS 26 with a Notification Content Extension. extensionContext.open(uri) fails to open external URLs with LSApplicationWorkspaceErrorDomain Code=115 under specific conditions.
Problem:
When the main app is killed, and a rich push notification is received and expanded, tapping a button (specifically one with a transparent background, cornerRadius=0, clipsToBounds=false) fails to open its associated URL.
Key Details:
iOS 26 Only: Works perfectly on iOS 17, 18, etc.
App Killed State Only: Works if the app is running (foreground/background).
Works on Subsequent Notifications: The link will open if a second notification is received.
LSApplicationQueriesSchemes: Confirmed to be correctly configured in the main app's Info.plist and present in the app bundle.
Delay No Help: Adding a 1s delay before open(uri) does not fix it.
My os_log statements confirm the button tap