Send push notifications to Mac, iOS, iPadOS, tvOS devices through your app using the Apple Push Notifications service (APNs).

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Push notifications on the iPhone simulator
I've been aware for some time that Push notifications work on the iOS simulator now -- I see them pop up while I'm working. However, it would seem that SILENT push notifications do not work. I came to this conclusion only after several frustrating hours of debugging my app, thinking either the app was broken or the server wasn't sending the notification. Finally I tested it on a device and found that it actually works fine. Why does such a limitation exist? If I can't depend on the simulator to handle ALL of the notifications, I'd rather it didn't work at all. Having it work part of the time on some notifications is really confusing.
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106
Jul ’25
How to automatically set the `timestamp` field for Live Activity updates events?
I know for start events, sending the timestamp isn't required. So that's easy. However when I'm testing Live Activity using the Apple Push Notification Console. A lot of times I just need to copy/paste the payload and resend it again. But then the timestamp field needs to get updated each time, because if it's from a time in the past, then it won't trigger. This requires me to have to use an EPOCH converter to find the right time and then copy/paste it. Is there a better solution to this? I know I can use curl, but that is not in the scope of my question.
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58
Jul ’25
Device token not being extracted - iOS app registered for push notifications but callback methods not called
Background: The project was created in Xcode 5, then recreated in new Xcode. Before migration, push notifications worked without issues, after migration device token stopped being extracted. Problem: iOS app registers for push notifications, but didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken or didFailToRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithError methods are not being called. Current situation: App is registered for push notifications (isRegisteredForRemoteNotifications = true) Notification permissions are granted Entitlements are configured correctly (aps-environment: development) Bundle ID: com.autoserviceonline.app Team: BUSINESSVISION COMPANY, TOO (NS3FSG45V7) But callback methods are not being called What I've already tried: Deleted and recreated all App IDs in Apple Developer Portal Cleared Xcode cache and derived data Created new APNs certificates and provisioning profiles Removed "ghost" certificate from Keychain Access Problem persists Additional information: Also noticed that Push Notifications Console opens non-existent project "BV.TestSwiftData" with Personal Team instead of current corporate App ID com.autoserviceonline.app. These issues might be related to project migration from old Xcode. Request: Why iOS doesn't call callback methods for device token, although registration was successful?
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47
Jul ’25
Need inputs on how to start Live activity at a specified date/time in future
Hello forum, Hope you all are doing great! We’ve implemented Live Activities in our iOS app to display live soccer scores on the lock screen. The feature generally works as expected when the app is in backgroun or app is invoked when the push is sent. However, we’re observing an issue affecting approximately 20–30% of users where the Live Activity starts successfully but no subsequent score or commentary updates are received. Upon investigation, it appears the OS is not waking the app when the Live Activity starts. This wake-up is critical for syncing the activity token with backend service we use, which is required for delivering updates. Key Points: Starting a Live Activity does not require the app to be invoked since we start with Push token However, for updates to be delivered, the app must be woken at the start to send the latest pushh token to Backend. In affected cases, even manually sending a background push does not wake the app—it remains terminated until manually opened by the user. We’d like to understand is there any other way to deliver start and updates from backend at later point when user mark a team/match favorite. Core requirement is that user need not to open the app except when marking the team as favorite. Apps like FotMob, MLB, Chrome browser doing same when team is marked as favorite and subscribed for live activities and I observed they are getting updates properly most of the times
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149
Jul ’25
Clarification on Timing for Critical Alerts Approval in iOS
We are currently planning the development of an iOS healthcare application that will require the use of Critical Alerts. I understand that these notifications bypass Do Not Disturb and Silent mode, and therefore require special entitlement from Apple. We understand that Critical Alerts require a special entitlement from Apple. Could you please clarify: Do we need to request and obtain Apple’s approval for Critical Alerts before we begin development of the app? Or can we apply for this entitlement after we have a working build or prototype ready? We want to ensure compliance and streamline our development process, so any guidance on the appropriate timing for the entitlement request would be greatly appreciated.
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54
Jul ’25
Live Activity "Push to Start" is received but UI never appears (Silent Crash)
Hello everyone, I'm implementing the "Push to Start" feature for Live Activities, and I've run into an issue where the activity seems to be processed by the system but never appears on the Lock Screen or in the Dynamic Island. I suspect there's a silent crash happening in my widget extension immediately after launch, but I'm unable to capture any logs or crash reports in the Xcode debugger. Here is the flow and all the relevant data: 1. The Process My app successfully requests a pushToStartToken using Activity<EJourneyLiveActivityAttributes>.pushToStartTokenUpdates The token is sent to our server. The server uses this token to send a "start" event APNs push notification. The device console logs (from liveactivitiesd) show that the push is received and the system is "Publishing event". Expected Result: The Live Activity UI appears on the device. Actual Result: Nothing appears. The UI is completely absent. 2. Device Console Logs Here are the logs from the device console, which indicate a successful receipt of the push: pushServer default 12:08:22.716353+0200 liveactivitiesd Received push event for com.wavepointer.ejourney.staging::pushToStart pushServer default 12:08:22.716818+0200 liveactivitiesd Reduced budget for com.wavepointer.ejourney.staging::pushToStart to: 7 pushServer default 12:08:22.723458+0200 liveactivitiesd Publishing event: timestamp: 2025-07-24 08:57:19 +0000; activityIdentifier: 53C3EE9D-623C-4F38-93AE-8BB807429DAA; eventType: start(...) 3. APNs Payload This is the exact payload being sent from our server: { "aps": { "event": "start", "timestamp": 1753347375, "attributes-type": "EJourneyLiveActivityAttributes", "attributes": { "journeyId": "test123453" }, "content-state": { "distanceInMeters": 1000, "depTime": 1752745104, "arrTime": 1752748704, "depStop": "Arth, Am See", "arrStop": "Oberarth, Bifang", "depZone": "571", "arrZone": "566", "co2Save": 5.0, "co2SavePerc": 44, "companyName": "WP Innovation", "countryCode": "CH", "categoryId": 5, "subcategoryId": 3, "stationStartAssoc": "Assoc1", "stationEndAssoc": "Assoc2" } } } 4. ActivityAttributes Struct To prevent decoding errors, I have made all properties in my ContentState optional and added a custom decoder. @available(iOS 16.1, *) struct EJourneyLiveActivityAttributes: ActivityAttributes, Hashable { public struct ContentState: Codable, Hashable { var distanceInMeters: Int = 0 var depTime: Int = 1752843769 var arrTime: Int = 1752843769 var depStop: String = "" var arrStop: String = "" var depZone: String = "" var arrZone: String = "" var co2Save: Double? var co2SavePerc: Int = 0 var companyName: String = "Test" var countryCode: String = "CH" var categoryId: Int = 3 var subcategoryId: Int = 4 var stationStartAssoc: String? var stationEndAssoc: String? } var journeyId: String? } What I've Tried I have carefully checked that my Codable struct matches the JSON payload. I've made all properties optional to avoid crashes from missing keys. I have tried attaching the Xcode debugger to the widget extension process (Debug -> Attach to Process...) before sending the push, but no logs, errors, or crash reports appear in the Xcode console. The process seems to terminate before it can log anything. My question is: What could cause the widget extension to fail so early that it doesn't even produce a crash log in the attached debugger? Are there other methods to debug this kind of silent failure? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
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Jul ’25
APNs Returning 200 OK for Uninstalled Apps
We're experiencing an issue with Apple Push Notification service where APNs continues to return 200 OK responses for device tokens belonging to uninstalled applications. Issue Details: When sending push notifications to device tokens, APNs returns 200 OK responses even for devices where our app was uninstalled more than a month ago Thanks in advanced for support
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99
Jul ’25
iOS App not able to get VoIP push notification when device is powered on, After opening App VoIP push receiving
When User restarted iOS device, after powering on iOS App is not able to get VoIP push notification. If user opens App, immediate VoIP push receiving. In Normal (App Kill or Background state) everything works as expected. Issue is when device is powered on and immediately( In 1-2 mins) try to call on device. We are using delegate to show Call to User public func pushRegistry(_ registry: PKPushRegistry, didReceiveIncomingPushWith payload: PKPushPayload, for type: PKPushType, completion: @escaping () -> Void)
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Jul ’25
iOS 18 Sending Duplicate Push Notifications
When sending a single push notification to iOS 18 devices users receive the same notification multiple times. This issue appears specific to iOS 18 and was not observed in previous iOS versions Our server logs confirm each notification is sent only once. Notification payloads include proper apns-id values for identification and no network issues detected on our side
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52
Jul ’25
Notifications not working
I’m receiving notifications from all third-party apps that I use however, most of the time there is no sound or haptics with the notification. In some cases, very seldomly I will receive a sound when a notification comes in, but that’s only with one of the many third-party apps that I use. I’ve spoken to Apple about this when this whole problem started during an update that you guys rolled out sometime between September and November 2024. They blamed it on the app programmers but I think at this point we all know that it’s Apple’s inability to accept that the problem is on their end. I never had problems receiving notifications from any of the apps prior to that. I guess my question is will Apple ever fix this or are they going to sweep it under the rug and pretend like it doesn’t exist?
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226
Jul ’25
APNs Returning 200 OK for Uninstalled Apps Instead of 410 Error
We're experiencing an issue with Apple Push Notification service where APNs continues to return 200 OK responses for device tokens belonging to uninstalled applications. Issue Details: When sending push notifications to device tokens. APNs returns 200 OK responses even for devices where our app was uninstalled more than a month ago According to documentation(https://developer.apple.com/documentation/usernotifications/handling-notification-responses-from-apns), APNs should return 410 status code with JSON body for invalid tokens Expected Behavior: APNs should return 410 status code when device token is no longer valid (app uninstalled) Thanks in advanced for support
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Jul ’25
Provisioning Profile Missing Push Notification Entitlement (com.apple.developer.push-notifications) Despite Being Enabled
I'm running into an issue during the iOS build process for my app, and I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction. ❗ The Problem When attempting to archive the app via EAS Build (Expo), the build fails with the following error: `Provisioning profile "HCF_AppStore_ProvisioningProfile" doesn't include the com.apple.developer.push-notifications entitlement. Profile qualification is using entitlement definitions that may be out of date. Connect to network to update.` What I’ve Already Done: Enabled Push Notifications capability for the App ID (com.rsmco.helpcreatefamilies) in the Apple Developer portal. Deleted and regenerated the App Store Provisioning Profile after enabling the capability. Confirmed the new profile is associated with the correct App ID and Distribution Certificate. Uploaded the new profile to EAS (Expo) and rebuilt the app. Yet the error persists during the Xcode archive step with Exit code 65. Additional Info: Provisioning Profile Name: HCF_AppStore_ProvisioningProfile App ID: com.rsmco.helpcreatefamilies Team: Reproductive Sciences Management Company, LLC Workflow: Expo EAS Build Capability causing issue: com.apple.developer.push-notifications
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Jul ’25
Critical Notifications
Hey Together, I have seen that critical notifications need to be confirmed by apple to be used. Sadly I couldn't figure out where to ask for that. Context: I have a sports tournament app for Beach Handball. There are a couple of Courts like up to 20-25. The main use for that in my app would be to notify first aiders/Medics. Right now they are called in via Speakers or by the referees just writing that into a WhatsApp chat. As this takes a long time and the speakers can be deactivated due to rain, power shortage or even the medics sometimes are not in range to exactly hear the speakers calling them. To Speed up this process I want them to download the App, Register via an E-Mail or a One Time Code. Now if a referee needs immediate Help from the Medics on their court they can send the Critical alert to the Medics without having to write a chat into a WhatsApp group, to get a call through the speakers 10 minutes later which the medics may not even hear. A couple of weeks ago we had a player falling on her back/neck/head and they couldn't figure out if she broke her neck or not. Luckily the medics were right next to the court and saw that. but what would happen if they were a couple hundred of meters away and did not notice that? I mean the PA system was off due to a power shortage. someone trying to move her? Risking her death? And while we are at it we could add those notifications if a team is missing to a court for a game that already should've started. Critical because it is urgent. Those notifications are handled with care.
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Jul ’25
[iOS 26 beta] Unexpected Behavior: didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken Invoked Before User Notification Authorization on iOS 26 Beta
I'm encountering an issue with our legacy Objective-C codebase that uses UIApplicationDelegate. Here are the steps to reproduce the issue: Uninstall the application from the device. Install and launch the application. As part of the launch event, the client requests notification permission. The permission prompt is still displayed, even though the client receives a remote notification token (which appears to be a cached one). I followed the same steps with a sample app built with Swift (SwiftUI), and this issue did not occur. In the Swift app, I consistently received a delegate<didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken> call after the user allowed the notification permission. Could you please provide some insights into why this might be happening with only our client?
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Jul ’25
Can deviceId change frequently for the same user?
We are observing multiple different deviceId values linked to the same user within short timeframes. In some instances, a new deviceId appears every few minutes or hours. We utilize this identifier for managing Apple Wallet pass updates. We would appreciate understanding which scenarios might cause the deviceId to change. Could it be influenced by: Device restoration or factory reset procedures App reinstallation or data clearing iOS version updates iCloud account changes or Apple ID authentication status changes Privacy feature activation (such as App Tracking Transparency or Private Relay) Testing environment usage (simulators or automated testing frameworks) We aim to determine whether this behavior is expected or if it suggests atypical usage patterns. Thank you for your assistance!
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Jul ’25
Push Notifications and VOIP call not working.
My App supports two services that is Push Notification for Alerts and a Voip Call feature whose notification also comes in the same way as of PushNotification but video rendering is done with GoogleWebRTC. The App was working perfectly fine but from past few months these services are not working.[ Nothing is changed in App and on the server side to push the notifications] Issues: VoIP (Video call) not working: I have apns certificate which is valid in today's date and stays with the backend Server. My server sends the payload notification to APNS but on iPhone am unable to receive it. I have checked the App registration part also and is able to receive the token for the same. Framework used are: PushKit, UserNotifications, GoogleWebRTC . I don't understand where is the gap, the backend triggers the APNS but there no response. Ports enabled on server are: 443, 5223, 2197, 2195, 2196. Similarly Push notification were also not working, So I tried to change it to register on Firebase for device registration token And did some coding at backend to send the notification to that device. It was working perfectly fine from last few weeks, but it suddenly stopped. I checked the JSON Payload and tried to send it through PostMan, in both it says 200 Success. And in Application end am waiting for breakpoint to hit in userNotificationCenter(_: , willPresent, completionHandler). What all I have checked: 1)My server to APNS server connectivity. 2)Verified the apns certificate. The certificate was created in October 2024, whose expiry is in Nov 2025 and it support both Sandbox and Production environment. 3)Checked required delegates are implemented in App. With the capability enable in it, is also sending registration token to backend. Kindly guide me where I can check in this flow. Thanks in Advance!
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65
Jul ’25
FRONTBOARD crash App killed while running in the background.
PLATFORM AND VERSION iOS Development environment: Xcode 16.2, macOS 15.5 Run-time configuration: iOS 18 DESCRIPTION OF PROBLEM Our app (a VoIP and messaging app) has been experiencing a crash when running in the background for long periods of time (a couple of days) while receiving calls, and message notifications. If the app is not receiving notifications, we don't get any crashes while it runs in the background. It is worth mentioning that we have several pushes that are background pushes and they could happen depending on the outcome of an incoming call. We have the two pushes: incoming call bye: let the app know that the calling end hanged up the call. incoming call answered: lets the app know that another device (with the same shared number) answered the call (web app, Android). Those pushes are delivered within 30 seconds after the call starts. I assume that since the app was awakened by a VoIP push, those background notification won't count towards the iOS restriction of not getting too many background pushes: "The number of background notifications allowed by the system depends on current conditions, but don’t try to send more than two or three per hour." Let me know if the above assumption is not accurate. I don't see details in the crash report (such as a "Termination Description") that could guide me to address the issue. So I would appreciate if you can give me some insight on what could be causing this. Here is part of the crash report: Exception Type: EXC_CRASH (SIGKILL) Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000 Termination Reason: FRONTBOARD 0xbaadca11 <RBSTerminateContext| domain:10 code:0xBAADCA11 explanation: reportType:CrashLog maxTerminationResistance:Interactive> Triggered by Thread: 0 Thread 0 name: Thread 0 Crashed: 0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00000001dda93ce4 mach_msg2_trap + 8 1 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00000001dda9739c mach_msg2_internal + 76 (mach_msg.c:201) 2 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00000001dda972b8 mach_msg_overwrite + 428 (mach_msg.c:0) 3 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00000001dda97100 mach_msg + 24 (mach_msg.c:323) 4 CoreFoundation 0x000000018c886900 __CFRunLoopServiceMachPort + 160 (CFRunLoop.c:2637) 5 CoreFoundation 0x000000018c8851f0 __CFRunLoopRun + 1208 (CFRunLoop.c:3021) 6 CoreFoundation 0x000000018c886c3c CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 572 (CFRunLoop.c:3434) 7 GraphicsServices 0x00000001d9a65454 GSEventRunModal + 168 (GSEvent.c:2196) 8 UIKitCore 0x000000018f299274 -[UIApplication run] + 816 (UIApplication.m:3845) 9 UIKitCore 0x000000018f264a28 UIApplicationMain + 336 (UIApplication.m:5540) 10 SwiftUI 0x00000001913a97a4 closure #1 in KitRendererCommon(:) + 168 (UIKitApp.swift:68) 11 SwiftUI 0x00000001910af01c runApp(_:) + 112 (UIKitApp.swift:16) 12 SwiftUI 0x00000001910aeed0 static App.main() + 180 (App.swift:136) 13 TheApp Business 0x0000000100686028 static TheApp_BusinessApp.$main() + 52 (TheApp_Business.swift:0) 14 TheApp Business 0x0000000100686028 main + 64 15 dyld 0x00000001b375bf08 start + 6040 (dyldMain.cpp:1450) STEPS TO REPRODUCE Open the app. Leave the app running in the background while it is receiving notifications (VoIP or messages). Bring the app to the foreground after a day or two of it running in the background. Notice that after opening the app, the launch screen is presented.
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Jul ’25
Push Notifications
The following issue has occurred: Push notifications are not being received on certain devices. What could be the possible causes? Push notifications are being sent from our own server, and we are receiving normal responses from APNs. Users have confirmed that notifications are enabled on their devices, and they report no network issues. This problem is occurring for multiple users.
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Jul ’25