I've built an iOS & Watch OS app using Sign in with Apple & CloudKit exclusively.
I'm now wanting to implement Push Notifications. I understand that I need a server to trigger the push notifications (I guess I could spool up a Node server somewhere or use Firebase), but I'd really like to not use any non-Apple backend services.
Am I correct in understanding that I can do this with Push Notifications Console, or do I still need a separate backend?
Push Notifications Console is meant to be used for development and testing, and not for production.
You will need to have a backend server that will automatically send push requests to APNs when it needs to based on whatever trigger events you want. This needs to either be your own server instance or a 3rd party service.
If the notifications are related to features and events you have developed with CloudKit, CKQuerySubscription could serve your needs.
Apple doesn't provide a push notification service for generic push notifications.
Argun Tekant / DTS Engineer / Core Technologies