Regarding "Overview of app transfer"

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My iPhone VoIP app, which I'm developing, uses Apple Push Notification service (APNs). I have a question regarding the following statement found in "[Overview of app transfer > Apps using push notifications]"

Overview of app transfer

You must manually reestablish push notification services if transferring an app that uses the Apple Push Notifications service (APNs). The recipient must create a new client SSL certificate using their developer account, as associated client SSL certificates, TLS certificates, and authentication tokens aren’t transferred.

Question

Let's say the recipient of the app transfer creates a "new SSL certificates, TLS certificates, and authentication tokens." Afterward, we need to verify that the Apple Push Notification service (APNs) works correctly when combining the transferred app with this "new SSL certificates, TLS certificates, and authentication tokens."

However, until the recipient finishes verifying that it works correctly, the transferor want to keep the app available for download as before and be able to use the Apple Push Notification service. Is this possible?

More specifically, can the recipient test the app to be transferred on TestFlight "before the transfer is completed"? I want to combine it with the "new SSL certificates, TLS certificates, and authentication tokens." and test it on TestFlight.

Reading "[Initiate an app transfer]," it mentions the existence of a "Pending App Transfer" status. During this "Pending App Transfer" status, can the recipient test the app on TestFlight?

Initiate an app transfer

After you initiate the transfer, the app stays in its previous status, with the Pending App Transfer status added, until the recipient accepts it or the transfer expires after 60 days.

Also, if there are any documents describing these procedures, I would appreciate it if you could share them. Thank you very much.

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Answer 1

Engineer OP

Apple

20h

The credentials of the new team will not work until the transfer is complete. And the credentials of the old team will stop working when the transfer is completed.

There will be a trivial but non-zero gap between the two while at the moment of transfer, but there cannot be an overlap.

The recipient can build their push servers and test it with another app they own, but not with the transferring app until the transfer is completed.

If the transferor opens a persistent connection to APNs before the transfer is complete and is able to hold that connection open through the transfer, they may be able to continue making push requests for a trivial but possibly non-zero amount of time after the transfer.

This is a side effect of the propagation delay between various servers holding app's various bits of information, and there will be no guarantees that it will work for a useful amount of time, and it is possible that the overlap time could be near zero.

In other words, while technically the transferor might be able to send notifications after transfer is complete, this is not something you should depend on and make sure that the recipient's push infrastructure is ready to take over as soon as the transfer is complete.

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