Just out of curiosity, do sandbox push notifications for iOS expire? The reason I am asking is, yesterday my push notifications were working perfectly for my device and since then I haven't changed the code. Today I wanted to push another notification to further test and all of a sudden, no notification was received. I had to reinstall the app and get another token for it to work.
So, do sandbox tokens expire, or do I possibly have a more serious issue at hand when I go to live?
As of now nowhere it is documented regarding the token expiry. But as an experience and from an architectural point, device tokens will not expire for a smaller duration of time. Because it will create a lot of effort for APNS to generate a new token every time if that is the case. Anyway, you can check your server logs to see the acknowledgement you receive from APNS if it is a failure to deliver a notification.
The device token probably changed from the prior version of the app you were testing. You should check the token each time you launch the app and ensure it's registered because it's likely to periodically change.
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/usernotifications/registering_your_app_with_apns
Never cache device tokens in local storage. APNs issues a new token when the user restores a device from a backup, when the user installs your app on a new device, and when the user reinstalls the operating system. If you ask the system to provide the token each time, you’re guaranteed to get an up-to-date token.
Related
So I'm running into a peculiar problem that I have not been able to find much information on. Looking for any input or experience at all.
I have recorded the deviceToken of an existing app install using Urban Airship. Then deleting the app and reinstalling, I recorded the new device token as well. These tokens are different. From the UA test panel, I am able to send a test push to both of these tokens and the device receives 2 pushes, one for each token, even though the first token has since been uninstalled. But, in UA device lookup, both tokens are marked as active.
This was only caught after getting our push server running which triggers a push once every morning at most, based on a hosted file that determines the push contents and if one should happen. My development device is now getting up to 8 pushes at once from the server.
There are ways to unsubscribe or unregister for push notifications with Apple, UA, and the server, but I'm wondering on the best practices for this. There is no way to get the uninstall event either which would be the only time to unsubscribe. Is the best solution just to wait for UA to determine a token is inactive? I have found this list here for reasons a token could be inactive: http://docs.urbanairship.com/reference/troubleshooting/ios-push.html#inactive-device-token
But none seem to apply here, especially because some of these device tokens are nearly a month old and still sending to my test device. The app uses an Enterprise profile so this is happening in a production environment.
Are you getting the same channel every time? Usually reinstalls will generate the same channel which is tied to a single device token. Then when apple generates a new token it will update the channel's token. You are probably better off contacting support directly. They will be able to help gather all the device info they need and look up registration and push records to figure out whats going on.
Is there a difference between token lifetime on sandbox vs production?
I am locked into using a sandbox environment at the moment and am wondering what is causing my token to expire/reset.
I am not uninstalling the app nor updating the iOS version between apparent token expirations.
I do force close and background the app as part of dev/testing.
I am also using a VoIP certificate which I believe is valid for both production and sandbox.
The app being run on the iOS devices is built and pushed direct from Xcode.
What appears to be happening is the token gets changed sometime between when the app is no longer running on the receiving device and when it should be receiving the push notification. The app doesn't have a chance to run to update the token before then.
It's not completely documented as to what invalidates an APNS token, the docs do mention:
If the user restores backup data to a new device or computer, or reinstalls the operating system, the device token changes.
However, I imagine these aren't the only scenarios that cause a token to expire. What is documented is the fact that you should not cache the token but instead always pull it from the system if & when required.
See Registering for Remote Notifications, specifically:
Moreover, never cache a device token and give that to your provider; always get the token from the system whenever you need it. If your app has previously registered, calling registerForRemoteNotifications results in the operating system passing the device token to the delegate immediately without incurring additional overhead. Also note that the delegate method may be called any time the device token changes, not just in response to your app registering or re-registering.
I am developing an iOS app in which i have implemented Push Notification.
Everything is working fine.
But just wish to ask if device Token for my Apple device will ever change??
Also do we need internet connectivity for generating device token.
Thanks
device Token for my Apple device will ever change
-- YES. If you restores backup data to a new device or reinstall the operating system, the device token changes. So my suggestion is to update the server with token
do we need internet connectivity for generating device token
-- as far as I know, YES. When you register user, you call method for registration for push notification. This on successful registration call the delegate method -
- (void)application:(UIApplication *)app didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken:(NSData *)deviceToken
indicating you are registered successfully for a push notification or on failure it calls -
- (void)application:(UIApplication*)application didFailToRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithError:(NSError*)error
indicating failed to register for notification.
You can check it by turning off network and running your application.
Based on the Apple Documentation, the answer is YES:
The form of this phase of token trust ensures that only APNs generates
the token which it will later honor, and it can assure itself that a
token handed to it by a device is the same token that it previously
provisioned for that particular device—and only for that device.
If the user restores backup data to a new device or reinstalls the
operating system, the device token changes.
From the apple docs -
The device token is your key to sending push notifications to your app on a specific device. Device tokens can change, so your app needs to reregister every time it is launched and pass the received token back to your server. If you fail to update the device token, remote notifications might not make their way to the user’s device.
Device tokens always change when the user restores backup data to a new device or computer or reinstalls the operating system. When migrating data to a new device or computer, the user must launch your app once before remote notifications can be delivered to that device.
Never cache a device token; always get the token from the system whenever you need it. If your app previously registered for remote notifications, calling the registerForRemoteNotifications method again does not incur any additional overhead, and iOS returns the existing device token to your app delegate immediately. In addition, iOS calls your delegate method any time the device token changes, not just in response to your app registering or re-registering.
For more APNS Doc
I was recently troubleshooting an issue with push notifications for a user. I was a bit confused by the guidance here, indicating that the token would only change in rare circumstances, such as "moving to a new device" or "re-installing the OS".
While the above events are likely valid events where the token is updated, I also see the token is updated simply when the user updates the OS on their device.
For example:
When my device runs iOS 15.4.1, and I install an application and request a push notification token, I'm provided with token "A".
After I update my device to iOS 15.7, with the same application still installed, and request a push notification token, I'm provided with token "B".
Therefore while rare events like restoring backup data to a new device or re-installing the OS are valid for this case, more frequent events such as a user simply updating the OS of their device are also valid for causing the push notification token to change.
Thus, this will likely change quite frequently and should always be requested from the device and updated on your server.
I'm developing an iOS app that enables the user to observe technical devices and be notified if there are problems.
What I know so far:
My app requests a token from the APNs.
My app sends this token to my server.
My server notifies the APNs in case of an event.
The APNs pushes a message onto the device.
What I want to know:
I read the token may change, therefor I need to request it on every app launch. Is this true?
If I get a new token from time to time I have to register at my server from time to time to make sure it uses the current token. Do I have to store and manually send the old token with the new one if the token changes to allow my server to delete the old one?
How can I detect that a user removed the app to remove his device on the server?
Highest priority in my case is for the server to know which devices are registered with the service. Old devices (old tokens that is) need to be removed immediately.
Thanks for your help.
You should register for the remote notification on every app launch and send the token to your server.
To check if the user removed the app or disabled notifications you have to check the feedback service. Look for it on this page:
https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/NetworkingInternet/Conceptual/RemoteNotificationsPG/BinaryProviderAPI.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40008194-CH13-SW1
Note: APNs monitors providers for their diligence in checking the feedback service and refraining from sending push notifications to nonexistent applications on devices.
It seems to be customary for apps that are using APN to get the token from the OS whenever the app launches. However if an app has already obtained it once, is there any point in it bothering to obtain it again (and consequently sending it to the server if its already done so).
Can the APN token obtained from the OS ever change?
The answer to your question is inside Apple docs (Local and Push Notification Programming Guide):
By requesting the device token and passing it to the provider every time your application launches, you help to ensure that the provider has the current token for the device. If a user restores a backup to a device or computer other than the one that the backup was created for (for example, the user migrates data to a new device or computer), he or she must launch the application at least once for it to receive notifications again. If the user restores backup data to a new device or computer, or reinstalls the operating system, the device token changes. Moreover, never cache a device token and give that to your provider; always get the token from the system whenever you need it. If your application has previously registered, calling registerForRemoteNotificationTypes: results in the operating system passing the device token to the delegate immediately without incurring additional overhead.