I'm experiencing issues with didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken not being called on iOS 18.1.1. Here's what I've tried:
Basic Setup:
Properly configured UNUserNotificationCenter
Requested permissions with requestAuthorization(options:)
Registered for remote notifications with registerForRemoteNotifications()
Environment:
Xcode 16.3
iOS 18.1.1 (physical device)
Firebase (tried with and without it)
Troubleshooting:
Verified provisioning profile includes Push Notifications
Confirmed APNs certificate is valid
Disabled Firebase's method swizzling
Tested on a clean project (works fine)
Checked device logs (no relevant errors)
Code Snippet:
// In AppDelegate.swift
public func application(_ application: UIApplication, didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken deviceToken: Data) {
let tokenParts = deviceToken.map { data in String(format: "%02.2hhx", data) }
let tokenString = tokenParts.joined()
print("📱 Device Token: \(tokenString)")
// Store the token for your backend
UserDefaults.standard.set(tokenString, forKey: "deviceToken")
// Send to backend
Task {
do {
try await APIService.shared.setDeviceToken(tokenString)
} catch {
print("❌ [AppDelegate] Failed to send device token to backend: \(error)")
}
}
}
public func application(_ application: UIApplication,
didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]? = nil) -> Bool {
// IMPORTANT: First handle push notification registration
UNUserNotificationCenter.current().delegate = self
// Request notification permissions
self.requestNotificationPermissions()
// Register for remote notifications
DispatchQueue.main.async {
UIApplication.shared.registerForRemoteNotifications()
}
return true
}
private func requestNotificationPermissions() {
UNUserNotificationCenter.current().requestAuthorization(options: [.alert, .badge, .sound]) { granted, error in
guard granted else {
print("❌ Notification permission not granted")
return
}
print("✅ Notification permission granted")
}
}
Notifications
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Notification coordination between iOS and watchOS is not working properly
watchOS and iOS try to coordinate between phone and watch notifications.
The concept here is that if there is a main app and a companion app, they could both be sending a notification, then the notification would alert on both, which is a deviation from how notification mirroring is handled if there is an iOS app but no watch app.
The watch waits for the iOS notification to fire so they can determine if this is the same notification that needs to be deduped, displayed on one device but not the other, or separate notifications to be displayed both.
If there is no notification on the phone, the watch will timeout after 13 seconds and alert anyway.
If you have an iOS companion app, the best solution to this is to send the same notification on both devices simultaneously, and ensuring the UNNotificationRequest.identifier matches on both notifications. This will let the systems determine how to handle the notification correctly and quickly, and the notification will alert right away.
https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/765669
According to the above article, "when a notification arrives on watchOS alone first, it coordinates with iOS," but in reality, it doesn't work properly.
Detailed process of this phenomenon
watchOS receives a notification.
On watchOS, the notification is not immediately shown to the user.
iOS receives a notification with the same UNNotificationRequest.identifier as in (1).
The notification in (3) does not appear on either iOS or watchOS. However, the notification from (3) does appear in iOS Notification Center.
Thirteen seconds after watchOS received the notification, the notification from (1) is shown to the user on watchOS.
In the end, the iOS and watchOS notifications are not consolidated and each remains in its respective notification center.
Up to (3) there are no issues. Starting with (4), both iOS and watchOS exhibit a lot of odd behavior.
This phenomenon occurs with both local notifications and push notifications.
When iOS receives the notification first, there is no problem. The notification for watch received later is processed appropriately, and the watchOS notification is not additionally displayed to the user.
Expected proper process
Same as above.
Same as above.
Same as above.
The notification in (1) is integrated into the notification in (3).
The notification in (3) is alerted to the user immediately.
2 sample projects to reproduce
Only the main code is attached.
Sample project1: local notifications
Swift code for local notification app (iOS, watchOS) - App.swift.txt
Sample project2: push notifications
This sample project is implemented using Firebase Functions and Firebase Cloud Messaging.
Swift code push notification app (iOS, watchOS) - App.swift.txt
Server side JavaScript code for FirebaseFunction - index.js.txt
Tested devices and OS
This phenomenon occurred in both of the following patterns.
Pattern 1
Xcode 26.0
iPhone 16 (iOS 26.0)
Apple Watch series 10 (watchOS 26.0)
Pattern 2
Xcode 16.4
iPhone 11 (iOS 18.6)
Apple Watch SE 2nd gen (watchOS 11.6)
Question
Is this phenomenon a bug?
Or is my understanding or implementation incorrect?
Feedback Assistant number
FB20339772
I'm sending push notifications to a notification extension, and within the extension setting the threadIdentifier to be the same.
But I'm observing inconsistent grouping behaviour, and behaviour that changes over time.
The general iPhone settings are to display notifications as a Stack, and the app settings are to show on lock screen, notification center and banners and the notification grouping is set to by app (changing it to automatic doesn't affect the behaviour below).
Pushes are displayed on the lock screen grouped together, then if the device is roused and the screen swiped down to reveal the notification center then they are still grouped.
So far so good.
If the iphone is active then the notifications appear at the top of the screen, one by one, but in this case if there is a swipe down to reveal the notification center then the notifications are not grouped when displayed, but shown individually.
But then if one waits a few minutes and then displays the notification center for a 2nd time, sometimes now they will be grouped, but sometimes not.
Why are they not (always) being displayed as grouped in the notification center?
My push notifications on Ios devices come through but only silently while all settings are on order. On Android sounds are on. Anyway knows how to fix this on Apple's side?
SIM toolkit DISPLAY message is not displayed.
Use case:
SIP MESSAGE SMS Deliver (SC to MS) - 200 OK
SIP MESSAGE RP-ERROR (MS->NW):111:Protocol error, unspecified
Concatenated messages (2pcs) are resent over NAS and Deliver reports received from UE.
User is not notified of SIM toolkit message.
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
Notifications
Hi Team,
We’re following up on our request for the Critical Alert entitlement for our app, which we plan to use to notify users about critical states of their devices. It’s been almost 4 weeks since we submitted the request, and we wanted to check on the typical review timeline so we can plan our upcoming work accordingly.
If there’s anything we can provide or clarify to help complete the review or make the process easier, we’d be happy to assist. or the right forum to reach out to.
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
Notifications
Is there any callback available when a/all notifications is/are removed from notification tray?
I have been working on adding a badge number count to my app, but have run into a really weird edge case. If I have a badge number on my app, delete the application and then re-install it, the badge number still persists on the app icon until I first open the app. I tried looking to see if there is a lifecycle method that is triggered upon uninstalling an app as well as if there is a specific userDefaults attribute to check in order to clear the badge, but I can't find any clear solutions. Does anyone know of a fix to this issue?
I'm working on implementing Apple Wallet passes using background push notifications.
My server successfully sends the push notification using APNs. The response from the server is HTTP/2 200, and the device receives the push — I can confirm this from device logs.
However, the device logs show the following error:
"Failed to parse JSON message payload for topic "
"Unable to deserialize JSON message payload"
My payload is below 2 payload.
//string payload = "{"aps":{"content-available":1}}";
string payload = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(new
{
aps = new Dictionary<string, object>
{
{ "content-available", 1 }
}
});
string curlArgs = $"-s -o nul -w \"%{{http_code}}\" " +
$"--data-binary \"{payload}\" " +
$"-H \"apns-topic: {bundleId}\" " +
$"-H \"apns-push-type: background\" " +
$"-H \"apns-priority: 5\" " +
$"-H \"content-type: application/json\" " +
$"-H \"authorization: bearer {jwt}\" " +
$"--http2 https://api.push.apple.com/3/device/{token}";
I’ve confirmed that:
The device has the Wallet pass installed.
The apns-topic header is set to my passTypeIdentifier.
The apns-push-type is background and apns-priority is 5.
Steps to Reproduce:
Install Wallet pass on iOS device.
Send background push to device using the above payload.
Observe the device logs using Console.app or log stream.
See error: unable to deserialize JSON message payload.
Is there a specific payload format expected for Wallet passes? Or any additional fields required in the push payload to avoid this deserialization error?
Hi team,
I am developing VOIP feature using PushKit and CallKit but CallKit is not show when app in background or terminate state, now in foreground state I can call reportNewIncomingCall from pushRegistry-didReceiveIncomingPushWith and it's work as expected but the problem is in background or terminate state it's not
my setup:
PushKit is configured
In Signing & Capabilities I add background modes (Remote notifications and Voice over IP)
In info.plist I add
<key>UIBackgroundModes</key>
<array>
<string>voip</string>
I'm not sure should I create new VOIP Certificate but now I can receive message notification normally.
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated
Thank you
I’m using Appnotic from my server to send notifications for an emergency service, where it is critical that notifications are delivered immediately.
My payload looks like this:
"aps": {
"alert": "Test alert",
"sound": {
"critical": 1,
"name": "sound.wav",
"volume": 0.5
},
"content-available": 1,
"category": "alert"
},
"topic": "com.fireservicerota.FSR-Primary-Alerting",
"custom_payload": {
"id": "11",
"type": "alert",
"incident_id": 23434,
"incident_response_id": 2652343,
"expiration_time": "2024-06-06T16:59:05+01:00"
}
}
I already have the critical alert entitlement and background processing enabled. Everything seems fine when debugging, but I’m experiencing issues:
• Some notifications never arrive
• Around 60% of notifications arrive with noticeable delay
Since this is an emergency app, delivery speed is crucial. What could be causing this inconsistency?
I'm strugling about the way how to code notifications for my weather aplication. I use data from my server that receives weather changing values from my own weather station and want to notify user of my app when eg strong wind will blow or temperature go under eg 3℃ etc.
The weather station has 8 sensors so there is sometimes a lot of data changing in particular minute that i set to parse data from server and notify user about it. But the notifications only works only when app is on and couple minutes after locking display.
So please what could i use strategy for the app to works even when the app sleeps ?
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
Notifications
Tags:
APNS
Notification Center
User Notifications
Hi Apple engineering team,
I contacted Developer Support regarding the status of our entitlements request, and they recommended that I post here for visibility.
It’s been just over two weeks since we submitted the request, and we haven’t received any updates yet. We understand these requests can take time, but it’s unclear what the typical timeline looks like or if there’s any way to check on the progress.
Is there a way to get an update or better understand where we are in the process? We’re trying to plan our release and would really appreciate any guidance on what to expect.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Hi,
there is a issue that iOS background NFC scanning will only provide a notification result, It need user click to enter my APP, can I have any method to enter my APP directly without user action ?
Version: iOS 18.1 and later (works as expected on iOS 18.0 and earlier)
Area: SpringBoard / Notification Center / App Icon Rendering
Description: When changing the app's alternate icon using UIApplication.setAlternateIconName(_:completionHandler:), the icon is updated correctly on the Home Screen and App Switcher. However, in Notification Center, the old app icon is still shown for notifications, even after the change has completed. This issue only occurs on iOS 18.1 and later. In iOS 18.0 and earlier, Notification Center correctly reflects the updated icon.
- Steps to reproduce:
Create an iOS app with alternate app icons configured in the Info.plist.
Use UIApplication.shared.setAlternateIconName("IconName") to change the icon at runtime.
Send a notification.
Pull down Notification Center and observe the icon shown beside the notification.
- Expected Behavior:
Notification Center should reflect the updated (alternate) app icon immediately after the change.
- Actual Behavior:
Notification Center continues to display the old (primary) app icon. The new icon appears correctly on the Home Screen and App Switcher. Restarting the device does cause Notification Center to update and reflect the correct icon, which suggests a cache or refresh issue in SpringBoard or Notification Center.
- Notes:
Issue introduced in iOS 18.1; not present in 18.0.
Reproduces on both physical devices and simulators.
Occurs with both scheduled local notifications and remote notifications.
Restarting the device updates the Notification Center icon, but this is not a viable user-facing workaround.
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
Notifications
Tags:
Swift
APNS
User Notifications
Notification Center
Docs mention the following about the timestamp field returned by APNs:
"The time, represented in milliseconds since Epoch, at which APNs confirmed the token was no longer valid for the topic. This key is included only when the error in the :status field is 410."
We would like to clarify whether this timestamp is subject to the fuzzy schedule or whether it represent the accurate time of when APNs knew that the token became invalid?
We understand that using 410 for tracking purposes is off label. However we still would like to have the most accurate information in regards to when token became invalid. This will help us debug user issues better in cases when they re-install, uninstall, change permission settings, etc.
If there is a Notification Service Extension which has the com.apple.developer.usernotifications.filtering entitlement, then does/how having that entitlement affect the preconditions for the NSE to be delivered a push?
Specifically, if the app has not prompted for requestAuthorization() is it expected that the push will be delivered to the NSE or not?
Thank you
There's plenty of articles out there about programatically grouping push notifications. However I have tried setting the thread-id in the push payload when sending a push, or setting the threadIdentifier for a received push in a notification service extension to be the same for several pushes.
But if within the iPhone Settings / Notifications the user selects to display pushes as List and turns off Notification Grouping, then each notification resulting from the push appears on its own separately.
Is there something other than thread-id/threadidentifier that is used to programmatically group them? If not then whats the point of these as grouping and display is actually under the control of user.
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?
I have multiple app ids that are registered with Push Notification, however they do not hsow up in the Push Notification Console for testing.