Hello, We are planning to transfer an app to a different Apple Developer account and had several questions regarding APNs continuity and behavior after the transfer. We are specifically interested in the period immediately after the app transfer, but before the app has been updated under the recipient account. I’ve done some due diligence on this topic within the forums and found related guidance here: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/744468?answerId=776692022#776692022 My understanding from that thread is that the existing push notification credentials will become invalid after a short delay following the transfer, and that we would need to update our backend to use newly generated credentials from the recipient account. However, since things can evolve over time, I wanted to confirm whether that guidance is still accurate for the following scenarios. For users who already have the app installed and previously opted into push notifications before the transfer: Will existing APNs device tokens remain valid after the app transfer? Will these users continue receiving push notifications without interruption, assuming our provider infrastructure remains unchanged? For users who newly install the app after the transfer: Will we need to migrate to a new APNs authentication key or certificate associated with the recipient Apple Developer account in order to successfully register for and send push notifications to those users? For users who restore or migrate the app to a new device (for example, via iCloud Backup restore or device-to-device transfer): Will push notification registration continue to function normally after the app transfer? Will those app instances need to re-register and obtain new APNs device tokens associated with the recipient account? To support this scenario, would our provider infrastructure need to migrate to and use a new APNs authentication key associated with the recipient account? Any clarification on the expected APNs transition behavior during and after an app transfer would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hello, We are going to transfer our App to another company’s Apple Developer account. We have been using P12 certificates and P8 keys for APNs push service, and we have several inquiries: Will the current P12 push certificates expire instantly after successful App transfer? Is it mandatory to recreate P12 certificates under the new account? Will existing P8 keys be disabled immediately after the ownership transfer? Do we need to generate new P8 keys under the new account? Without releasing new App builds and updating push credentials after the transfer, can existing end users still receive normal push notifications? Thanks a lot for your assistance, waiting for your reply.

Hello, I have a question regarding push services after app transfer completion and hope you can clarify it for me: If the original team does not actively disable existing APNs and JWT connections as well as push services, will the old P12 certificates and P8 keys remain valid for a short while so users can still receive push notifications? If yes, the new company only needs to finish certificate updates shortly after receiving the transfer success notice. How many hours is this grace period normally? Whether the original team shuts down APNs and JWT services or not, will the old P12 certificates and P8 keys become invalid right away, leaving users unable to receive pushes until the new company updates the relevant credentials? Thanks for your support and looking forward to your reply.

We are working on a feature that uses geo-based local notifications to target users when they arrive at an airport. Our implementation uses UNLocationNotificationTrigger with CLCircularRegion. The local notification is scheduled after the user has granted notification permission and location permission. We are currently using “While Using the App” location permission and with enabled location updates in capabilities We have used CLMonitor as well for the same. However, we are seeing inconsistent accuracy and missed triggers, even after testing with users who have granted the required permissions. we did use CLMonitor as well but we are getting the trigger on the entry of specified region. Could you please help us understand the constraints and expected behavior for location-based notification triggers on iOS? Specifically, we would like guidance on the following: What parameters influence UNLocationNotificationTrigger accuracy and reliability? What is the recommended minimum radius for geofencing around large areas such as airports? Does “While Using the App” permission have any practical limitations for location-based local notification delivery? Are there system-level conditions that may prevent or delay the trigger, such as Precise Location being off, Low Power Mode, Focus mode, Background App Refresh, airplane mode, or poor GPS/network availability or any others? Are there recommended best practices for improving reliability for an airport-arrival use case?

I'm seeing a timestamp display issue on Apple Watch Notification Center, and I'd like to confirm whether this is a known watchOS behavior or whether there's a setup mistake on our side. Symptom The same APNs notification displays the correct time on iPhone Notification Center and on the initial Apple Watch banner. After the Watch screen turns off and the user later opens Notification Center on Apple Watch, the same notification may show an incorrect relative timestamp such as "3 hours ago" or even "yesterday". The drift is per-notification and persists for that notification until it's dismissed. iPhone NC always shows the correct time. WhatsApp tested side-by-side on the same iPhone/Watch pair does not show this drift. Setup iOS 26.4.2 on iPhone 16 Pro watchOS 26.4 on Apple Watch Series 10 App with paired Apple Watch A UNNotificationServiceExtension that decrypts E2EE message previews and applies Communication Notification enrichment via INSendMessageIntent and content.updating(from:) Production APNs environment, TestFlight builds No beta software Isolation tests already performed Test mutable-content NSE invoked Drift on Watch NC Minimal APNs (alert + sound only) no no no drift NSE skips content.updating(from:), INInteraction.donate/delete (still calls them as no-op via diagnostic build) yes yes — modifies content drift NSE bypasses ALL Intents/Communication Notification APIs (no INPerson, no INSendMessageIntent, no avatar, no updating(from:)); just modifies title/body/sound/category and returns the mutable copy yes yes — modifies content drift Production-like APNs payload (thread-id, target-content-id, category, sound, badge, custom userInfo) but WITHOUT mutable-content no no no drift Eliminated as causes: content.updating(from:), INSendMessageIntent, INInteraction.donate, INInteraction.delete(with:), INPerson/INPersonHandle (not even constructed in test 3), avatar fetching, thread-id, target-content-id, category, sound, badge, custom userInfo, custom createdAt timestamp, stale Siri/Apple Intelligence history (cleared manually on iPhone and Watch). The pattern The only consistent variable distinguishing the no-drift cases from the drift cases is whether mutable-content: 1 is set on the APNs payload (i.e. whether the UNNotificationServiceExtension is invoked). Once invoked, the extension's behavior with respect to Communication Notifications does not seem to affect the outcome — the drift reproduces even when the NSE only modifies title/body/sound and returns. Questions Is there a known watchOS behavior where notifications processed by a UNNotificationServiceExtension use a different timestamp source on Apple Watch Notification Center after the Watch screen has been turned off and reopened, while the initial Watch banner and iPhone Notification Center show the correct delivery time? Are there specific UNMutableNotificationContent properties or APNs payload flags that should be preserved (or avoided) when returning content from an NSE to keep the Watch NC timestamp consistent with the delivery time? For E2EE messaging apps, is there a recommended pattern to decrypt and return content from an NSE that avoids this drift on watchOS? Happy to provide an anonymized snippet of NotificationService.swift and the APNs payload format if useful. Thanks.

I am running into an issue where if a user has denied normal notifications but allowed Critical Alerts, they do not receive the Critical Alert. Apple documentation specifies that Critical Alerts will override device Silent and Do Not Disturb settings, but it does not clearly state if it does or does not override the Allow Notifications setting for that particular app. Is this intended behavior? Seems like a bug, as a user could definitely want to filter out notifications that are not critical.

Hi, I have a question regarding the relationship between the Apple Developer Enterprise Program membership and an existing APNs certificate used for MDM. Current Situation We are operating an MDM server. We have already obtained a valid APNs certificate via the Apple Push Certificates Portal. Our Apple Developer Enterprise Program membership is about to expire. The only asset we have in the Enterprise account is the MDM CSR used during the APNs certificate issuance process. Question If the Apple Developer Enterprise Program Membership expires: Will the existing APNs certificate remain valid until its expiration date? Or will it become invalid immediately due to the account expiration? Thank you.

For many months now we've been building a watchOS app with push support. On device, these usually work fine, but in the sim, only loud pushes are ever received (don't contain content-available). This includes pushes triggered from our backend, whether directly or through Firebase Cloud Messaging, from Apple push web interface, from apns files dropped onto the sim, or from files sent using simctl push. All say they were sent successfully, none trigger any of the push related WKApplicationDelegate methods. As I understand it, only didReceiveRemoteNotification should be triggered for this kind of push. Additionally, can anyone confirm what the proper background mode setup is for push notifications on watchOS? Is it supposed to remote-notification under UIBackgroundModes or WKBackgroundModes? For WKBackgroundModes Xcode only offers a few watch specific values, but not the push value. The docs are unclear on this part.

I understand that with the 26.4.2 patch, when you click on a notification preview to check a text message, the saved preview data is deleted. So, what should I do to delete the preview data that was left over from clicking on notification previews before the 26.4.2 patch? First of all, I don't want to do a factory reset. So I'm just want to know about this.

Excited for AlarmKit! I have found two concerns that I cannot find answers for though. The volume of my alarms seems to be very quite relative to the full volume capability of the device. For example, if I turn the volume all the way up and play the audio file, the sound is very loud. However then, if I set the alarm using alarm kit with the same audio, the track played during the alerting phase is not that loud. I am afraid that it will not be loud enough in real life. Will there be future support to set the volume level of the alarm to maximum settings? When I press the volume buttons (with the app open) during an active alarm, the audio stops, but the alarm manager does not clear these events. The alarm manager does clear the alarm event if the alarm is stopped through a live activity.

Hello, We are planning to shut down our mobile app service and need to discontinue our auto-renewable subscription product. Our service termination date is July 31, and we are currently preparing the backend implementation for this. We have reviewed the official documentation and Apple Developer Forums, but there are several behaviors we cannot confirm through sandbox testing, as the "Remove from Sale" setting does not appear to affect the sandbox environment. We would greatly appreciate clarification on the following: Server notification at the moment of "Cleared for Sale" being unchecked When we uncheck "Cleared for Sale" in App Store Connect, is any App Store Server Notification (V2) sent to our server immediately at that moment? If yes, what is the exact notificationType and subtype value sent? If no, when is the first notification triggered for existing active subscribers after this action? 2. Notification sequence from product removal through final expiration For existing active subscribers, what is the exact sequence of notificationType and subtype values our server should expect — from the moment we remove the product from sale through the subscriber's final expiration? Based on our research, we believe the sequence may be: (1) Cleared for Sale unchecked → (2) No immediate notification → (3) At next renewal attempt → EXPIRED with subtype PRODUCT_NOT_FOR_SALE Could you confirm whether this is correct, or provide the accurate sequence? 3. Whether DID_CHANGE_RENEWAL_STATUS is sent before EXPIRED Is a DID_CHANGE_RENEWAL_STATUS notification sent to our server at the moment of removal from sale, before the EXPIRED notification at the renewal date? If yes, what is the subtype of this notification? 4. Recommended server-side handling per notification For each notification in the sequence above, what is the recommended server-side action? For example: On EXPIRED with subtype PRODUCT_NOT_FOR_SALE → revoke entitlement immediately? On DID_CHANGE_RENEWAL_STATUS (if sent) → update status only, do not revoke entitlement yet? Sandbox testing limitations We have confirmed that the "Remove from Sale" setting does not affect the sandbox environment. Is there any recommended way to test this scenario before applying it in production? If sandbox testing is not possible for this case, is there any official confirmation of this limitation? We have a fixed service termination schedule and need to ensure our backend handles this correctly. Any clarification or pointers to official documentation would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

We are so interested in AlarmKit which is presented at WWDC25. While we planning our app using AlarmKit, We had a few questions come to mind and were hoping you could provide some clarity. Please excuse the rather long list of questions, as we don't currently have a device available to test these features ourselves. System Actions Related Is there a limit to the number of alarms that can be scheduled using AlarmKit? Are alarms scheduled with AlarmKit persistent across device reboots? When an alarm is dismissed (either by swiping or pressing the power button), can our app detect this action and execute code in response? Can we control the behavior of the physical Lock Screen buttons when an AlarmKit alarm is active, for instance, to trigger a snooze action? Does AlarmKit function correctly during Do Not Disturb or Low Power Mode? What is the expected behavior when an alarm from our app (using AlarmKit) overlaps with an alarm from another app that also uses AlarmKit? Which one is going to get its priority? Thank you for your help. Sincerely

In my VoIP app, we use StartRing and StopRing via VoIP push to my app. But recently, I found some disordered VoIP notifications, my VoIP app received the StopRing push before the StartRing push. Examples: Server log: // send StartRing startring: - Apr 9, 2026 @ 14:54:43.255 .."pushType":"voip","priority":10, ... // send StopRing stop-ring Apr 9, 2026 @ 14:54:47.645 ..."pushType":"background","priority":5,"... VoIP app log: // receive StopRing 2026-04-0909:54:48.858 CDT : INFO : [RcRtc] [0x1feeba1c0] [PushNotificationParser]call push notification handled. action: StopRing telephony session id: s-a0dd8601926c7z19d72bbf8b9z1e62ec10000 sid: 178503189447188 // receive StartRing 2026-04-0909:54:49.524 CDT : INFO : [RcRtc] [0x1feeba1c0] [PushNotificationParser]call push notification handled. action: StartRing telephony session id: s-a0dd8601926c7z19d72bbf8b9z1e62ec10000 sid: 178503189447188 Then we can see the StartRing send first, but received in the app after the StopRing. The StartRing took abunt 6s to send and the StopRing took about 1s. So I guess there is an issue in the APNs part on iOS26.4. We saw there is a peak after iOS26.4 and iOS 26.4.1 than old iOS versions. Thanks.

I have a VoIP app, now try to implement the new method which support the "PKVoIPPushMetadata" in iOS 26.4. Code as below: /// iOS 26.4+ (SDK with `PKVoIPPushMetadata`): prefer this path for VoIP per Apple; completion is `@Sendable` on supported SDKs. @available(iOS 26.4, *) func pushRegistry(_ registry: PKPushRegistry, didReceiveIncomingVoIPPushWith payload: PKPushPayload, metadata: PKVoIPPushMetadata, withCompletionHandler completion: @escaping @Sendable () -> Void) { print("willtest: didReceiveIncomingVoIPPushWith: metadata=\(metadata)") handleVoIPPush(payload: payload, metadataMustReport: metadata.mustReport, completion: completion) } func pushRegistry(_ registry: PKPushRegistry, didReceiveIncomingPushWith payload: PKPushPayload, for type: PKPushType, completion: @escaping () -> Void) { print("willtest: didReceiveIncomingPushWith: PKPushType=\(type)") handleVoIPPush(payload: payload, metadataMustReport: nil, completion: completion) } But the voip push only goes to the old method on my iOS26.4 device(iPhone17). And it will go to the new method after I delete the old method. So how can I use this method in my app? I must support iOS16+ versions.

Hello, We are experiencing an issue related to push notifications after updating devices to iOS 26.4 Beta. Our system stores push notification tokens on the server by associating the device token with the device’s IDFV in the app. After updating a device to iOS 26.4 Beta, we observed that the device token from a previously uninstalled version of the app remains valid for more than a week. As a result, two push notifications are delivered to the same device. The situation is as follows: The user installs the app and a device token is generated. The user uninstalls the app. Later, the user installs the app again and a new device token is generated. However, the previous device token does not become invalid, even after more than a week. Because IDFV changes when the app is reinstalled, our server cannot determine that the device belongs to the same user. Therefore, we cannot overwrite the old token with the new one on the server side. Could you please advise: Is this behavior expected in iOS 26.4 Beta? How long does it normally take for a device token to become invalid after an app is uninstalled? What is the recommended approach to prevent duplicate push notifications in this situation? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Best regards

Hi everyone, I have developed an app that requires push notifications to notify users to respond to a questionnaire. After login, I inform the user that the app needs push notifications in order to function properly, and I request their consent to receive notifications. However, during the review process, Apple keeps rejecting the app with the following message: Issue Description The app requires push notifications in order to function. Next Steps Push notifications must be optional and must obtain the user's consent to be used within the app. Anyone knows how to fix this problem? Thank You

I have been fighting this problem for two months and would love any help, advice or tips. Should I file a DTS ticket? Summary We attach a JPEG image to a local notification using UNNotificationAttachment. iOS reports the delivered notification as having attachments=1, but intermittently no image preview appears in Notification Center. In correlated cases, the attachment’s UNNotificationAttachment.url (which points into iOS’s attachment store) becomes unreadable (Data(contentsOf:) fails) even though the delivered notification still reports attachments=1. This document describes the investigation, evidence, and mitigations attempted. Product / Component UserNotifications framework UNNotificationAttachment rendering in Notification UI (Notification Center / banner / expanded preview) Environment App: OnThisDay (SwiftUI, Swift 6) Notifications: local notifications scheduled with UNCalendarNotificationTrigger(repeats: false) Attachment: JPEG generated from PhotoKit (PHImageManager.requestImage) and written to app temp directory, then passed into UNNotificationAttachment. Test contexts: Debug builds (direct Xcode install) TestFlight builds (production signing) iOS devices: multiple, reproducible with long runs and user clearing delivered notifications Expected Result Delivered notifications with UNNotificationAttachment should consistently show the image preview in Notification Center (thumbnail and expanded preview), as long as the notification reports attachments=1. If the OS reports attachments=1, the attachment’s store URL should remain valid/readable for the lifetime of the delivered notification still present in Notification Center. Actual Result Intermittently: Notification Center shows no image preview even though the app scheduled the notification with an attachment and iOS reports the delivered notification as having attachments=1. When we inspect delivered notifications via UNUserNotificationCenter.getDeliveredNotifications, the delivered notification’s request.content.attachments.first?.url exists but is unreadable (attempting Data(contentsOf:) returns nil / throws), i.e. the backing attachment-store file appears missing or inaccessible. In some scenarios the attachment-store file is readable for hours while the notification is pending, and then becomes unreadable after the notification is delivered. Reproduction Scenarios (Observed) Next-day reminders show attachment-store unreadable after delivery 1. Schedule a one-shot daily reminder for next day (07:00 local time) with UNCalendarNotificationTrigger(repeats: false) and a JPEG attachment. 2. During the prior day, periodic background refresh tasks verify the pending notification’s attachment-store URL is readable (pendingReadable=true). 3. After the reminder is delivered the next morning, the delivered snapshot shows the delivered notification’s attachment-store URL is unreadable (readable=false) and Notification Center shows no preview. Interpretation: the attachment-store blob appears to become inaccessible around/after delivery, despite being readable while pending. Evidence and Instrumentation We added non-crashing diagnostic logging (Debug builds) around: Scheduling time Logged that we successfully created a UNNotificationAttachment from a unique temp file. Logged that UNUserNotificationCenter.add(request) succeeded. Queried pendingNotificationRequests() and logged the scheduled request’s attachment url.lastPathComponent (iOS attachment-store filename). Delivered time (when app becomes active) Called UNUserNotificationCenter.getDeliveredNotifications and logged: delivered count, attachment count attachment url.lastPathComponent whether Data(contentsOf: attachment.url) succeeds (readable=true/false) Content fingerprinting Fingerprinted the exact JPEG bytes we wrote (SHA-256 prefix + byte count). Logged the iOS attachment-store filename (url.lastPathComponent) returned post-scheduling. Decode validation probe (later addition) When Data(contentsOf:) succeeds, we validate it decodes as an image using CGImageSourceCreateWithData and log: UTI (e.g. public.jpeg) pixel width/height magic header bytes What we tried / Mitigations Proactive “self-heal” for pending notifications Change: during background refresh/foreground refresh, verify the pending daily reminder’s attachment-store URL readability. If it’s unreadable, reschedule with a new attachment (same trigger). Rationale: if iOS drops the store file before delivery, recreating could repair it. Result: We observed cases where pending remained readable but delivered became unreadable after delivery, so this doesn’t address all observed failures. It is still valuable hardening. Increase scheduling frequency / reschedule closer to fire time (proposed/considered) We discussed adding a debug mode to always recreate the daily reminder during background refresh tasks (or only within N hours of fire time) to reduce the time window between attachment creation and delivery. Status: experimental; not yet confirmed to resolve the “pendingReadable=true → delivered unreadable after delivery” failure. Impact The primary UX value of the daily reminder is the preview photo; missing previews degrade core functionality. Failures are intermittent and appear dependent on OS attachment-store behavior and Notification Center actions (clearing notifications), making them difficult to mitigate fully app-side. Notes / Questions for Apple 1. Is iOS allowed to coalesce/deduplicate UNNotificationAttachment storage across notifications? If so, what is the retention model when delivered notifications are removed? 2. If a delivered notification still reports attachments=1, should its attachment-store URL remain valid/readable while the notification is still present in Notification Center? 3. In “next-day” one-shot scheduling scenarios, can the attachment-store blob be purged between scheduling and delivery (or immediately after delivery) even if the notification remains visible? 4. Is there a recommended pattern to ensure attachment previews remain stable for long-lived scheduled notifications (hours to a day), especially when using UNCalendarNotificationTrigger(repeats: false)? Minimal Code Pattern (simplified) 1. Generate JPEG (PhotoKit → UIImage → JPEG Data). 2. Write to a unique temp URL. 3. Create attachment: UNNotificationAttachment(identifier: <uuid>, url: <tempURL>, options: [UNNotificationAttachmentOptionsTypeHintKey: "public.jpeg"]) 4. Schedule notification with a calendar trigger for the next morning.

Hi all, I’m trying to determine whether the loudness gap I’m seeing between AlarmKit alert playback and normal app-managed playback is expected behavior, a sound-asset issue, or something that should be reported as a bug. Observed behavior When an alarm fires through AlarmKit while the device is locked, the alarm sound is significantly quieter than playback of the same or very similar audio once the app is active and using its own audio session. The difference is large enough that it does not feel like a small mastering difference. It feels like the AlarmKit / system alerting path is using a meaningfully lower effective output level than normal app playback. Test scenario My repro is roughly: Schedule an alarm with AlarmKit. Lock the device. Let the alarm fire and listen during the system alerting phase. Enter the app / continue into the app-driven alarm experience. Play the same or equivalent alarm asset via app-managed playback. Result: AlarmKit / lock-screen alerting phase sounds much quieter. In-app playback sounds noticeably louder and fuller on the same device. Current implementation Alarm flow is currently split into two paths: 1) System alarm path Alarm scheduling and alert surfacing via AlarmKit Device may be locked No attempt to manipulate system volume No private APIs 2) In-app playback path After app activation, playback uses: AVAudioSession category .playback AVAudioPlayer Audio is routed as normal app playback This path sounds substantially louder than the AlarmKit path Important detail I am not asking how to override system volume. I understand that AlarmKit appears to follow the system ringer / alert volume model and does not expose a public API for custom alarm loudness. My question is narrower: Is it expected that the same asset or an equivalent asset will sound materially quieter during the AlarmKit alerting phase than during ordinary app playback with AVAudioSession(category: .playback)? Questions Is the lower perceived loudness during AlarmKit alerting an expected property of the framework / system alarm path? Does AlarmKit playback use a different output path, gain policy, processing chain, or speaker treatment than normal app playback with .playback? Are there recommended authoring constraints for AlarmKit alarm sounds to maximize perceived loudness on iPhone speakers? transient-heavy mix stronger mids reduced low-end different LUFS / peak strategy shorter attack, etc. Has anyone measured this directly with: the same WAV / CAF file same device same system volume locked AlarmKit playback vs unlocked in-app playback If this is not expected, would Apple want this reported as a bug with: sample project exact iOS version device model screen recording / audio recording What I’m trying to figure out For alarm-app UX, this matters a lot because: AlarmKit is the most reliable lock-screen/system path. But if AlarmKit playback is substantially quieter than normal app playback, the alarm experience is inconsistent depending on device/app state. That makes it hard to know whether to treat this as: expected system behavior, a framework limitation, an asset/mastering problem, or a bug. If anyone has tested this in a controlled way or received guidance from Apple/DTS, I’d appreciate any technical detail. Thanks.

Hello! I’m building a VoIP app for iPhone and Apple Watch using PushKit and CallKit. I’m trying to understand the recommended watchOS architecture for this kind of setup. What we would like is for the watch to behave as an endpoint for incoming calls, so that when a call comes in the user can answer on either the iPhone or the watch. My understanding is that VoIP notifications are not supported on watchOS, so for incoming calls what we ended up having to do was send the watch a regular APNs alert notification and only start the actual call setup after the user interacts with it. This isn’t ideal, and the notification often appears a few seconds late. What we would like to be able to do is present the incoming call on the watch more like how FaceTime calls appear on Apple Watch. So I wanted to ask whether this is the intended pattern for a companion watchOS VoIP app. Is using a regular APNs alert notification the correct way to surface an incoming call on the watch, or is there a better supported approach? Thanks!

I'm working on an app, and currently, 2 things dont work: account creation and notifications. I want to find the root of why these errors are occurring, and I want to know if these errors are coming from Firebase, certain settings in Xcode not being checked, or my actual written code not being typed correctly. I've tried to run my issue through ChatGPT many times to pretty much no success, so any help on what to do so I can clear certain areas and make sure the bugs aren't from certain spots, and help me narrow down the issue would be great. Otherwise, if there are other guides or threads I can be linked to, and help me fully break down the issue, that would be great. Thank you for your time reading, and I hope I can get some advice.