CODEWITHSUNDEEP
iospush-notificationapple-push-notifications
Hamzah Malik
Hamzah Malik

Reputation: 2570

iOS - i need processing time after silent push

My app makes use of push notifications to alert the user when they receive a message. Due to the nature of my server and also due to encryption, the server does not know what the message is, only the iPhone is able to decrypt it. However, i would like the message to show in the notification. So i need processing time after a silent push to download and decrypt the message then use a local notification to tell the user

However, iOS doesn't allow processing time for killed apps, only for foreground ones or ones still in the app switcher. How can i workaround this issue?

One solution i have found is PushKit. This seems to relaunch apps even if they've been force quit. However, it only does this for VoIP apps, my app is not a VoIP app and I think App Review will reject it if I use PushKit

Upvotes: 1

Views: 443

Answers (1)

Baris Akar
Baris Akar

Reputation: 4965

It is exactly as you described it and there is nothing to add. If the app is killed, you have no way of processing a silent push notification other than PushKit, but if you use PushKit, your app won't go through the review if it doesn't implement VoIP.

Your best option is to send push notification with a generic text (e.g. "You have a new message") instead of a silent push notification, that will serve as a fallback for the case that the app was killed. If the app was not killed, you can discard/remove the remote notification, download and decrypt the message and show a local notification with the actual message. If the app was killed, the remote notification with the generic text will be shown instead and the user will at least be notified that there is a new message.

Add this behavior to the FAQ of your app to encourage users to not kill the app. There is no reason to do this on iOS anyways, so if a user kills an app, he shouldn't expect that it works as desired.

Addition on misusing PushKit for this: If you misuse a functionality/service for something it is not intended to be used for, your app will probably be rejected. So if you enable VoIP background mode, but your app doesn't provide any VoIP functionality, it is pretty obvious. From the App Store Review Guidelines:

2.16 Multitasking Apps may only use background services for their intended purposes: VoIP, audio playback, location, task completion, local notifications, etc.

Upvotes: 1

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