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Set Up the Apple Push Notification Server
Introduction
In order to proceed you need an Apple developer license and a device running Mac OS X.
This how-to assumes that you already have the app signing key with provisioning profile and can freely build and install your mobile app (if not, please refer to this how-to). Take into account that your App ID should use Explicit App ID and have Push Notifications turned on so you can receive push notifications with your app.
If this is not the case, you need to create new App ID with Explicit App ID and Push Notifications turned on. After following the steps below, you’ll need to generate and download a new provisioning profile for this App ID and use it to rebuild the mobile app.
If everything is set up and you can build and deploy your application, you can proceed with setting up the push notifications server. To establish connectivity between your notification server and the Apple Push Notification service you will need either:
- An Apple Push Notification service key, or
- An Apple Push Notification service SSL certificate in the .p12 format
Option A: Using a key
Follow the steps below to obtain and set up an Apple Push Notifications key from Apple.
Signing Into the Apple Developer Center
Sign in to Apple Developer and navigate to https://developer.apple.com/account/ios/authkey/.
Creating a Key
Click the + icon in the upper right of the screen. This will present you with a new form. Enter a descriptive name for this key, select the Push Notifications service checkbox, and then press Contine. On the next page, press Confirm.
Downloading the Key
Press the download button and store the key in a secure place. Also, copy the Key ID for use in the next step.
Configuring APNs in Your Application
For the last step, you need to configure APNs within your application. This can be done by signing into your application as a user with the Administrator role and navigating to the PushNotifications_Administration page that was set up in the Setting Up the Project Security for Your Module section of How to Implement Push Notifications.
For this purpose, do the following:
- Create a new APNs configuration, and choose a name for the new configuration
- Choose a topic for the new configuration (you can freely choose one)
- Set the Authentication Type to Token
- If you receive a “topic disallowed” error message, leave the topic field empty
- Add your Apple Push Notification service key
- Enter your team ID as shown on the Apple developer website
- Enter the key ID as copied during the previous step
Option B: Using an SSL certificate
Follow the steps below to obtain and set up an Apple Push Notifications service SSL certificate from Apple.
Signing in to the Apple Developer Center
Sign in to Apple Developer and select your app on https://developer.apple.com/account/ios/identifier/bundle.
Choosing the Certificate Type
Click Edit, scroll to the Push Notifications section, and choose to configure either a Development certificate or a Production certificate. A Development certificate can only be used with iOS apps built and run in development mode. Production certificates can only be used with apps built and run in production mode.
Creating the CSR File
The wizard now explains how to create a Certificate Signing Request (CSR). Read this description and press Continue. During the next step, you should be asked for your CSR file. You may use the same CSR you used to create the app signing certificate. If you do not have one, please follow the instructions as shown below.
Downloading the Certificate
Download your Apple Push Notification service SSL certificate and add it to your Keychain.
This certificate needs to be converted into the .p12 format. If you do not know how to do this, refer to Apple’s What is app signing?.
Configuring APNs in Your Application
For the last step, you need to configure APNs within your application. This can be done by signing into your application as a user with Administrator role and navigating to the PushNotifications_Administration page that was set up in the Setting Up the Project Security for Your Module section of How to Implement Push Notifications.
To configure your APNs, complete the following steps:
- Create a new APNs configuration, and choose a name for the new configuration
- Choose a topic for the new configuration (you can freely choose one)
- Set the Authentication Type to Certificate
- Choose the Stage that corresponds to the type of certificate you have created
- Add your Apple Push Notification service SSL certificate in the .p12 format
- Enter the password that you used during creation of the certificate