Push Notification restrictions

[Cartwright?]

Hi everyone, maybe someone here can explain why a 3rd party e-mail application cannot display notifications when a new email arrives while the worst games downloaded from app store can constantly spam the user's notification bar with messages such as "new vehicle available" or "someone you don't know just beat your score".

 

[koolmagicguy]

You need to acquaint yourself with a great app called "Settings".

 

[BaldiMac]

Short answer: 3rd party e-mail applications can display notifications when a new email arrives.

Extended answer: But only if the app developer has configured an online service to send a notification when you receive new messages.

 

[Cartwright?]

Short answer: 3rd party e-mail applications can display notifications when a new email arrives.

Extended answer: But only if the app developer has configured an online service to send a notification when you receive new messages.

OK, now this makes more sense. This means the notifications we receive on iOS are not generated by the app, instead the applications'/games' server pushing those directly onto the device.

I tried Altamail, and the developer said due to restrictions in place by Apple, e-mail app cannot notify the user if there is a new e-mail, and that we have to run a side-application on a desktop computer, and let that computer handle the notifications. This means the computer has to be on 24hrs to handle push notifications. I guess the developer will have to offer a paid service (few bucks a month) to keep a simple notification server running, honestly it should not cost them more than few cents to run this on a small server somewhere since all it has to do is just let the iOS device know there is a new e-mail, doesn't have to send more than a byte of data to do this.

 

[BaldiMac]

OK, now this makes more sense. This means the notifications we receive on iOS are not generated by the app, instead the applications'/games' server pushing those directly onto the device.

I tried Altamail, and the developer said due to restrictions in place by Apple, e-mail app cannot notify the user if there is a new e-mail, and that we have to run a side-application on a desktop computer, and let that computer handle the notifications. This means the computer has to be on 24hrs to handle push notifications. I guess the developer will have to offer a paid service (few bucks a month) to keep a simple notification server running, honestly it should not cost them more than few cents to run this on a small server somewhere since all it has to do is just let the iOS device know there is a new e-mail, doesn't have to send more than a byte of data to do this.

iOS apps can schedule local notifications as well. However, since they are not always running in the background, there is no way for them to know if you have new mail without a online notification.

FWIW, push notifications are all delivered through Apple's servers. So the third party's server notifies Apple's push notification server which sends the notification to the device. That way your phone doesn't need to maintain open connections to multiple servers.

 

[Cartwright?]

iOS apps can schedule local notifications as well. However, since they are not always running in the background, there is no way for them to know if you have new mail without a online notification.

FWIW, push notifications are all delivered through Apple's servers. So the third party's server notifies Apple's push notification server which sends the notification to the device. That way your phone doesn't need to maintain open connections to multiple servers.

Thanks, how does iOS stock email work?

If Apple's server is handling the push notifications, can't they do the same thing RIM did with BIS basically add e-mail accounts on the servers for Apple servers to handle e-mail notifications?