174
votes

I am developing an app with push notifications. To check all possible ways of user interaction, I'd like to test my app when a user declines to have push notifications enabled for my app during the first start.

The dialog (initiated by registerForRemoteNotificationTypes), however, appears only once per app. How do I reset the iPhone OS's memory of my app. Deleting the app and reinstalling doesn't help.

14

14 Answers

302
votes

Technical Note TN2265: Troubleshooting Push Notifications

The first time a push-enabled app registers for push notifications, iOS asks the user if they wish to receive notifications for that app. Once the user has responded to this alert it is not presented again unless the device is restored or the app has been uninstalled for at least a day.

If you want to simulate a first-time run of your app, you can leave the app uninstalled for a day. You can achieve the latter without actually waiting a day by setting the system clock forward a day or more, turning the device off completely, then turning the device back on.

Update: As noted in the comments below, this solution stopped working since iOS 5.1. I would encourage filing a bug with Apple so they can update their documentation. The current solution seems to be resetting the device's content and settings.

Update: The tech note has been updated with new steps that work correctly as of iOS 7.

  1. Delete your app from the device.
  2. Turn the device off completely and turn it back on.
  3. Go to Settings > General > Date & Time and set the date ahead a day or more.
  4. Turn the device off completely again and turn it back on.

UPDATE as of iOS 9

Simply deleting and reinstalling the app will reset the notification status to notDetermined (meaning prompts will appear).

Thanks to the answer by Gomfucius below: https://stackoverflow.com/a/33247900/704803

48
votes

Another just for testing solution to this is by simply changing your bundle id. Just don't forget to change it back once you're done!

37
votes

On iOS 9.0.2, I'm getting the "register push notification alert" every time I delete the app and reinstall it. This is true for both AppStore production downloads and adhoc mode.

UPDATE: It is confirmed this is working for iOS 9.x

19
votes

As already noted the approach for resetting the notification state for an app on a device is changed for iOS5 an newer.

This works for me on iOS6:

  • Remove the app from the device
  • Set the device datetime two days or more ahead
  • Restart the device
  • Set the device datetime two days or more ahead
  • Restart the device
  • Install and run the app again

However this will only make the initial prompt appear again - it will not remove any other push state related stuff.

9
votes

The plist: /private/var/mobile/Library/RemoteNotification/Clients.plist

... contains the registered clients for push notifications. Removing your app's entry will cause the prompt to re-appear

8
votes

Doing it programmatically seems to work for me everytime. I have a build with the following line uncommented:

 [[UIApplication sharedApplication] unregisterForRemoteNotifications];

I run it every time I want to unregister from PN. You might have to end the app explicitly from the recents list and play around with the Notification Center in Settings app to get it right.

Also, the UI prompt asking the user to register for PN may not show up. Not sure if has been disabled in any of the recent iOS versions.

5
votes

As ianolito said, setting the date should work:

You can achieve the latter without actually waiting a day by setting the system clock forward a day or more, turning the device off completely, then turning the device back on.

I noticed on my device (iPhone 4, iOS 6.1.2) setting the system clock a day forward or even a few days did not work for me. So I set the date forward a month and then it did work and my application showed the notifications prompt again.

Hope this helps for anyone, it can be kind of head aching!

5
votes

I agree with micmdk.. I had a development environment setup with Push Notifications and needed a way to reset my phone to look like an initial install… and only these precise steps worked for me… requires TWO reboots of Device:

From APPLE TECH DOC:

Resetting the Push Notifications Permissions Alert on iOS The first time a push-enabled app registers for push notifications, iOS asks the user if they wish to receive notifications for that app. Once the user has responded to this alert it is not presented again unless the device is restored or the app has been uninstalled for at least a day.

If you want to simulate a first-time run of your app, you can leave the app uninstalled for a day. You can achieve the latter without actually waiting a day by following these steps:

  1. Delete your app from the device.

  2. Turn the device off completely and turn it back on.

  3. Go to Settings > General > Date & Time and set the date ahead a day or more.

  4. Turn the device off completely again and turn it back on.

3
votes

I have wondered about this in the past and came to the conclusion that it was not actually a valid test case for my code. I don't think your application code can actually tell the difference between somebody declining notifications the first time or later disabling it from the iPhone notification settings. It is true that the user experience is different but that is hidden inside the call to registerForRemoteNotificationTypes.

Calling unregisterForRemoteNotifications does not completely remove the application from the notifications settings - though it does remove the contents of the settings for that application. So this still will not cause the dialog to be presented a second time to the user the next time the app runs (at least not on v3.1.3 that I am currently testing with). But as I say above you probably should not be worrying about that.

3
votes

The same tech note as refered to in the accepted answer (TN2265 - Troubleshooting Push Notifications) has since been updated with a solution for iOS 5 and above.

In short: create a backup and restore from it every time.

On iOS 5 and later, reset the push notifications permissions alert by restoring the device from a backup (r. 11450187). Here are the steps to do this efficiently:

  1. Use the Xcode Organizer to install your app on the device. The key is to install the app for the first time without running it.
  2. Use iTunes to back up the device.
  3. Run the app. The push notifications permissions alert will be presented.
  4. When you want to reset the push notifications permissions alert, restore the device from the backup you created in the first step.
2
votes

The Apple Tech Note also described you can restore the device to reset the Push Notification dialog.

It does not say that you can also use the option "General -> Reset -> Erase All Content And Settings" on the device itself (iOS 5.x).

2
votes

I recently ran into the similar issue with react-native application. iPhone OS version was 13.1 I uninstalled the application and tried to install the app and noticed both location and notification permissions were not prompted.

On checking the settings, I could see my application was enabled for location(from previous installation) however there was no corresponding entry against the notification Tried uninstalling and rebooting without setting the time, it didn't work. Btw, I also tried to download the Appstore app, still same behavior.

The issue was resolved only after setting the device time.

1
votes

In addition to the answer of ianolito.

Had the same issue with an app I downloaded a year ago and denying push notification initially. Now wanting push notifications back, these steps worked for me on iOS 7 beta. Not sure which point(s) triggered it exactly.

  • Close and delete the app.
  • Go to your iCloud settings and delete the app from the iCloud. Do this on all other devices where you have iCloud backup for apps enabled. After deactivating and deleting make a fresh backup. The app should not be listed any more under the backups. (This is maybe why the Technical Note from Apple described by ianolito stopped working in iOS 5, since iCloud was introduced in iOS 5 and many have iCloud backup for apps enabled.)
  • Go to your time settings and set the time more than 1 month ahead.
  • Switch the iPhone off (no reset).
  • Wait a minute, switch it on again and download the app again.
  • Start the app and I was presented the dialog again.
  • Enable app backup again, since it is still deactivated. Correct the time.

Thank god I did not have to "Erase All Content And Settings". Maybe it will help someone.

0
votes

After hours of searching, and no luck with the suggestions above, this worked like to a charm for 3.x+

override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()


            requestAuthorization()

}

func requestAuthorization() {

        if #available(iOS 10.0, *) {

            UNUserNotificationCenter.current().requestAuthorization(options: [.alert, .sound, .badge]) { (granted, error) in
                print("Access granted: \(granted.description)")
            }

        } else {
            // Fallback on earlier versions
        }

    }