Developers have less than a year to update their push notifications

iPhone lock screen with Siri Shortcuts (Image credit: Apple)

What you need to know

Apple has released a statement about its push notification technology.
It urges developers to update to the new HTTP/2-based APNs provider API.
The legacy binary protocol will lose support in November of 2020.

Apple has released some news on its developer website alerting developers that its older protocol for supporting push notifications will cease to work in less than a year. In a statement on its developer website, Apple has explained that the old binary protocol for sending push notifications will be phased out in November of 2020, and be replaced by the HTTP/2-based APNs provider API.

The new API allows newer features and better security such as authentication with a JSON Web Token, improved error messaging, and per-notification feedback.

Here is the full statement per Apple's news release:

"If you send push notifications with the legacy binary protocol, we recommend updating to the HTTP/2-based APNs provider API as soon as possible. You'll be able to take advantage of great modern features, such as authentication with a JSON Web Token, improved error messaging, and per-notification feedback.The Apple Push Notification service (APNs) will no longer support the legacy binary protocol as of November 2020."

If you are a developer and want to learn about how to update to the new standard you can visit Apple's Developer website to read the Registering Your App with APNs article.

Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.