Apple Push Notification Service (APNs)

Overview

Apple Push Notification Service (APNs) is Apple's platform for delivering push notifications to iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS devices.

[!IMPORTANT] APNs requires an Apple Developer account ($99/year) and either a .p8 authentication key or a .p12 certificate.

Prerequisites

• An Apple Developer Program membership
• An app with push notification capability enabled
• Your app registered with a Bundle ID in the Apple Developer portal

Step 1: Create an APNs Authentication Key (.p8)

The .p8 key is recommended — it never expires and works for all apps in your team.

1. Go to developer.apple.com/account/resources/authkeys
2. Click the + button to create a new key
3. Enter a key name (e.g., "Enbbox Push")
4. Check Apple Push Notifications service (APNs)
5. Click Continue → Register
6. Download the .p8 file — you can only download it once

You'll also need:

• Key ID — shown on the key details page (10-character string)
• Team ID — found in your Apple Developer membership page

Step 2: Connect to Enbbox

1. Navigate to Integrations in the Enbbox dashboard
2. Click Add Provider → select Push → APNs
3. Enter your credentials:
   • Private Key — paste the contents of the .p8 file
   • Key ID — the 10-character key identifier
   • Team ID — your Apple Developer Team ID
   • Bundle ID — your app's bundle identifier (e.g., com.myapp.ios)
4. Select Environment: sandbox for development, production for App Store builds
5. Click Test Connection to verify
6. Activate the integration

[!WARNING] Use sandbox for development/TestFlight builds and production for App Store releases. Using the wrong environment will cause silent delivery failures.

Step 3: Register Device Tokens

In your iOS app, request push permission and register the device token:

// AppDelegate.swift
func application(_ application: UIApplication,
    didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken deviceToken: Data) {
    let token = deviceToken.map { String(format: "%02.2hhx", $0) }.joined()
    // Send this token to your backend
}

Store it in Enbbox:

import { SubscriberCredentialsApi, Configuration } from "@enbbox/api";

const config = new Configuration({ accessToken: "your-api-key" });
const credentialsApi = new SubscriberCredentialsApi(config);

await credentialsApi.setCredentials("subscriber-123", "apns", {
  credentials: { device_tokens: [token] },
});

Step 4: Send a Test Notification

import { EventsApi, Configuration } from "@enbbox/api";

const config = new Configuration({ accessToken: "your-api-key" });
const eventsApi = new EventsApi(config);

await eventsApi.triggerEvent({
  name: "appointment-reminder",
  to: { subscriberId: "subscriber-123" },
  payload: {
    title: "Appointment Tomorrow",
    body: "Your appointment is scheduled for 10:00 AM",
  },
});

Troubleshooting