How to use Apple Push Notification sandbox as a virtual device?

Question

The Apple APN Service Programming Guide in the Provisioning and Development section states that "its sandbox environment also runs on a virtual device, allowing simulation of end-to-end testing." However, I could not find information on how to access this virtual device (for example, how to get the device token, how you check the status of sent notifications, etc.) Does anyone know if this information is valid, and if it is How can end-to-end testing be done using the sandbox as a virtual device?

Answer 1

Getting a device token works the same on sandbox servers as it does on production servers — you only get a developer token, which can only be used when talking to their sandbox servers. However, just like on production servers, you cannot check the status of sent notifications or anything like that.

The wording of a “virtual device” is confusing because it is really just a separate set of infrastructure that only applies to development applications / device tokens.

So, just talk to the development servers while developing your application (that is, when your application is created with a development support profile) and talk to production servers when the application is created in ad-hoc or production mode, the process will be the same.

However, do not mix development marker tokens and production device tokens.

In addition, push notifications do not work in the simulator, so you will need to use the actual device for testing. If you are testing iPod Touch, be sure to keep in mind that it will only check messages every fifteen minutes if the backlight is off.

Hope this helps!