Reset push notification settings for app

Question

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.

Gizmo

Answer 1

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://mcmap.net/q/141768/-reset-push-notification-settings-for-app

Cheboksary

Has anyone tried this w/ iOS 5.1? I have followed these steps exactly and I still can't get the device to reset it... I have even tried setting the clock on my Mac forward before installing it via Xcode. – Apia

Ditto... I didn't get a prompt. – Seizure

Apple added a new requirement to the AppStore submissions guidelines, which relies on the application to show the prompt. This may suggest that the automatic prompt has been removed in iOS 5.1. However there is no API to query the notification center settings, so not sure what would be the purpose of the prompt anyway. See my response to a similar issue: #10191506 – Plater

After playing arround with the date settings I noticed this only worked for me when I changed the date with at least one month further as setting one day did not work for me. Hope this helps! – Undesigned

Maybe I'm not doing it right, but I can't get this work at all, no matter how far forward I set the clock. I've filed a bug with Apple, but I'd encourage others to do the same. – Rhearheba

Awesome... The feeling you get when something starts working after scratching head for a long time is awesome and I feel achieved world.. +1 for the solution – Intermixture

This is ridiculous. Doesn't Apple realize that developers or even users might want to be able to reset these things without using a really bad workaround? – Resplendence

Works on iOS8 with only one change – Convict

This applies also for local notifications. – Jutland

What about the simulator? – Tiffaneytiffani

I recommend doing this in the simulator because you can "restart" it a lot faster than an actual device. – Stour

How do you do it in the simulator? I don't see anywhere in the settings to move the clock forward one day. – Albertype

To perform this in the simulator, bring up the simulator in question. Click on "iOS Simulator" from the menu and then click on "Reset Content and Settings". This clears everything which includes permissions. – Dupery

When I try this in the simulator, I'm getting the error Code=3010 "remote notifications are not supported in the simulator" – Brophy

So when do I turn the clock back to the correct day? Or do I just keep changing it forward? But then my data will be all wrong coz of wrong date. – Enthuse

Actually, on iOS 7+, you don't need to restart twice. Just uninstall your app, set your device's date 24hrs ahead and then restart your device. There you go. – Besprinkle

For anyone who can't immediately figure out how to set the Date Forward, turn off the switch "Set Automatically" when on the Date & Time page. – Weaponeer

after I run my app with UIApplication.shared.unregisterForRemoteNotifications() the variable of UIApplication.shared.isRegisteredForRemoteNotifications looks false but then after I try to register, it remember the old settings, interesting – Museum

Answer 2

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!

Chyle

Don't you also need to create a certificate for the new app id in order to test it? – Dowski

This would only work if your'e using wildcard based provisioning profiles - otherwise, you would need to create a profile for the new bundle. – Eolic

Even if you need to create a new profile, that's merely clicking the "Fix it" button and waiting a few seconds -- much faster than going through all those reboot cycles. – Cleopatra

this is the fastest solution ! It works pretty well for me ! When changing your bundle_id you won't be able to sign the app with the same "provisioning profiles". But don't worry, in xCode (my version 7.1.1), you can click on "fix it" and it do the job. As well, don't forget the "Capabilities" onglet, where you can have several items to "fix" (by clicking on the "fix it" button) and then, it will works very well ! – Wringer

This answer is a legit option but still a hack-fix for a foolish situation from Apple. I'm not modifying the bundleID, nor switching the device clock. Just as appropriate, any developer could write some short code showing a UIAlertView that asks "Allow push notifications?" .. Yes = call the register method; No = call didFailToRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithError (etc).. that's my own solution, my take-away after reading this Q&A. Technically, it's the best way, to give users awareness of privacy info... WHY push must be enabled or optional. – Dyann

Answer 3

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

Disproportionation

I experience the same behaviour for iOS 9.x. I would recommend you to edit the original answer by adding an UPDATE: – Bright

Finally! No more deleting app, turning device off, setting clock to a forward time and some silly stuff like this. – Mucoid

Answer 4

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.

Sayce

Worked for me too on ios7, you have to change the date twice once doesn't work – Sugarcoat

Thank you! This even works on iOS 8 (I had to reset the push permissions for Twitter.app, because it did not have the "App icon badges" setting in it's preference pane in the Settings). – Paronymous

Answer 5

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

Hopi

useless answer if you develop for the App Store – Yardmaster

If this is possible for jailbreakers, it should be possible for developers to do on a non-jailbroken phone, right? And it's NOT a useless answer, because this isn't something you'd put in an app for submission to the store. It's for developers to do WHILE TESTING. – Manipulator

This file is not part of iOS 5.x. – Weak

See an updated answer as part of this question: #13021566 – Metric

Answer 6

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.

Redd

Worked for me iOS 10 / iPhone 6S. Note that I unregistered, then deleted app before reinstalling. – Glace

Answer 7

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.

Perished

This has been mentioned as no longer working in another answer. – Baronetcy

It works just fine. What stopped working in iOS 5.1 was the old version of that other answer, which left out the reboot between deleting the app and setting the clock ahead. – Tipi

Answer 8

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!

Undesigned

Please don't answer with "Latest OS" – it changes all the time. This behaviour appears still broken in 6.1.2, but perhaps it worked in 6.0.1? – Rhearheba

Edited the answer, still have this in 6.1.2 yes and before in 6.0.1 too. It only works for me if I at least set the date +1 month. – Undesigned

I had also heard the 24 hour thing, so tried it and it didn't work doing 2 days in advanced. Set it to like 3 months from now and the permission popup appeared again! Thanks! – Diagnostician

Old post but glad to see it is still of help! Good luck :) – Undesigned

Answer 9

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.

Perla

I was hoping for a better answer, but I guess there just isn't one. Thanks anyway! – Gizmo

Answer 10

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.

Whirlpool

It might have recommended that at one time, but it no longer does. The current recommendation is to delete the app, reboot, set the clock forward, reboot, optionally set the clock back to the correct date and time, and run the app. – Tipi

Answer 11

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).

Tl

For what it's worth: I just tried 'erase all settings', and that didn't work. Trying all-content-and-all-settings... – Engraving

And "all content and settings" does indeed work, thanks! But holy nuclear option, Batman! That's absolutely insane. – Engraving

I've heard buying a new device also clears the push notification warning! – Yardmaster

I tried buying a new device, but that didn't work either. After taking the new device to the genius bar, they worked some magic and fixed for more money... I'm surprised after so many years Apple still hasn't provided a practical and simple way to reset push permissions. It's ridiculous – Hallucinatory

Answer 12

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.

Jewelljewelle

Answer 13

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.

Hydraulic

Answer 14

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
        }

    }

Veradia

did you even read the question? – Prague