Does APNS Feedback service no longer exist as per new APIs?

Question

I was going through updated official APNS documentation and it clearly says,

All developers should migrate their remote notification provider servers to the more capable and more efficient HTTP/2-based API described in APNs Provider API.

But the new APNs Provider API doesn't seem to have old APNS Feedback Service. They have changed endpoint URLs which doesn't have feedback service endpoint. Also looks the error codes are upgraded now, which includes below error code,

Unregistered - The device token is inactive for the specified topic.

So aren't we suppose to call the APNS Feedback service anymore?

My major problem is I'm using javapns api version 2.2 for iOS push notifications for which I'm not able to find any update which will help me to cope up with this new changes.

Outwardbound

The link above is broken and this is probably the current one as of 2016/12/05 - developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/… – Floria

@Floria Thanks, updated the link. – Outwardbound

Answer 1

I think the new doc is clear :

There's an HTTP status code for the case that was previously reported by the Feedback Service :

410 - The device token is no longer active for the topic.

In addition, there's a JSON data key named timestamp in the response body :

timestamp

If the value in the :status header is 410, the value of this key is the last time at which APNs confirmed that the device token was no longer valid for the topic.

Stop pushing notifications until the device registers a token with a later timestamp with your provider.

Therefore, the HTTP response in the new API covers the functionality that was previously covered by the Feedback Service. Since the Feedback Service is not mentioned in the new doc, we can safely assume that it's not part of the new API.

If you are using an old library such as javapns, which still uses the old API, I'm assuming that it still uses the Feedback Service too. The old API is likely to still be supported by Apple for a while.

Mounting

Not sure whether Apple still supporting Feedback Service or not. Definitely they will not switch it off immediately. But surprisingly apple edited those docs on 17th Dec and my feedback service hasn't returned device tokens after 16th Dec. Maybe no one hasn't uninstalled applications after that. Yes javapns is still supporting the old API but i am not able to find any updated java library who can support these latest APIs if Apple stop supporting old APIs in sometime. – Outwardbound

@Outwardbound Well, if they don't send you device tokens on the feedback service, they can't complain if you keep sending push notifications to those tokens. They can't expect everyone would start using the new API within a short time period. It's based on the new HTTP/2 protocol, which is not that wide-spread (as far as I know). – Mounting

Now the feedback service is returning the device tokens with legacy code. But for new HTTP/2 interface not able to any find java library. – Outwardbound

@Mounting can you recommend a Java library that supports HTTP/2, which can be used instead of javapns? – Poaceous

@Curiousity No, I can't. I haven't been following recent Java APN libraries. – Mounting

@Mounting OK. No worries. Do you know if it's possible to use HTTP/2 without using a specific library (I am talking about Java)? – Poaceous

@Curiousity I'm not using the HTTP/2 version of APNs yet, so I can't answer from my own experience. However, HTTP/2 should be supported in JDK 9. – Mounting

@Mounting OK. Thanks a lot :) – Poaceous