Apple Push Notification Service

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What Does Apple Push Notification Service Mean?

Apple Push Notification service (APNs) is a remote notification service that sends notifications and data to OS X- and iOS-powered devices. It is used to send third-party notifications over a secure connection. The service is delivered through an API that is integrated in all third-party iOS and Mac OS devices.

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Techopedia Explains Apple Push Notification Service

APNs primarily provides app developers a simple, efficient and secure path to push app notifications to Apple devices. These notifications can include anything from sounds, text and badges. Typically, APNs works when a third-party app establishes a connection with a device and then transfers/sends data or notifications. The key advantage and objective behind APNs are its ability to save battery time, as conventional pull technologies often connect with a third-party provider for new updates, even if there is none available. However, with APNs, a device is notified only when there is a new notification or message.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.