iOS developer modifications in iOS 13 you missed

We just lately caught up with George Deglin, CEO and Co-Founder at OneSignal who says the staff at OneSignal has been monitoring code modifications in iOS 13 since June, and so they recognized a number of technical modifications that Apple had not formally introduced elsewhere. In Xcode 11 Apple modified the outcomes of a operate that many builders had been utilizing to get push tokens. Extra unannounced modifications embody a newly required header for his or her push notification API (apns-push-type), modifications to the “apns-priority” header habits, discontinuation of TLSv1 help, and modifications to how VoIP notifications work. Deglin says it’s value it to remain forward of any main launch modifications to guarantee that prospects aren’t affected.

ADM: How lengthy have you ever been monitoring the progress for code modifications in iOS 13?

Deglin: We’ve been monitoring iOS 13 because it was first introduced at WWDC in June 2019. Together with the announcement, our staff rigorously reviewed the entire WWDC displays for data associated to iOS 13, the upcoming Xcode 11 launch, and every other modifications that might affect our prospects. From these displays, we recognized a number of technical modifications that Apple had not formally introduced elsewhere.

As iOS 13 and Xcode 11 got here nearer to launch, our staff started testing early beta variations of every and dealing alongside purchasers who had been attempting out these pre-release variations.

ADM: Are you able to share some examples of what you present in your testing?

Deglin: We found a number of modifications affecting iOS 13, Xcode 11, and Apple’s push notification API.

Probably the most impactful change could also be that in Xcode 11 Apple modified the outcomes of a operate that many builders had been utilizing to get push tokens (NSData’s description operate). There’s been some debate over whether or not builders had been doing this accurately, however nonetheless, this technique had been utilized in a big share of all purposes that implement push notifications.

Because of this transformation, many builders should ensure to overview the code or software program library they use for push token registration earlier than switching to utilizing Xcode 11.

Apple additionally made a number of different unannounced modifications, together with a newly required header for his or her push notification API (apns-push-type), modifications to the “apns-priority” header habits, discontinuation of TLSv1 help, and modifications to how VoIP notifications work.

Because of our early testing and buyer suggestions we obtained, we turned conscious of those modifications early on. This gave us time to replace all of our SDKs. We reached out and notified our affected prospects. We additionally determined to proactively attain out to different push notification service distributors so they may inform their prospects as effectively.

ADM: What has modified/who’s impacted?

Deglin: These modifications had widespread implications. Any iOS developer who implements push notifications of their app, or who works with a third-party vendor to implement notifications, was doubtless affected.

Many distributors had been caught off-guard and shipped last-minute fixes. There was additionally numerous miscommunication and uncertainty, with some solutions arriving solely after builders took it upon themselves to decompile Apple’s libraries to raised perceive the modifications.

The modifications are as follows:

1.    The NSData description operate now not returns the identical return worth as of Xcode 11. This technique had been utilized by many builders to get the system’s push token, however is now now not the proper technique.

2.    A brand new attribute, “apns-push-type” is required within the header of all requests despatched to Apple’s push notification service (APNS).

3.    The “apns-priority” header should now be set to five for all notifications with out person seen content material.

4.    Discontinuation of TLSv1 Help.

5.    A number of VoIP modifications.

When it got here to the VoIP notification modifications, some builders bumped into some significantly advanced issues. VoIP notifications had been designed by Apple to have a number of capabilities designed for messaging or telephone name purposes like Skype. Nevertheless, builders found that they may be used as a approach to implement end-to-end message encryption for notifications, amongst different options. In iOS 13, Apple selected to vary VoIP notifications such that they may now not be used outdoors of their unique objective.

In the end, many of the modifications may very well be labored round by builders who had been conscious of them. Nevertheless, the lack of awareness induced numerous confusion.

ADM: How ready had been main suppliers like Amazon for these modifications?

Deglin: Many suppliers weren’t effectively ready. Amazon introduced help for the modifications on Sept 10, 2019, simply 9 days earlier than iOS 13 was launched. Twilio’s documentation was old-fashioned till simply days earlier than. Lots of distributors proceed to have inaccurate documentation or code examples.

ADM: How responsive has Apple been to buyer/developer suggestions earlier than/after this launch? Have all the required updates been made within the 13.1 launch?

Deglin: Sadly, Apple has not been very responsive. They haven’t replied to discussion board threads asking for details about among the modifications, nor bug studies that had been submitted to them. Some documentation pages stay out of information or inconsistent. I’m optimistic that Apple will appropriate a few of these inconsistencies as soon as they’re much less busy with different iOS 13 and iPhone 11 releases.

ADM: What suggestions do you may have for different builders to remain forward of main launch modifications like this?

Deglin: It may be troublesome to maintain observe of all of the modifications Apple and different corporations make to their push notification implementations. Our staff stays knowledgeable of Apple’s modifications by rigorously watching all related WWDC classes, repeatedly reviewing Apple’s documentation for modifications, testing all Xcode and iOS beta releases, studying Apple’s developer boards, and dealing carefully with our purchasers. All of this may be time-consuming, however value it to remain forward of any main launch modifications and guarantee that our prospects aren’t affected.

OneSignal’s CEO George Deglin