Is Apple trying to block Push Notifications on SIM-unlocked iPhones running on non-Apple blessed carriers? Czech-based PoweryBase reports that Hactivated iPhones don’t get a response from Apple’s Push Notification servers.
Further investigation shows that Apple may be blocking Push Notification Service on purpose to fight users who break carrier monthly plan agreements and unofficially unlocking these subsidized devices to work with other carriers which Apple is not partnered with.
"When the Push based application such as NotifyMe requests an ID from APNS, the server responds within a second and identifies the device with the unique token. From that point, the connection between APNS and user’s device is successfully established," said Pavel Serbajlo, PoweryBase’s lead developer. "However, on a unofficially activated device, APNS keeps the application wait forever and does not provide any respond at all, keeping user wait infinitely or time out the connection, if the target application is capable of timing out."
While not responding to request if the client application is requesting unexpected data is common in small UDP based services, big infrastructures such as APNS usually respond with an error to let the users or 3rd party developers know what caused the connection to fail for further debugging. The described scenario might not be tested at Apple, or more possibly, the behavior is intentional.
..and are responsible for most of their support calls and bad ratings…
PoweryBase reports that after first seven sales days of NotifyMe, company’s server database statistics show about 5 percent of users using unofficially modified or so called "hacktivated" iPhones. 5 percent of these users generate more than 80 percent of customer support requests daily, claiming the application does not work as advertised.
The problem could lie in the fact that Apple protects its Push Notification servers from requests from unknown sources (i.e other telcos?)….though Push works over Wifi, so that point is probably moot.
Via AppAdvice
Well maybe on jailbroken iPhones but not un officially unlocked ones. I got mine officially unlocked by Orange Switzerland and use it with Sunrise (not an Apple/iPhone partner) and push notifications work perfectly…
if only apple gave up that silly mentality of 1 carrier exclusivity, people wouldnt have to jailbreak their iphones and everything would be fine
plus they would sell many more iphones, im so tired of exclusive carrier phones
It’s fair game for Apple to do that. People who SIM-Unlock their iPhones aren’t paying Apple revenue, and the Push Notification servers presumably aren’t free.
Exactly. Apple is providing a service (Push Notification) for which the unlocked user is not contributing to. I say, good for Apple. These vocal minority are the ones who typically hog resources anyway. More speedy push notifications for me…
Apple is sells a product… AT&T sells a service. Once the iphone leaves the Apple store, Apple technically should have no say in what is done with their product. Yes, they receive revenue from every iphone that is activated with AT&T which is why they want to keep it only on one carrier. I think EVERYONE should jailbreak and unlock their phones and use T-MObile to teach em all a lesson…
PUSH seems to be working fine for many jailbroken users
I though that hactivated is NOT SIM unlocked … Aren’t you mixing the two terms ?
you’re correct. hacktivated means the phone was activated using a 3rd party tool, not by itunes. unlocked means it’s able to use any sim card.
so you could have a hacktivated phone that is still carrier locked.
This article is nonsense.. Apple isn’t blocking anything – iPhone JB/unlock process wipes out the keys that are needed by APNS (Apple Push Notification Server). There is a tool on Cydia that restored the keys, and Push will work just fine.
which application? does cydia do it automatically upon install or something?
I have an unlocked 3G iPhone and push works just fine.
The only countries where the iPhone is on one carrier (from my knowledge) is the US,UK,France and Germany.
I’m in Australia and every single Telco sells the iPhone. Various plans, various agreements. It works well here, and I have officially unlocked my phone through my service provider, which is all legit, and used a UK SIM card when I travelled to England, and it all worked fine. Including all push services and features.
Can’t speak for jail-breaking though, that exercise is just pointless anyway…
Sorry don’t understand this part? Apple is making money on iTunes store on the apps, and the notifications are for the apps.
I have ATT but i am so tired overpaying them when i go elsewhere, i still have a contract, but i like to use other sims on travel.
I assume when i buy an APP that part of the money goes to the apple push notification, and apple should not block them.