'INVALID_TOKEN' When Sending Push Notifications

Joseph Wiemer

I'm getting an INVALID_TOKEN error when calling scheduleNormalizedPushNotificationMinutes() from cloud code. The "Send Notification" button in the BrainCloud dashboard also fails to work.

I've correctly uploaded/configured my .p12 file etc.
I'm correctly retrieving the device token from the client, and it shows up on the BrainCloud dashboard.
My Apple certs/profiles etc. are in order.

                var alertContentJson = {
                    "body": "content of message",
                    "title": "message title"
                };
                var customDataJson = {
                    "field1": "value1",
                    "field2": "value2"
                };
                var minutesFromNow = 1;
                var otherPlayerId = "someId";
                var pushNotificationProxy = bridge.getPushNotificationServiceProxy();
                
                var postResult = pushNotificationProxy.scheduleNormalizedPushNotificationMinutes(otherPlayerId, alertContentJson, customDataJson, minutesFromNow);

Joseph Wiemer

Ok guys, I've solved it! It was some godforsaken problem with my .p12 file.

Tried creating a .p12 file by exporting both the private key and the cert. FAILED.
Tried creating a .p12 file by exporting just the private key. FAILED.
Tried creating a .p12 file by exporting just the cert. SUCCESS.

So, notifications are now working for me. Not sure how to mark this question as solved, but it's solved. Thanks for all your help!

Paul Winterhalder

Hi Joseph,

We're looking into it. That error would generally indicate that the push token itself is invalid (though looking at the details in your logs it looks fine) - or that for some reason, the token isn't valid for that particular .p12 cert that you've uploaded to brainCloud).

We'll have more recommendations soon...

Paul.

Joseph Wiemer

@Paul-Winterhalder Thanks, Paul.

Paul Winterhalder

Hi Joseph,

Here's a way to test your Push notification setup (outside of brainCloud) to ensure that the cert and token retrieval is configured properly:

Go to pushtry.com
Upload the same .p12 file that you're using for brainCloud. Be sure to enter the password too.
Grab the Device Token(s) that you see in the user's User Summary Page - copy those over, separated by commas
Production box accordingly (brainCloud always tries to send to Production first, if that fails, sends to Sandbox)
Enter a test message
Hit [Send]

We just tried this with one of our test apps and it worked well. Does it work for your setup?

Jonathan

Adding in, when we get an error using the device token, we remove it from memory on the brainCloud portal, to prevent spamming the system with bad tokens. So if you look under user Monitoring | User Monitoring | User Summary you won't see the deviceTokens on that profile (due to the error your reporting.)

That said, your registration implementation and device token look fine. I don't think it's an issue with the token.

So perhaps it's an issue with the cert?

On the iCloud dashboard, I would check to ensure the cert used and uploaded with brainCloud had push notifications enabled.

Joseph Wiemer

@Paul-Winterhalder I'm getting "The credentials supplied to the package were not recognized." No clue what that means, unfortunately.

Jonathan

If it is a cert issue. These steps may help: https://www.mobiloud.com/help/knowledge-base/how-to-export-push-notification-certificate-p12/

edit: this link seems to confirm the cert theory. Based on the error message: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/22568648/ios-production-push-notifications-invalid-token-from-apns-server

Paul Winterhalder

@Joseph-Wiemer My guess would be bad password?

Joseph Wiemer

@Paul-Winterhalder That's what I thought at first, but no, my password is correct.

Paul Winterhalder

I agree with Jonathan's suggestion to recreate the P12 file. I'm reading several articles here where someone was getting the same error.

The solution in all cases was to recreate the P12 file.

The quote from the discussion:

I figured out the problem. I revoked and regenerated the certificate again, and this time I only exported the private key (without the certificate). In Keychain access, I exported as .p12 and used the new file and it worked. For some reason, PushSharp wasn't play well with .p12 when both certificate and private key are present in the file.

Here's the link to Stack Overflow:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/23329040/pushsharp-apns-production-the-credentials-supplied-to-the-package-were-not-reco

Hope that helps!

Paul.

Joseph Wiemer

@Paul-Winterhalder That gives me something to pursue. Thanks, Paul!

Joseph Wiemer

@Paul-Winterhalder I exported just the private key without the cert and pushtry.com now says, "Push notification sent successfully". So, I uploaded this new .p12 file to brainCloud. However, I never actually received a notification on my device, and am still unable to send notifications via the brainCloud dashboard.

Paul Winterhalder

Okay - the two symptoms:

#1 - You say you never got that push from the pushtry tool. I assume your app wasn't running at the time? Apple hides push notifications from apps if the app is currently running. Try again?

#2 - When you say you can't send notifications, you mean they aren't received - just like #1, correct?

Talking to one of our devs now. He mentions that you need to ensure that the app that's running on the device is built with the correct "entitlements". He's gonna provide more info...

Stay tuned...

Paul.

Steve Jones

@Joseph-Wiemer

Can you confirm that the cert that you made was for Production? AND! that the apps entitlement was set correctly.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/bundleresources/entitlements/aps-environment https://developer.apple.com/documentation/usernotifications/registering_your_app_with_apns

By default when building from xcode, the default Push Notification Entitlement is development, ensure this is set to production.

Have you confirmed you received the Push notification from pushtry.com on your device ?

Paul Winterhalder

And note, if you change the entitlement, after rebuilding, you'll need to re-run the app on your device - which I believe will cause it to register a new, updated device token... You'll want to use that one for your tests...

Do I have that right Steve?

Steve Jones

Correct! @Paul-Winterhalder Keep us updated @Joseph-Wiemer

Joseph Wiemer

@Paul-Winterhalder

#1 - My app was not running at the time, and I tried again.
#2 - That's correct. And I'm still getting the same INVALID_TOKEN error in "Recent Errors".

My app does have the correct "production" entitlement, yes.

Joseph Wiemer

@Steve-Jones Yes to both. My cert is for distribution and my app entitlement is set to "production". No, the notification from pushtry.com never appeared on my device, despite the service claiming to have been successful.

Paul Winterhalder

Dumb question - do you have any other devices that you can load your app on and try with? It's certainly suspicious that pushtry isn't working for you.

At this point I'd be removing the app from the device, re-installing, re-running (to register what I believe would be a new device token), and retrying the send - both from pushtry and brainCloud.

If both pushtry and brainCloud don't work - the common denominators are your app's configuration, the device itself, and Apple's servers...

Joseph Wiemer

@Paul-Winterhalder Yes, I do have other devices I could try. I realize this probably isn't a brainCloud problem, so I appreciate all the help you guys have given me, here. Thank you, and I'll keep trying to figure it out.