Troubleshoot Push Messages By Logging APSD Process
December 4, 2012
When things are not working as expected with push messages, having insight into what is happening at a deeper level than your code, can be very helpful. iOS offer offers a logging feature that captures APSD process information on the device.
To enable logging of push messages install the configuration profile PersistentConnectionLogging.mobileconfig on your device:
Option #1 – Upload the file to a web-server and point Safari on your phone to the file
Option #2 – Send the file via email and open the attachment
With either option you will receive an alert asking if you are good with installing APS/PC Logging.
Reboot your device. Now, exercise your app and view messages in the console. Look for lines that contain information from the apsd process
Ideally you will see messages that look as follows, indicating success creating a persistent connection to Apple push service:
Dec 03 01:15:23 unknown apsd[2]
Dec 03 01:22:14 unknown apsd[56]
Dec 03 01:22:14 unknown apsd[56]
…
Dec 03 01:33:54 unknown apsd[56]
If you see errors similar to those below there may be a connection issue, anything from no cellular or WiFi coverage to a problem with the TCP connection to Apple:
Dec 03 02:23:41 unknown apsd[56]
Operation timed out” UserInfo=0x25ae40 {}
Dec 03 02:23:41 unknown apsd[56]
connection failure. (Consecutive failures: 1)
Successful push messages will look as follows:
Dec 03 10:31:32 unknown apsd[56]
enabled topic ‘com.YOURPROFILE.AppName’ with payload ‘{
aps = {
alert = “Show a message here…”;
};
}’
An alternative way to view the logs is to sync your device after running your application. The log file will be saved in this location:
~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/MobileDevice/
