I wrote a simple messaging system, which allows sending brief messages from web interface to devices, in form of push notification.
On android, everything went well, once device receives notification is sends delivery confirmation receipt back to server, then read acknowledgement. Obviously, delivery confirmation often happens while app is running in background or phone is asleep.
I wrote similar app for iOS. How surprised I was that application: didReceiveRemoteNotification is not called when app is not active!
Is it really impossible to track message delivery without user interaction when app is not active? Others have suggested keeping log of messages on server and sending them when app opens, but this still requires user interaction.
Is there a way around apple restriction on background services? Can I somehow make my app use sound or location service, to allow simple POST request while in background?