When is didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken called?

Question

There are a lot of questions about didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken but they all sidestep a very direct question which I cannot seem to find an exact answer to.

For an app which is properly set up for notifications in all other ways and has proper network connectivity: when is didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken called? Some possible choices might be:

1. Every time the app starts
2. Only after the initial prompt to the user to accept push notifications
3. Something else?

Answer 1

The application delegate will call the method upon successful registration of remote notification after you call this method in your UIApplication:

(void)registerForRemoteNotificationTypes:(UIRemoteNotificationType)types

According to: http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#DOCUMENTATION/UIKit/Reference/UIApplication_Class/Reference/Reference.html

When you send this message, the device initiates the registration process with Apple Push Service. If it succeeds, the application delegate receives a device token in the application:didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken: method; if registration doesn’t succeed, the delegate is informed via the application:didFailToRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithError: method. If the application delegate receives a device token, it should connect with its provider and pass it the token.

Now, to elaborate further, normally an app will call the registerForRemoteNotificationTypes in your didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions in your application delegate. And therefore, the application:didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken is then usually called moments after the launch of the application.

Edit: The application:didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken still gets called for subsequents registration after the first.