Forbidden access when connecting to Apple Push Notification service - php

Question

I have some troubleshooting when trying to push a notification to my iPhone using the APNs. I use a PHP code that I keep seeing over and over on the Internet so I don't think the problem is about it:
<?php
// Put your device token here (without spaces):
$deviceToken = 'mytoken'; // Of course this is my correct token here
// Put your private key's passphrase here:
$passphrase = 'mypassphrase'; // Same here
$message = $argv[1];
$url = $argv[2];
if (!$message || !$url)
exit('Example Usage: $php newspush.php \'Breaking News!\' \'https://raywenderlich.com\'' . "\n");
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
$ctx = stream_context_create();
stream_context_set_option($ctx, 'ssl', 'local_cert', __DIR__.'/cert.pem');
stream_context_set_option($ctx, 'ssl', 'passphrase', $passphrase);
// Open a connection to the APNS server
$fp = stream_socket_client(
'gateway.sandbox.push.apple.com:2195', $err,
$errstr, 60, STREAM_CLIENT_CONNECT|STREAM_CLIENT_PERSISTENT, $ctx);
if (!$fp)
exit("Failed to connect: $err $errstr" . PHP_EOL);
echo 'Connected to APNS' . PHP_EOL;
// Create the payload body
$body['aps'] = array(
'alert' => $message,
'sound' => 'default',
'link_url' => $url,
);
// Encode the payload as JSON
$payload = json_encode($body);
// Build the binary notification
$msg = chr(0) . pack('n', 32) . pack('H*', $deviceToken) . pack('n', strlen($payload)) . $payload;
stream_set_blocking($fp, 0);
// Send it to the server
$result = fwrite($fp, $msg, strlen($msg));
if (!$result)
echo 'Message not delivered' . PHP_EOL;
else {
echo 'Message successfully delivered' . PHP_EOL;
}
// Close the connection to the server
fclose($fp);
I have the output "Message successfully delivered", so the connection has been successfully established, idem for the sent message. However, the device does not receive anything.
I used the feedback feature to try to know what's wrong, but the result is empty (the array is literally empty):
<?php
function send_feedback_request() {
//connect to the APNS feedback servers
//make sure you're using the right dev/production server & cert combo!
$stream_context = stream_context_create();
stream_context_set_option($stream_context, 'ssl', 'local_cert', __DIR__.'/cert3.pem');
stream_context_set_option($stream_context, 'ssl', 'passphrase', 'meteor0405');
$apns = stream_socket_client('ssl://feedback.sandbox.push.apple.com:2196', $errcode, $errstr, 60, STREAM_CLIENT_CONNECT, $stream_context);
if(!$apns) {
echo "ERROR $errcode: $errstr\n";
return;
}
$feedback_tokens = array();
//and read the data on the connection:
while(!feof($apns)) {
$data = fread($apns, 38);
if(strlen($data)) {
$feedback_tokens[] = unpack("N1timestamp/n1length/H*devtoken", $data);
}
}
fclose($apns);
return $feedback_tokens;
}
var_dump(send_feedback_request());
Would you have any idea on what I can do to figure out what's wrong? Can it be due to the certificate? A .cer file has been generated from the Apple website and been imported into Keychain Access to make a .p12 file. Then, I converted it to .pem format thanks to an openssl command, and this is the one I use in files below.
Thank you!

Answer 1

If you are getting the successful message then it means your PHP code is correct but something is missing from the pem file.Checkout the pem file creation steps here https://www.digicert.com/ssl-support/pem-ssl-creation.htm and try it again.Hope it will help.

Answer 2

The problem was indeed coming from my PEM file. To anyone having the same issue, here is what I did.
After having downloaded the certificate and private key from the iPhone Developper Connection Portal in the .p12 format, I had to convert them into .pem format. After that, I had to merge the two files (put the content of the certificate first, then the private key). This merge has to be put in a new .pem file, and this is the file to use in the PHP script.
Here is the full tutorial I followed: https://blog.serverdensity.com/how-to-build-an-apple-push-notification-provider-server-tutorial/
Moreover, the PHP code is not exactly the same. The one I used in the first post was not correct, use the tutorial's one instead.