Device Token Not Invalidated After App Uninstall (iOS 26.4 Beta)

Question

ShotaroAoki OP

Created 1d

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Hello,

We are experiencing an issue related to push notifications after updating devices to iOS 26.4 Beta.

Our system stores push notification tokens on the server by associating the device token with the device’s IDFV in the app.

After updating a device to iOS 26.4 Beta, we observed that the device token from a previously uninstalled version of the app remains valid for more than a week. As a result, two push notifications are delivered to the same device.

The situation is as follows:

The user installs the app and a device token is generated.
The user uninstalls the app.
Later, the user installs the app again and a new device token is generated.
However, the previous device token does not become invalid, even after more than a week.

Because IDFV changes when the app is reinstalled, our server cannot determine that the device belongs to the same user. Therefore, we cannot overwrite the old token with the new one on the server side.

Could you please advise:

Is this behavior expected in iOS 26.4 Beta?
How long does it normally take for a device token to become invalid after an app is uninstalled?
What is the recommended approach to prevent duplicate push notifications in this situation?

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards

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Answer 1

Engineer OP

Apple

6h

By saying "token is invalidated" I assume you are talking about receiving a 410 Error for your push request.

This is not an issue new to iOS 26.4. It seems like it just happens that you may have encountered it just yet, or have not noticed it before.

The 410 status was never meant to be a signal for developers to determine that the app has been removed.

It is only a signal to the push provider server that they should stop using that token. Although this could mean that the app may have been removed, it could also mean the token has changed while the app is still installed.

The app token may change due to certain system events. Deleting and reinstalling the app, restoring the device from a backup, resetting the device (and then installing the app), certain major iOS updates, transferring all apps and data to a new device are all events that will cause the token to change. Because of this, it is recommended that apps register for remote notifications at every launch. If the token has changed, the app would need to update the push server to use the new token for the device/user. If an existing token is receiving 410, it might be that the app is still installed but one of these cases occurred.

Indeed if you look at the description of the 410 status, it says "The device token is no longer active for the topic.". Topic, in most cases means "your app". It is an indicator of the state of the token, not the app. And trying to determine whether an app has been deleted or not based on the 410 result is an off-label use that would not guarantee the results you might expect.

Additionally, beginning the return of the 410 state is non-deterministic for the sole purpose of discouraging this interpretation.

To summarize this interpretation: Existence of a 410 status merely indicates that the token is no longer valid and should not be used anymore. It does not mean the app has been deleted. Nor, the lack of a 410 status mean the app is still installed and receiving notifications.

If it is important to your use case that you know notifications are being received, my suggestion would be to link the token to a user account rather than pair it with IDFV, as IDFV is not supposed to be an indicator to determine a unique user either.

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