How to Test Push Notifications in the iOS Simulator?

Vicky Kumar

30 November 2023

From Xcode 11.4 and onward we can test push notifications in the simulator. In this blog, we will use the two methods to test the notification.

Testing push notifications using Terminal.

First, we need to find the simulator identifier on which our application is installed. To find the simulator identifier we will open the terminal and run the below code.

instruments -s devices

1	instruments -s devices

When we execute this code, all the installed simulators with their identifier will show. From here we will find the identifier of our simulator.

Now we will create a JSON file. In this file, we will create valid payload data. And saved it with .apns extension. Put the below code in the file and save it as anyname.apns.

{
  "aps": {
    "alert": {
      "title": "This is Test title",
      "body": "Hello world",
      "sound": "default"
    },
    "badge": 2
  },
  "Simulator Target Bundle": "com.test.webkul"
}

{

"aps": {

"alert": {

"title": "This is Test title",

"body": "Hello world",

"sound": "default"

"badge": 2

"Simulator Target Bundle": "com.test.webkul"

}

I have saved it as payload.apns

Here, “com.test.webkul” is my project bundle identifer.

We will now trigger the push notification. Simply write the below code in the terminal and execute it.

 xcrun simctl push "simulator identifier" "payload data path"

1	xcrun simctl push "simulator identifier" "payload data path"

Testing push notifications using drag and drop approach

In this approach, we will simply drag and drop our payload.apns file to the simulator. As soon as we did this we can see a notification on the simulator.

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