Introduction
This tutorial explains how to configure your WHM account so that users can receive push notifications for iOS® mail. We introduced this feature in cPanel & WHM version 64. When users enable push notifications, they receive notifications when new messages arrive.
You must export the Apple® Push Notification service (APNs) key, and then install the key on your WHM server to enable push notifications.
Important:
- You cannot create APNs certificates in macOS Server® 5.7.1 (required for the macOS® Mojave 10.14 operating system). For more information, read Apple's macOS Server 5.7.1 upgrade documentation. You request that Apple includes this feature in macOS Server 5.7.1 on Apple's feedback forum.
- You must open TCP outbound traffic for port
2195
if your firewall restricts this port. For more information, read our How to Configure Your Firewall for cPanel Services documentation.
Notes:
- Perform steps 1 – 3 on you MacOS device.
- Perform steps 4 – 5 on your iOS device.
Receive push notifications for iOS mail
Create an APNs key.
To create the APNs key, perform the following steps:
Open the Apple App Store application (app) via Finder (Applications >> App Store). Sign in when the system prompts you.
Note:
You can also press the
Command
+Space Bar
keys and search for App Store.- Search for macOS Server.
- Click the macOS Server icon.
- Click $19.99, then click Buy App.
- Click Open.
- Select This Mac from the Choose A Mac menu and click Continue.
- Select the Apple Push Notifications (APN) checkbox from the Settings menu.
- Enter your credentials.
Export APNs key information.
To export the APNs key, perform the following steps:
Open the Keychain Access app via Finder (Applications >> Utilities >> Keychain Access).
Note:
You can also press the
Command + Space Bar
keys and search for Keychain Access .- Select System from the Keychains menu and then select Keys from the Category menu.
- Press the control key and left-click (or right-click) the
com.apple.servermgrd.apns.mail
key ( ) or certificate bundle ( ) with your mouse. Select Export "
com.apple.servermgrd.apns.mail
"…Click Save to save the APNs key to your desired location.
Notes:
- You may need to enter your user credentials.
- We strongly recommend that you password protect this file because it contains sensitive information.
Install the APNs key.
To install the APNs key on WHM, perform the following steps:
- Navigate to WHM's Manage Service SSL Certificates interface (WHM >> Home >> Service Configuration >> Manage Service SSL Certificates).
- Select the iOS Mail Push Notifications tab.
- Click Upload PKCS #12 archive.
Select your file.
Note:
If you password protected your file, enter your password in the Input the password for the PKCS #12 archive: text box.
- Click Install.
Prepare device configuration.
To ensure that the device can receive push notifications, you must restart the Mail app. To do this, perform the following steps:
Open the Mail app on your iOS device.
Double-tap the Home button.
Swipe up to close the Mail app. For more information about how to close an app, read Apple's® Force an app to close documentation.
- Re-open the Mail app.
Swipe down to perform a manual fetch.
Notes:
- If the above steps do not successfully initiate push notifications, you may need to restart your device.
- To enable push notifications for the default email account, you must enter the username
@
the server hostname on the client device, not@
the account's domain name.- For example, enter
username@server.hostname.tld
, notusername@example.com
. - For more information, read our Email Accounts documentation.
- For example, enter
Lock screen notifications.
You can enable your device to display notifications from select persons on a locked screen. To do this, perform the following steps:
Open the Mail app.
Tap Mailboxes (
) in the top left corner.- Tap the information ( ) symbol from the VIP menu.
- Tap Add VIP…
- Select the contacts from whom you wish to receive notifications on a locked screen to the VIP list.
Version
Specific attributes of this tutorial may vary with future Apple product versions. We used the following versions to capture this document's screenshots:
Program or Operating System | Version |
---|---|
OS X El Captain | 10.11.6 |
iOS | 10.2.1 |
App Store | 2.1 |
Server | 5.2 |
Keychain Access | 9.0 |
Additional documentation