Amazon SNS now supports token-based authentication for APNs mobile push notifications

Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) now supports token-based authentication for sending mobile push notifications to Apple devices. When creating a new platform application in the Amazon SNS console or API, you can now choose between token-based (.p8 key file) or certificate-based (.p12 certificates) authentication.

Token-based authentication provides stateless communication between Amazon SNS and the Apple Push Notification service (APNs). Stateless communication is faster than certificate-based communication because it doesn’t require APNs to look up the certificate. When using .p12 certificates, you had to renew the certificate and the endpoint once a year. Now, by using .p8 key file, you can reduce your operational burden by removing the need for yearly renewals. For platform applications created using .p8 certificates, Amazon SNS uses token-based authentication for delivering messages to mobile applications.

You can use token-based authentication for APNs endpoints in the following AWS regions where Amazon SNS supports mobile push notifications: US East (N. Virginia), US West (N. California), US West (Oregon), Asia Pacific (Mumbai), Asia Pacific (Seoul), Asia Pacific (Singapore), Asia Pacific (Sydney), Asia Pacific (Tokyo), Europe (Frankfurt), Europe (Ireland), and South America (São Paulo).

To get started, see the following resources:

• Apple authentication methods in the Amazon SNS Developer Guide.
• SetPlatformApplicationAttributes in the Amazon SNS API Reference.
• Prerequisites for Amazon SNS user notifications in the Amazon SNS Developer Guide.
• Token-based authentication for iOS applications with Amazon SNS in the AWS Compute Blog.