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donawalt

Contributor
Original poster
Sep 10, 2015
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562
Hi all, I was wondering if someone could answer a question for me on how iOS notifications work (for my iPhone if that matters), I haven't been able to find a definitive answer on this...

I have an app that I want to keep using, but it seems to use a lot of cell data even when I am not interacting with it. I thought of turning off Background app refresh, but what I do need it for is its notifications, which I read, but don't interact or tap on - so I don't want to turn off Background app refresh.

The notifications are important to me, but don't need to be timely to the minute - so my plan, to save the cell data, is to turn off cell data use for just this app in Settings/Cellular....I know then, I will NOT get any notifications from the app while I am not on WiFi, but my question is this --> once I get back on WiFi, do all notifications come across? For example, if I was off WiFi for 4 hours and 5 notifications would have come to my phone during that time if cell data was permitted, do those notifications get saved up somewhere, just like if my phone was turned off, and show up once I am on WiFi again?

I hope that makes sense - thanks!
 

donawalt

Contributor
Original poster
Sep 10, 2015
1,138
562
Does anyone know, do I lose Notifications if they come across while on cellular, or do they come across once back on WiFi?
 

zorinlynx

macrumors G3
May 31, 2007
8,185
17,724
Florida, USA
1) If you don't have network connectivity, notifications will be queued up and you will receive them once you return to connectivity.
2) App developers can "withdraw" notifications. You can create a notification that's only valid for a certain time, then expires and vanishes. If you received those, they'll never show up as they will be expired before you get them when you return to the network.
3) If you turn off cellular data for just that app, you'll still get notifications but the unwanted data use will stop. Notifications travel over a different path than app data. You might want to try that before turning cellular data off completely.
 
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donawalt

Contributor
Original poster
Sep 10, 2015
1,138
562
Ah that sounds perfect for my needs, I'll just turn cell data off for that app and still get my notifications. Thank you for the detailed explanation @zorinlynx !!!
 
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