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I am trying to figure out how to build functionality in my app to modify another app's notifications. Like integrate Whatsapp in the app, and only show the push notifications when a specific contact messages, etc. Is it possible to edit/modify/screw around with other apps' notifications in iOS?

jscs
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Harshita Arora
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    Thankfully no, this is not possible. This would be a giant security nightmare. There is a reason apps are in their own sandbox and can't mess with other apps. – rmaddy Nov 12 '17 at 16:10

1 Answers1

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Push notifications are associated, via the device token, with a particular app. They are siloed by the system and will only be delivered to their associated app. They can't be modified or even observed by items from another bundle.

That said, it is possible that an online service could allow pushes relevant to the service to go to any given application, perhaps via an SDK they distributed. In this case, they would provide an API to tie a user account in their system to the device token for your app.

There may also be some way to do this via a jailbreaking scenario. But this is a security and privacy issue, and on an unmodified OS, Apple will not allow you to read another app's data like this.

jscs
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  • thank you for answering! Is it possible to filter notifications? For example, only send a push notification if someone tags you on a photo on Facebook. How does IFTTT get access to another's app data/actions? – Harshita Arora Nov 12 '17 at 16:49
  • I believe they use the apps' exposed [URL schemes](https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/iPhone/Conceptual/iPhoneOSProgrammingGuide/Inter-AppCommunication/Inter-AppCommunication.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40007072-CH6-SW1). – jscs Nov 12 '17 at 16:51