APNs Certificate Update 2025

Problem Statement

Apple is updating its Apple Push Notification service (APNs) certificates for both sandbox and production environments. The new root certificate—USERTrust RSA Certification Authority—requires action to avoid push notification failures.

Announcement timelines:

• Sandbox environment: Effective January 20, 2025
• Production environment: Effective February 24, 2025

This affects all servers communicating with APNs, including those using token-based authentication. Your client applications (iOS/macOS apps) require no updates since Apple manages device trust stores.

Server-Side Solutions

Backend Action Required

Your server-side infrastructure sending push notifications to APNs must trust the new certificate. The implementation differs between self-managed servers and cloud-managed services.

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For Self-Managed Servers

Follow these OS-specific steps to update trust stores:

CentOS/RHEL

1. Place the PEM-formatted certificate in the anchors directory:

sudo cp USERTrust_RSA_Certificate.pem /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors/

2. Update the trust store:

sudo update-ca-trust

Debian/Ubuntu

1. Place the PEM-formatted certificate in the certificates directory:

sudo cp USERTrust_RSA_Certificate.pem /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/

2. Rebuild the CA database:

sudo update-ca-certificates

Verification Steps

Confirm installation with:

openssl verify /path/to/YOUR_CA_PEM_FILE.pem

Test APNs connectivity:

curl -v https://api.push.apple.com

Look for SSL certificate verify ok in output.

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For Managed Cloud Services

No action is required if you use:

• AWS SNS
• Firebase Cloud Messaging
• Other cloud-based notification services

Providers automatically manage certificate updates. Example confirmation for AWS SNS:

"AWS manages certificates and trust stores—no direct action needed."
Source: AWS SNS Documentation

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Additional Environments

For non-Linux systems or custom implementations:

1. Identify your TLS library's trust store (Java, Node.js, Python, etc.)
2. Add the USERTrust RSA Certificate according to library documentation

Critical Considerations

Deadlines

• Sandbox endpoints break starting January 20, 2025
• Production endpoints break starting February 24, 2025

Recommendations

1. Test in sandbox after January 20
2. Deploy production updates by Feb 17, 2025 (1-week buffer)
3. Restart server processes after updates
4. Monitor APNs error logs for certificate errors after deployment

Summary of Required Actions

Entity	Action Required?	Notes
iOS/macOS App	No	Device trust stores auto-update
Backend Server	Yes	Update trust store or confirm cloud provider support
Sandbox	Validate before Jan 20, 2025	Test after implementation
Production	Deploy before Feb 24, 2025	Allow buffer time