使用APNS Auth Key时是否需证书及过期通知问题咨询

Hey there! Let's tackle your two questions about APNS setup and expiration notifications clearly:

1. Can we only keep the APNS Auth Key and safely delete the unused certificate without disrupting service? #

Absolutely—here's the breakdown:

• APNS Auth Keys are permanent, non-expiring credentials (as long as your Apple Developer account stays active) and are designed to replace the older certificate-based authentication. Since you've confirmed your backend exclusively uses the Auth Key right now, the old production certificate is completely redundant.
• To be extra safe, do a quick double-check of your backend configuration: make sure there are no references to certificate files (like .p12 or .pem files) in your push notification code, and confirm your service authenticates with APNS using the Auth Key's ID and your team ID.
• Once you've verified the certificate isn't being used anywhere, you can safely delete it from your Apple Developer Account. This won't impact your existing APNS service at all, since your backend doesn't rely on it anymore.

2. Will we still get expiration notifications for APNS certificates that aren't used in production? #

Yes, you will. Apple sends expiration reminders for all active certificates in your Developer Account, regardless of whether you're actually using them in production. The system doesn't track which certificates are "in use"—it just monitors the expiration dates of every certificate you've created.

The simple fix here is to delete any unused APNS certificates from your account. Once removed, you won't receive any more expiration alerts for those unused credentials.

内容的提问来源于stack exchange，提问作者frankWhite