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I can't afford UrbanAirship so I'm trying to program the server side of a Newsstand app myself.

I plan on using the JavaPNS API. The one thing I can't seem to figure out is how to find a list of users who have a subscription in my app.

Can I query this information from Apple some how?

If I can't then I guess that means that each time a user subscribes they send their device token directly to my server. I hope this is not the case because I was hopping to run the server on my laptop and send out pushes myself without having to keep the laptop running all day listening for new subscribers.

Thanks!

itgiawa
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2 Answers2

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Looks like I do need to register each device with my server: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/web/library/mo-ios-push/index.html#resources

itgiawa
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You kind of found your answer but just in case you really need a server for not only handling the push notification (for telling your app in Newsstand to check the new issue and download it in the background) but also for subscription and in-app purchasing.

Every time you launch the app you should check few things before you refresh the UI. You should check if the user is a subscriber or has user already bought the issue so you can show view/download button instead of Buy button.

Check out these tutorials if they help to understand these communications better but believe me you will end up with one of those services like Urban Airship (Which I think UA is the best option because it handles all in one not just push notification):

http://ios-blog.co.uk/tutorials/how-to-make-a-magazine-app-in-ios-part-i/

this one is more focus on server part:

http://ios-blog.co.uk/tutorials/how-to-make-a-magazine-app-in-ios-part-ii/

http://www.viggiosoft.com/blog/blog/2011/10/17/ios-newsstand-tutorial

http://www.raywenderlich.com/2797/introduction-to-in-app-purchases

And as always this is the best place for start (it has everything you need): https://developer.apple.com/devcenter/ios/newsstand/

These are some resources to help you in developing app for Newsstand but still there are not enough people out there to share their experience.

Best of luck.

Edit: Add these two links two this list:

http://www.marco.org/2012/10/11/the-magazine

http://www.marco.org/2012/12/12/the-magazine-future-of-publishing

Maziyar
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  • you're very welcome :) there are very few tuts out there about Newsstand. Most of the apps in Newsstand category are made by Digital Publishers and other companies. Still few indie developers have tried this out. I added two more links from Marcco. He shared a lot about his experience with Newsstand on his blog and 4 or 5 episodes of his podcast (Build and Analyse). – Maziyar Jan 28 '13 at 16:25