Question

I am developing a game for the iOS devices where the application will fetch data from a database (messages). I want the application to update to just to notify the user when there is a new message (and only when the user is in the application or when it is running). What is the best approach to this problem? I was thinking of checking with the server for new messages every 2 minutes, however I don’t know how efficient that is. Please let me know if there is a better approach to this or the one I am thinking of is just fine

thanks

Answer 1

Polling the server is a perfectly fine solution. Your email client does it all day long. Push is not a suitable solution (message delivery is not guaranteed and if you only want messages when the app is running that is not the purpose of push notifications). See my answer to this similar question: Web Service sending information to iPhone