iPhone and iPad asleep. A new internet message arrives. I did nothing.
What Happened?
RadioMail 2.0; incoming internet message updates the badge while iPhone is asleep, but no Lock Screen or Notification Center alert; Background App Refresh and all alert destinations are enabled. The alerts on iPad did work as expected (it was asleep too). Is this a coordination issue? How do I prioritize that all alerts always work on the iPhone.
What Did You Expect?
No banner or notification center alert on the iPhone.
Which device has Settings > Fetch New Messages Automatically turned on? I assume the iPad at a minimum.
My guess is that the iPad fetched the new message first, and it then synced to the iPhone via iCloud. The app badge reflects unread messages, so it updated on both devices because both now have the new unread message.
The alert, however, is only triggered when the background process on that device fetches a new message from the CMS. Because the iPhone received the message through iCloud sync rather than its own fetch, it never alerted.
This is likely a feature gap. The simple fix would be to alert whenever a new message arrives, but that could get annoying. For example, if you’re actively using the iPad, you probably don’t want the iPhone to alert too. Apple handles this well in some apps, particularly Messages. I often sit at my desk with a Mac, iPad, and iPhone, and not every device alerts when a new message comes in. Getting this right will take some design thinking.
In the meantime, if you want the iPhone to be the one that alerts, try turning off Fetch New Messages Automatically on the iPad and make sure it’s turned on on the iPhone. The iPhone should then do the fetching and alerting, and the iPad will still get the message and badge through iCloud.