Push Notification - Tester is a Mac app for sending Apple Push Notification service (APNs) messages straight from your desktop, without standing up a backend first. You choose a push certificate from your Keychain, paste a device token, write a payload, and send. It is a small, focused tool for the moment when you just need to know whether a push can reach a device.

It is built for iOS developers, QA engineers, and backend teams who are debugging push delivery. A developer adding notifications to a new app can confirm that the certificate and token are right before any server code exists. A tester can send the exact payload that triggers a bug, and a backend engineer can check what a working push looks like before wiring up their own service. It is meant for verifying device tokens, validating certificates, and iterating on notification payloads before you ship.

The key features are short and practical. You can send APNs pushes from your Mac with no server dependency. The push certificate is selected directly from Keychain, and the app supports .p12 and .pem workflows. You can paste any device token and send in seconds. You can target either the Development (sandbox) environment or Production, which matters because a token issued for a debug build will not work against the production gateway and the reverse. You can also write custom JSON payloads for alerts, badges, sounds, and silent content, so you can see how your app behaves with each kind of notification.

The workflow follows five steps. First, get your APNs push certificate from your Apple Developer account, or ask the iOS developer on your team for it. Second, install the certificate in your Mac Keychain. Third, open the app, select the certificate, and enter the device token and the payload. Fourth, choose Development or Production. Fifth, tap Send Push. If the notification arrives, you know the certificate, token, environment, and payload are all correct. If it does not, you can change one thing at a time until it does, which is much faster than redeploying a server for every attempt.

It is worth being clear about what the app is not. It sends the test push you type, one at a time. It is not a marketing or campaign tool, and it does not store a list of users or schedule bulk sends. That narrow scope is the point: it is a quick, dependable way to test push delivery while you build or debug your server-side setup.

Push Notification - Tester is free to download from the Mac App Store, and the App Store lists no in-app purchases for it. It requires macOS 14.6 or later. If you also want an iPhone to receive your test pushes, the companion app Push Notification - Client is available separately.