Sota Goat App Notifications problem

The Sota Goat spotting app for iPhone is great. About a week ago however mine stopped giving notifications (sounds and banners when a new spot is posted). It works fine in all other respects. I have checked the settings both on the phone and the app and it’s all set correctly. Cannot figure it out. I miss my notifications - has anyone else had this problem with Sota Goat and have a solution? Thanks. Scott kw4jm

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Same problem here. I use iPhone 6S / 64 GB.
SOTA Goat version 1.3.0

Here’s the email response I received from Rockwell regarding the current problem with SOTA Goat:

Feb 7, 2017
Hi Jordan,

Sorry, but push notifications are broken for the foreseeable future. The third-party service I was using for push notifications has gone defunct and I haven’t had a chance to replace it. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Rockwell WW1X

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Thanks fellas. That explains it. I miss amazing my grandkids with the goat sound in my pocket.

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I am sorry for your system breakdown. Now you you how Android users exist.
Gary W5ODS

I really miss the push notifications, too. Not understanding how push notifications work, and based on what the SOTA Goat developer said, I wonder if these notifications require an ongoing payment from the developer? If that is the case, then I can see why the developer might not want to be in a hurry to start them up again for a program that has a one-time charge and a relatively small audience.

If there is a cost to keep the notifications coming from SOTA Goat, I would not be adverse to a small annual subscription charge.

Thoughts?

Dave, AE9Q

Me too … since iOS change …since update iOS
The developer is aware of

To depanner you can subscribe to a passerell with twitter

I think Rockwell will be able to use a different server, but as the server name is likely to be embedded in the app, even after organising a new server as the buffer for sotawatch spots and to generate the push-notifications, he will need to submit the new version of the application to Apple for verification. That usually takes a while to be processed so even if he has a fix today, it could be a few months before a new version becomes available on the App Store.

In the meantime, as mentioned already, it is possible to subscribe to a Twitter feed notifying new sota spots. It doesn’t have band and mode filters, but it might be better than nothing.

Re donating to the server cost, that’s a good idea. Let’s ask Rockwell how best to do that. The simplest is just to pay a fee for the app. I’m up for that too.

73 Andrew VK1DA VK2UH

My work-around to get activation alerts until the problems are remedied ,is to use the HamAlert app. HamAlert.
It’s a little clumsy to get setup, but I get the activation alerts I want pushed to my phone.
73
Phil, KK6YYD

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Ham alert is awesome!

Don’t forget the free spotting app, with audio, at www.ON6ZQ.be

Elliott, K6EL

Since I haven’t gotten an alert from SOTA Goat in months. Not happy. I tried hamalert. Not much luck there either. Signed up, verified my account, downloaded the app, now when I try to log in on my IPhone or my pc it capitalizes my email address and rejects my login?!!! Frustrating. Before I got the IPhone, my android phone had four free SOTA spotting apps.

… you can set yourself to do what you need using your computer log-in rather than your phone you have to send text messages directly to your phone for the alerts… then you don’t need to log-in on your phone…

on the DESTINATIONS page
…enter your phone carriers email to text address for example For Verizon use your phone number@vtext.com

I have been using this for a few weeks now… works fine…

Richard // N2GBR

Thanks for the response. I just tried to log in on my pc, no go. I must have fat fingered a key when I set up my account. I’ll get it sorted one way or another.

Okay, Manuel HB9DQM sent me an email, I was logging in wrong. Thanks Manuel. I’m up and running. It’s going to be great to get alerts again. Go HamAlert!

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Yes, Manual is awesome! I knew he would reply. Love Ham Alert and you can set very specific triggers so if you dont want to know about cw alerts as an example you can include all others. Lots of ways to set triggers!

There is a well known identified problem with the alert system used by SOTAGOAT. The server used by the program to handle the alerts is no longer available.

The software developer knows about it. The users just have to make other arrangements.

Note for those unsure, sotagoat is a sota related application developed by a US ham and is only available on the IOS operating system, ie. iPhones and iPads.

Thanks, yeah it was great when it was working.

Yeah, I like it already. Need to spend some time dialing in.