`PushNotificationIOS.getInitialNotification` returns null for Local Notifications on Cold Starts.

Handling Local Push Notifications when the app is in the background or inactive state works just fine.

When your app is not running (cold start) and is launched from a Local Push Notification, the practice (according to the current docs) is to use PushNotificationIOS.getInitialNotification. However, this always returns null.

I spent a long time trying to get this to work with getInitialNotification but nothing worked. I had to essentially capture the notification in the launchOptions and then pass it in via appProperties.

My solution is captured on this StackOverflow Answer but here is the crux of it.

AppDelegate.m

// Inside of your didFinishLaunchingWithOptions method...

// Create a Mutable Dictionary to hold the appProperties to pass to React Native.
NSMutableDictionary *appProperties = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary];

if (launchOptions != nil) {
  // Get Local Notification used to launch application.
  UILocalNotification *notification = [launchOptions objectForKey:UIApplicationLaunchOptionsLocalNotificationKey];

  if (notification) {
    // Instead of passing the entire Notification, we'll pass the userInfo,
    // where a Record ID could be stored, for example.
    NSDictionary *notificationUserInfo = [notification userInfo];

    [ appProperties setObject:notificationUserInfo  forKey:@"initialNotificationUserInfo" ];
  }
}

// Your RCTRootView stuff...

rootView.appProperties = appProperties;

index.ios.js

componentDidMount() {
  if (this.props.initialNotificationUserInfo) {
    console.log("Launched from Notification from Cold State");
    // This is where you could get a Record ID from this.props.initialNotificationUserInfo
    // and redirect to the appropriate page, for example.
  }

  PushNotificationIOS.addEventListener('localNotification', this._onLocalNotification);
}

componentWillUnmount() {
  PushNotificationIOS.removeEventListener('localNotification', this._onLocalNotification);
}

_onLocalNotification( notification ) {
  if (AppState.currentState != 'active') {
    console.log("Launched from Notification from Background or Inactive state.");
  }
  else {
    console.log("Not Launched from Notification");
  }
}

Environment:

• React Native 0.28
• iOS Tested Only
• Local Push Notifications Only
• Simulator and Real Device Tested
• Mac El Capitan