Sending Push Notifications

Note: Apple has announced that they will support push notifications in progressive web app (PWAs)  iOS 16, beginning in 2023. Our notification service is compatible. 

Push notifications are a powerful tool to re-engage PWA users who do not have the app open and to alert them to important events and updates. 

It depends on a user’s notification settings, but the typical operation is for a push notification to vibrate the user’s device and display a message on their lock screen.

Subscription

Users must explicitly subscribe in order to receive push messages. 

We make this simple by adding a notification icon (a bell) to the app’s navigation bar so a user can conveniently pause and resume notifications. They can also see the most recent notification here. With this user-friendly approach, users that value your notifications will subscribe. 

Notifications are actionable, so a user tap will take the user to launch your app, a specific Action in your app, or a selected URL.

Sending Notifications

An app administrator creates a notification by accessing the “Push” tab of an app. Here you can see scheduled and previous notifications, along with the number of subscribers and the number of taps.

Creating New Notifications

From the “Notification Center”, tap “Add New Message" and create a notification by completing the following information:

1. Message Title

2. Message Description

3. Destination URL. A tap can launch the app, launch a specific action**, or launch a selected URL.

[**Note that if you select a specific action, that Action must be in the host app]

4. Image. You may use the app's icon, favicon, or add a new image.

5. Send immediately with [Send Now] or schedule the action by selecting a time, date, and time zone, and then tapping [Save and Add].

Each sent message will show how many users were subscribed, how many tapped the message, and the “CTR” (i.e. click-through rate) for the notification.