The Ultimate Guide To Push Notifications For Developers

Try monday dev for free!A screenshot of Flatlife listed from Product Hunt on Firefox macOSBreaking news alert from CNN on Android

Push is still a relatively new communication technology compared to its siblings. The first email was sent in 1971 (50 years ago!) and the first SMS was sent in 1992 (30 years ago!). Marketers and developers are still discovering where push fits into their communication stack, so while most companies have an email strategy for customer engagement, most don’t have a push strategy yet.

A picture of the first SMS

Push is very similar to these other communication channels like email. You use them to engage with your customers. You can send promotional or transactional content. You need a way for people to opt-in and opt-out. You need to segment your audiences. You need to personalize your messages. You need to compose your message, send your message, view reporting for your message, and so on.

Why Use Push Notifications?

There are several benefits of push over other messaging channels:

What can you use push notifications for?

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How To Implement Push Notifications

You can build your own push service on top of the different APIs and operating system platforms available. iOS has APNs. Google has FCM. Web browsers use Service Workers, Notification API and the Push API. When building your own you need to consider the push service, managing subscribers, permission prompts, message composition, delivery and reporting.

Beginners guide to web push notifications using service workers

Unless you’re a big company with a full team of engineers you can dedicate to maintaining such a service, you should just use a push service that exists. Just like you’re unlikely to build your own internal email service, the same applies to push.

As push APIs are updated with each new iOS or Android release, it makes sense to let a service provider do the heavy lifting here so you’re not left maintaining that system. There are services that offer easy-to-use UIs, SDKs and APIs. Some of the best push notification providers for developers and marketers include:

Aren’t Push Notifications Annoying?

They absolutely can be, yes. Just like sending irrelevant emails or too many text messages is annoying and spam. This is not a fault of the technology itself, but we as website owners and app developers abusing their power.

For example, a lot of websites or apps immediately prompt users to subscribe to push. This is just as frustrating as a blog you land on immediately surfacing a pop-up asking you to subscribe to their email newsletter. At this point, you have no idea what they do or if there’s value in subscribing.

An example of a website which immediately prompts users to subscribe to push and to their email newsletterAn example of native prompt on macOS Chrome

Don’t do this. Treat your app users and website visitors with respect. In fact, browsers have started clamping down on websites that do this, and instead hide the prompt until the user notices it and clicks on it.

Example of prompt blocked on macOS Chrome

Prompting Best Practices

Permission opt-ins differ across operating systems and industries:

Only prompt users to subscribe after they have had an opportunity to find value e.g. after at least 1 pageview, or after they have taken an action where it would be useful for them to know when there’s an update.

Soft prompts for Washington Post, Amazon Kindle, Twitter

Use soft prompts. You only have one opportunity to ask users with the native prompt, after which it is painful to ask them to go into settings and allow you to send them messages. Use your one opportunity wisely.

Example of soft prompt from Slack that triggers the browser native prompt

Prompting Mistakes

“Push notifications became yet another way to artificially re-engage users and force content down their throat. That’s why so many of them hate it. But there are some interesting use cases for it.”

Asking For Permission Immediately

A screenshot where ‘app’ asks to send notifications

Don’t do this. Allow users to experience your app or website first and the value you provide. Delay your prompt at least a pageview or by some time so users have an opportunity to look around. Or wait until the user is taking action and then present them with an option to subscribe.

Not Telling Users What Notifications Will Contain

Make users aware of the value of your push notifications. Will they notify me of new sales and promotions? When someone sends me a message? When there’s a new blog post? Make it clear so users can decide if these are the types of messages they want to receive.

Don’t Make It Hard To Opt-out

Allow users to edit their notification preferences within the app. Just like an email preference center, users may want to unsubscribe from all notifications or a certain category of notification e.g. stop sending me every blog update but do send me new feature announcements.

Don’t Send Too Many Notifications

Set expectations upfront on how often you expect to send notifications. Then stick to that. Depending on what industry you’re in this could be many per day e.g. breaking news alerts, or once a week e.g. meditation app.

NYTimes allows users to customize their notification preferences

Where Are Push Notifications Supported?

Supported

Not supported

See the state of push notification support for a more detailed and up-to-date look at all devices like watchOS, Amazon Echo, TVs and others.

Anatomy Of A Web Push Notification

The anatomy and design of push notifications change across operating systems and browsers. For the most part, the key elements are:

Here are examples for the main operating systems and browsers:

Web Push, Chrome For macOS Monterey

A screenshot of web push, Chrome for macOS Monterey

  1. Browser Icon
    Chrome icon. This can’t be changed.
  2. Title
    Restricted to 60-80 characters.
  3. Domain
    Website user is subscribed to. Can’t be changed.
  4. Icon
    192×192 or larger. PNG, JPG, GIF (not animated). Enlarges when expanded.
  5. Content
    Restricted to 120-150 characters.
  6. Action Buttons
    Supports up to 2 buttons.

Web Push, Chrome For Windows 11

A screenshot of web push, Chrome for Windows 11

  1. Banner Image
    360×180 or 2:1 aspect ratio. PNG, JPG, GIF (not animated).
  2. Browser + Browser Icon
    Can’t be changed.
  3. Icon
    192×192 or larger. PNG, JPG, GIF (not animated).
  4. Action Buttons
    Supports up to 2 buttons.
  5. More Options
    Includes notification settings and focus assist.
  6. Dismiss
    Closes the notification.
  7. Title
    Restricted to 60 characters.
  8. Content
    Restricted to 120 characters.
  9. Domain
    Website user is subscribed to. Can’t be changed.

Mobile Push For Android 12

A screenshot of mobile push for Android 12

  1. Small Icon
    24×24 - 96×96 to fit all device sizes. Must be white with a transparent background. PNG.
  2. Title
    Restricted to 50 characters.
  3. Body
    Restricted to 150 characters.
  4. Large Picture
    1440×720 or 2:1 aspect ratio. PNG, JPG, GIF (not animated).
  5. App Name
    Can’t be changed.
  6. Time Stamp
    Time message received.
  7. Icon
    192×192 or larger. PNG, JPG, GIF (not animated).
  8. Action Buttons
    Supports up to 3 buttons.

Mobile Push For iOS 15

A screenshot of mobile push for iOS 15

  1. App Icon
    Uses the app’s default icon and can’t be changed.
  2. Rich Media
    1024×1024 or 1:1 aspect ratio. PNG, JPG, GIF, MP4, MP3, WAV.
  3. Title
    Restricted to 25-50 characters.
  4. Time Stamp
    When the message was received.
  5. Message
    Restricted to 150 characters.
  6. Action Buttons
    Supports up to 4 buttons.

Note: For more examples across each device and operating system, see push notification anatomy.

Sending Best Practices

Don’t just carelessly blast push notifications to all your subscribers. Consider who your users are, their context, and the value they will get from your content and service.

A screenshot of a promotional notification with emoji and photo from Joe CoffeeConcise transactional notification from PayPal

Analytics and ROI

Numbers you want to keep an eye on:

For web push, use UTMs to help track attribution. For mobile push, services like AppsFlyer and Branch can help with attribution tracking.

Why Am I or My Users Not Receiving Push Notifications?

Here are some of the most common reasons I’ve seen.

Users Haven’t Subscribed To Your App

Ask them to subscribe. Check that they are subscribed. Look up their user’s ID you’ve defined or push token.

Users Have Turned Off Notifications For Your App Or Website

Ask users to check their app settings or browser settings and ensure they haven’t blocked you.

A screenshot where notifications from AliExpress are onA screenshot of Chrome settings where notifications are on

Users Have Turned Off Notifications For The Browser They Are Using

Or they never gave it (the browser) permission in the first place. Operating systems will ask users permission to send notifications via their browsers, and often users will ignore these. Ask them to check their app level notification settings in their OS.

A screenshot where notifications for Firefox are turned on

Users Have Turned Off Notifications For The OS They Are Using

Some users will turn off all notifications for their OS, intentionally or accidentally. Check their OS settings for notifications. For example, Settings > Notifications > Show Previews > Never will turn off all iOS notifications.

A screenshot with settings

Check settings at your OS level, browser level, and app level to ensure notifications are turned on and you or they have opted in.

The Future of Push Notifications

iOS Support For Web Push

Web push for iOS Safari has been in high demand for years and recently it looks like they might be ready to give in with a recent update to WebKit. This will be huge if Apple has decided to finally enable this.

A screenshot with Experimental WebKit Features

Android Opt-In

Starting with Android 13, users will have to opt-in to receive notifications. There is likely no meaningful long-term effect on opt-in rates, but it will improve the overall ecosystem by giving users control up-front, rather than having to opt-out later.

Android opt-in

Omnichannel Messaging

Omnichannel and more integration alongside other messaging channels. Every user has a preference for how they receive messages, and it is important to consider this when personalizing that customer journey with push, email, SMS.

A graph of omnichannel messaging

In 2022 it’s even more important to consider your user’s behavior across all these channels, ensuring you automate your messaging and extend your reach across all channels.

Preventing Abuse

Browsers and operating systems are working hard to prevent abuse e.g. making sure websites don’t show prompts immediately to visitors. As mentioned previously, some updates have already been shipped here recently with Chrome, Firefox and Edge to hide prompts on websites that are immediately prompting on page load, and there is sure to be more to follow.