Push notification setup

Push Notification Setup

Table of Contents

• Overview
• When to Use
• Quick Start
• Reference Guides
• Best Practices

Overview

Implement comprehensive push notification systems for iOS and Android applications using Firebase Cloud Messaging and native platform services.

When to Use

• Sending real-time notifications to users
• Implementing user engagement features
• Deep linking from notifications to specific screens
• Handling silent/background notifications
• Tracking notification analytics

Quick Start

Minimal working example:

import messaging from "@react-native-firebase/messaging";
import { Platform } from "react-native";

export async function initializeFirebase() {
  try {
    if (Platform.OS === "ios") {
      const permission = await messaging().requestPermission();
      if (permission === messaging.AuthorizationStatus.AUTHORIZED) {
        console.log("iOS notification permission granted");
      }
    }

    const token = await messaging().getToken();
    console.log("FCM Token:", token);
    await saveTokenToBackend(token);

    messaging().onTokenRefresh(async (newToken) => {
      await saveTokenToBackend(newToken);
    });

    messaging().onMessage(async (remoteMessage) => {
      console.log("Notification received:", remoteMessage);
      showLocalNotification(remoteMessage);
    });

// ... (see reference guides for full implementation)

Reference Guides

Detailed implementations in the references/ directory:

Guide	Contents
Firebase Cloud Messaging Setup	Firebase Cloud Messaging Setup
iOS Native Setup with Swift	iOS Native Setup with Swift
Android Setup with Kotlin	Android Setup with Kotlin
Flutter Implementation	Flutter Implementation

Best Practices

✅ DO

• Request permission before sending notifications
• Implement token refresh handling
• Use different notification channels by priority
• Validate tokens regularly
• Track notification delivery
• Implement deep linking
• Handle notifications in all app states
• Use silent notifications for data sync
• Store tokens securely on backend
• Provide user notification preferences
• Test on real devices

❌ DON'T

• Send excessive notifications
• Send without permission
• Store tokens insecurely
• Ignore notification failures
• Send sensitive data in payload
• Use notifications for spam
• Forget to handle background notifications
• Make blocking calls in handlers
• Send duplicate notifications
• Ignore user preferences