The Push Notification process

The push notification process involves the following entities:

• The client device

• Your back-end server

• The push notification provider (e.g. Apple, Google, Microsoft)

The delivery of notifications relies on the availability of the push notification provider. Thus, the notification process does not include any warranty of delivery or delay. Notifications should not be used as a safe end-to-end delivery system.

Client registration

During application start, the client device is registered with the push notification provider. When registration is completed, the client application gets a unique notification identifier to send (usually via HTTP) to the back-end server for later use. Registration process iOS illustrates the registration process on iOS.

The registration process varies depending on the push notification provider. A specific implementation is required for each targeted platform.

Notification delivery

When the server needs to send a notification to a specific client device, the server:

1. Retrieves the unique identifier from the database.

2. Creates a notification with the specific content.

3. Sends the notification to the push notification provider. The server uses the appropriate credentials together with the unique identifier.

The push notification provider delivers the notification to the client device. The client device or application then creates the notification that is displayed to the user. Notification delivery process (iOS) illustrates the registration process on iOS.