Keep users informed and engaged with Ably's expanded push notification support. We're thrilled to announce that Ably Pub/Sub now supports web push notifications, in addition to our existing support for iOS and Android devices. With just a few lines of code, developers can easily integrate web push into their applications, providing a seamless and unified experience across all major platforms.
You can send notifications in two ways: over existing Ably channels to all subscribed devices or directly to individual devices. Ably does all the heavy lifting in the background to deliver messages reliably and instantly via Apple Push Notification Service (APNs) for iOS, Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM/GCM) for Android and to browsers using Web Push.
What can you do with Ably push notifications?
Ably push notifications offer a host of new opportunities to engage with and inform users in a way that’s more relevant, useful, and effective. Some good examples of how customers are already using Ably push notifications include:
- Realtime Updates: Keep users informed about critical events, such as order status, service alerts, or live sports scores.
- Personalized Experiences: Deliver targeted notifications based on user preferences, location, or behavior.
- Background Tasks: Trigger background processes efficiently to enhance user experience and reduce app load.
All the features you need to support push notifications
With Ably, you now get all the features you need to support cross-platform and device notifications, including:
- Mobile support: Ably sends push notifications to devices using Firebase Cloud Messaging or Apple Push Notification Service.
- Browser support: Ably sends push notifications to browsers using Web Push.
- Publish directly: Sends push notifications to specific devices or browsers identified by unique identifiers, such as a deviceId or a clientId.
- Publish via channels: Messages are sent to channels to which multiple devices or browsers can subscribe to.
- Push admin API: Register devices or browsers, manage subscriptions, and send push notifications directly to devices, browsers or users.
How are notifications delivered?
Messages can be delivered via pub/sub or directly to devices. The optimal delivery method depends on your specific use case. For broadcasting messages to multiple users, pub/sub is generally more efficient. However, if you need to send targeted messages to individual devices, direct device delivery may be a better choice.
Publishing over a pub/sub channel
This delivery method requires a push-specific payload in the extras object of the message that specifies that it’s a notification and not a standard message. Notifications are delivered to every device subscribed to the channel. It is ideal for scenarios where the same information, such as alerts or updates, needs to be sent to multiple users.
Publishing directly
Direct publishing allows for the delivery of push notifications straight to individual devices or browsers. This process is beneficial for targeting a specific device or browser using a unique identifier. Direct publishing can be used to personalize notifications.
Push admin API
Ably’s push admin API is a set of functionalities designed for backend servers to manage push notification tasks. It handles registering devices or browsers for push notifications, managing subscriptions to specific channels, and sending push notifications.
Send your first notification with Ably
It’s quick and easy to get started with push notifications. Once you are signed up, our push notifications docs will take you through configuration and activation. If you have any questions, please get in touch - we’ll be happy to help.
