Configure and activate devices

To send push notifications with Ably, you must first configure the device using its platform-specific notification service (FCM or APNs) and integrate it with Ably's infrastructure. You can then activate the push notifications service, either directly or via a server.

Configure devices

Configuration is the first step in setting up push notifications with Ably. This step requires setting up the necessary infrastructure on the device's operating system or platform, as well as on the Ably platform.

Configure FCM for Android devices

• Go to the Firebase Console.
• Click add project and follow the steps to create and manage service account keys.
• Download your service account JSON file.
• In your Ably dashboard, navigate to the Notifications tab under your app settings.
• Go to push notifications setup, click configure push.
• Add your service account JSON file to the setting up Firebase cloud messaging section.

Configure APNs for iOS devices

To enable push notifications for iOS devices, you need to configure your app to communicate with Apple Push Notification Service (APNs). You can do this in two ways:

1. Use token-based authentication (recommended) with a .p8 file.
2. Use certificate-based authentication with a .p12 or .cer file.

Token-based authentication

Use token-based authentication for new or updated apps because it is easier to manage and does not require yearly renewal like certificates. Token-based authentication relies on a private key (.p8) instead of .p12 certificates, making it the preferred choice for modern push notification setups.

• Download the .p8 file:
  • Go to the Apple Developer Program and sign in.
  • Follow the steps top create a new APNs authentication key and download the .p8 file.
• Obtain your credentials:
  • Locate the Key ID associated with the authentication key.
  • Find your Team ID or equivalent organization identifier.
  • Identify the Topic header, typically your app's bundle or project identifier.
• Configure authentication:
  • Upload the .p8 file to your server or push notification platform.
  • Use the Key ID and Team ID to generate an authentication token.
  • Set the appropriate Topic header in your notification requests. Then, click save.

Certificate-based authentication

• Go to the Apple Developer Program.

• Use the Apple developer portal to create a push notification service certificate for your app.

• Export the certificate as a .p12 file.

• Next, you can either import the .p12 cert or create a PEM file and copy it into your Ably dashboard:

• Import the .p12 file:

  • In your Ably dashboard, navigate to the Notifications tab under your app settings.
  • Go to push notifications setup, click configure push and scroll to the setting up Apple push notification service section.
  • Select the .p12 file you exported and enter the password you created during the export process.
  • Click save. You should receive confirmation that the certificate has been successfully imported.
  • To further confirm the import, refresh the page and check if the PEM cert and private key text boxes are now populated with the imported key details.

• Create a PEM file from the .p12 file:

  • Using OpenSSL, convert the recently exported .p12 file (io.ably.test.p12) to a PEM file with the following command: $ openssl pkcs12 -in ./io.ably.test.p12 -out ./io.ably.test.pem -nodes -clcerts.
  • Open the PEM file in your text editor.
  • Copy everything between and including -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- and -----END CERTIFICATE-----, and paste it into the PEM cert text box of the Apple push notification service section of your Ably notifications app dashboard.
  • Similarly, copy everything between and including -----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY----- and -----END PRIVATE KEY-----, and paste it into the PEM private key text box of the same section. Then, click save.

Install and set up your Ably SDK

Use the following code to install and set up your Ably SDK:

// Add the Ably SDK into your build.gradle dependencies and ensure there's a reference to Maven in the repositories section:

dependencies {
  implementation 'io.ably:ably-android:1.2.0'
}

repositories {
  mavenCentral()
}

Activate devices

To receive push notifications using Ably, each device must first register with it's platform-specific push notification service (FCM or APNs). Ably's SDK facilitates this registration process and provides a unified API to manage it across different platforms.

Activate directly

Activating a device for push notifications is typically done directly on the device itself. Use the push.activate() method to activate push notifications from a device. The following steps describe the direct activation process:

1. Authenticate the Ably client.
2. Generate a unique identifier for the device and saves it locally.
3. Activate push notifications for the device with the underlying OS, obtaining a unique identifier like a registration token for FCM or a device token for APNs.
4. Register the device with Ably, providing its unique identifier (deviceId), platform details, and push recipient information.
5. Store the device's identity token from Ably's response locally for authentication in subsequent updates.

Note that once activated, the device remains registered even after the application is closed until the push.deactivate() method is called. Calling activate again has no effect if the device is already activated.

The following diagram demonstrates the direct activation process:

The following example initializes an instance of the Ably Realtime service and then activates the push notifications feature for that instance:

AblyRealtime ably = getAblyRealtime();
ably.setAndroidContext(context);
ably.push.activate();

Test your push notification activation

• Use the Ably dashboard or API to send a test push notification to a registered device.
• Ensure your application correctly receives and handles the push notification.

Activate via server

In specific scenarios, especially where strict control over device capabilities is essential, managing the activation of devices for push notifications through the server is useful. This approach separates the registration with the device's platform-specific push notification service, which still happens on the device. Meanwhile, your server manages the device registration with Ably. This setup provides a centralized and efficient process for controlling devices.

The following steps explain the server assisted activation process:

1. The device initiates the activation process by registering with its platform service to obtain a unique device identifier, such as a registration token for FCM or device token for APNs.
2. Instead of registering itself with Ably, the device sends its platform-specific identifier to your server. Your server then uses this identifier to register the device with Ably using Ably's Push Admin API.
3. The server stores and manages the device tokens. It is responsible for updating these tokens in Ably's system whenever they change, which can be triggered by the device sending a new token to the server following the platform service's renewal.

The following diagram demonstrates the process for activating devices from a server:

Activate Android devices via server

Your application must interact with the Ably SDK to configure server-side registration for push notifications, utilizing the LocalBroadcastManager for communication.

Ensure that the useCustomRegisterer parameter is set to true when calling push.activate() or push.deactivate().

ably.push.activate(context, true);
ably.push.deactivate(context, true);

Upon activation or deactivation, the Ably SDK broadcasts signals indicating whether to register or deregister the device from your server. It uses io.ably.broadcast.PUSH_REGISTER_DEVICE for registration and io.ably.broadcast.PUSH_DEREGISTER_DEVICE for de-registration. To handle these broadcasts, implement a listener in your app's AndroidManifest.xml and respond by sending back PUSH_DEVICE_REGISTERED or PUSH_DEVICE_DEREGISTERED as appropriate.

The following examples set up the server-side activation:

public class MyAblyBroadcastReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
    @Override
    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
        AblyRealtime ably = getAblyRealtime();
        String action = intent.getAction();

        if ("io.ably.broadcast.PUSH_REGISTER_DEVICE".equals(action)) {
            Intent response = new Intent("io.ably.broadcast.PUSH_DEVICE_REGISTERED");
            boolean isNew = intent.getBooleanExtra("isNew", false);

            LocalDevice device;

            try {
                device = ably.device();
            } catch (AblyException e) {
                IntentUtils.addErrorInfo(response, e.errorInfo);
                return;
            }

            try {
                String deviceIdentityToken = registerThroughYourServer(device, isNew);
                response.putExtra("deviceIdentityToken", deviceIdentityToken);
            } catch (AblyException e) {
                IntentUtils.addErrorInfo(response, e.errorInfo);
            }

            LocalBroadcastManager.getInstance(context.getApplicationContext()).sendBroadcast(response);
        } else if ("io.ably.broadcast.PUSH_DEREGISTER_DEVICE".equals(action)) {
            Intent response = new Intent("io.ably.broadcast.PUSH_DEVICE_DEREGISTERED");
            LocalDevice device;

            try {
                device = ably.device();
            } catch (AblyException e) {
                IntentUtils.addErrorInfo(response, e.errorInfo);
                return;
            }

            try {
                deregisterThroughYourServer(device.id);
            } catch (AblyException e) {
                IntentUtils.addErrorInfo(response, e.errorInfo);
            }

            LocalBroadcastManager.getInstance(context.getApplicationContext()).sendBroadcast(response);
        }
    }
}

Activate iOS device via server

When setting up server-side registration for push notifications on iOS, your application must interact with the Ably SDK to handle device registration and de-registration securely and effectively. Implement the following optional methods from ARTPushRegistererDelegate in your UIApplicationDelegate to customize the registration process:

Activate Android and iOS devices via server using .NET

Initialize the specific mobile device. You can achieve this by using either AppleMobileDevice.Initialize or AndroidMobileDevice.Initialize. To initialize, you need to pass a valid Ably.ClientOptions, which will be used to initialize the Ably realtime or REST client, and an instance of PushCallbacks, which you can use to receive notifications when the device is activated, deactivated, or when sync registration fails.

The Initialize method will create an instance of RealtimeClient or RestClient, which can be used to activate push notifications for the device by calling client.Push.Activate(). Activation is not guaranteed to happen immediately. The developer will be notified through the ActivatedCallback, which was passed to the Initialize method when setting up push notifications.

Test your push notification activation

• Use the Ably dashboard or API to send a test push notification to a registered device.
• Ensure your application correctly receives and handles the push notification.

Device activation lifecycle

When the push.activate() and push.deactivate() methods are called, the device registers with FCM or APNs. In addition, whenever there is an update to the push token (registration token for FCM or device token for APNs), the Ably SDK attempts to update this token on Ably's servers.

• Android:

  • Handle the push activation: io.ably.broadcast.PUSH_ACTIVATE in a broadcast intent.
  • Handle the push deactivation: io.ably.broadcast.PUSH_DEACTIVATE in a broadcast intent.
  • Handle push registration failure: io.ably.broadcast.PUSH_UPDATE_FAILED in a broadcast intent.

• Swift:

  • Handle the push activation func didActivateAblyPush(_ error: ARTErrorInfo?)
  • Handle the push deactivation func didDeactivateAblyPush(_ error: ARTErrorInfo?)
  • Handle push registration failure func didAblyPushRegistrationFail(_ error: ARTErrorInfo?)

• ObjC:

  • Handle the push activation: (void)didActivateAblyPush:(nullable ARTErrorInfo *)error;
  • To the handle push deactivation: (void)didDeactivateAblyPush:(nullable ARTErrorInfo *)error;
  • Handle push registration failure: (void)didAblyPushRegistrationFail:(nullable ARTErrorInfo *)error;

• .NET:

  • Handle the push activation: private void HandlePushActivation(ARTErrorInfo error)
  • Handle the push deactivation: private void HandlePushDeactivation(ARTErrorInfo error)
  • Handle push registration failure: (void)didAblyPushRegistrationFail:(nullable ARTErrorInfo *)error;