Push notifications are not received. Push notifications - what are they? How to enable and disable Push Notifications? Technical points: waiting and updating

In the world information technologies Only a small part of all inventions is used. But most things are developed precisely to make our lives easier. It is one of these improvements that we will talk about in the article. These are Push Notifications. What are they and where can they be used? Push notifications - what are they? iPhone, Android, feature phones - where are they configured and how to enable/disable them?

Meet - Push Notifications

What is it? This is the name for short pop-up notifications that appear on screens sensory technology(tablets, phones) and report important updates and events. If desired, they can be used as a simple form of dialogue between seller and buyer, which has led to their widespread use in the field of marketing.

So, if we consider the option with an application, then the main task here is to inform about updates, new content (or just a reminder that it has not been used for a long time). How to make Push notifications for an application? To do this, you need to use the application programming interface that exists for a specific phone (in fact, for the operating system used).

The reason for the emergence of this technology was the desire of specialists to support the circle of users of their developments. Setting up Push notifications is not difficult. The end of the article contains information about the features of enabling/disabling them on different operating systems.

Options for using Push notifications

Where can this technology be used? Let's look a little at the statistics that Push notifications can boast of. What this will give us, we will consider later. So:

Most of all (41%) they are used to notify about the release of new applications or updates to existing ones.
Then (24%) there is a newsletter about special offers.
To inform about new content that has appeared in the program, it is used in 14% of cases.
The least targeted (12%) are used to send advertising and/or referral links.
The remaining 9% comes from other types of information.

If you don’t receive Push notifications from those you subscribe to, and nothing has changed in the settings, this does not mean that they won’t happen at all. Perhaps the cause of the problem was simply a connection failure. If you are a developer, then something was configured incorrectly in the applications themselves.

New marketing channel

Before looking at how to interact with this technology from a user's perspective, let me spend a little more time talking about the concept of Push Notifications in marketing. When using such a development, you need to be careful not to cross the fine line that separates cooperation from intrusiveness. If these lines are read by a marketer or a person receiving appropriate education, you should remember that in this way the product should be provided valuable information, which will reflect positively on subsequent interactions.

Push notifications must contain timely and relevant content. So, in an application that is aimed at children, advertising coffee will be very out of place, which, in turn, will most likely lead to a loss of popularity.

Usage example

It is popular to use such technology to briefly notify friends about their actions. Considering this, we can recall Twitter, which informs its users about changes that occur in friends’ profiles.

Some companies use GPS to determine where their customers are and if they are nearby a store, they send a corresponding notification. It is important to receive the message in a timely manner. The implementation feature is that Push notifications do not require Internet access, because often all necessary information stored in the application itself (usually).

Features of use

So, if you have decided to use Push Notifications as part of your marketing plan, then it would be a good idea to make sure that they meet the following conditions:

The content provided must be current and relevant.
There should be an option to unsubscribe.
It is advisable to link to social networks so that users have the opportunity to discuss.
You should choose your quantitative policy wisely - no one wants to receive 20 notifications a day.

Now you can proceed to activation similar technology. For ease of understanding, the procedure will be broken down depending on the operating system that is installed on mobile device. So how do you set up Push Notifications?

Android

This is the most popular operating system, which received its status thanks to its free distribution and constant improvement. How are Push notifications enabled/disabled on it? To disable it, you must perform a number of actions in this order:

Go to your phone settings.
Go to your account, then to notifications, and there you will see information about Push.
Select the desired settings, restrictions on receiving - in general, do everything the way you want.

But what should you do if you want to enable/disable Push notifications not for everyone, but only for one application? There is also an algorithm for this case:

Go to settings.
Go to an item such as “Notifications”.
All installed on touch phone application and you should select your item by clicking on it.
Disable or enable the function of receiving messages from this program.

As you can see, there is nothing complicated in performing these actions, and this is not only operating system"Android". Push notifications can be enabled/disabled on other devices with the same ease.

iPhone and iPad

How to turn it on here and the iPad are no different in any fundamental way. Operations with this technology will be discussed here. previous principle. So, to disable or enable messages received from specific programs, you need to perform the following sequence of actions:

Go to main screen your device and find a button that looks like a double circle, in which there is a prototype of a road diverging into two directions at an angle of 90 degrees.
Find the "Notifications" button, and then the application that interests you.
Near the “Allow notifications” item you will see a button located in the slider. To enable/disable notifications, click on it. If it is white, it means that receiving messages on this moment forbidden. In the case when the button has green color, you are already receiving notifications from this program.

How can I turn off such messages completely? To do this, perform the following sequence of actions:

Go to settings.
Go to your account.
Go to notifications.
Go to the Push section.
Configure according to your own wishes.

Here's how to enable Push Notifications on iPhone. Considering that their settings do not change very noticeably, problems with changing parameters on different versions should not arise.

Multifunctional phone

It should be noted that in this case, you can work with Push notifications only on certain models, And wide practice applications this function I didn't buy it here. But if you are the owner of such a piece of equipment, then we suggest that you familiarize yourself with how to enable/disable such a phone add-on. Please note that the path may vary depending on the model, so if you do not find what you need thanks to the instructions in the article, you should look in other places:

From the Home screen, tap on Menu.
Select Settings and look for Push Notifications. They can be placed in a separate submenu or located in “Phone or communication settings”.
Setting up this technology to your taste.

Conclusion

So we looked at Push notifications, what they are, and why they are needed. Finally, let’s remember the previously missed points. Push notifications are quite valuable from a marketing perspective and, when used wisely, can bring significant benefits to a business and make life easier for consumers. But in everything you should adhere to the golden mean.

Push notifications are also valuable because even if some application does not require constant sending of information on its behalf, this can be used for advertising purposes, providing an opportunity for other developers or enterprises (companies) to inform users about new events. But in this case, it is important to take into account the topical nature of the information provided.

Stopped receiving notifications from a specific application (or all of them at once) on your iPhone and iPad? In this manual we talked about the most effective ways fix this error.

Sign in again with your Apple ID

The first thing to do if you're having trouble receiving notifications on your iPhone or iPad is to sign in to your Apple ID again. To do this, go to the menu “ Settings» → « iTunes Store And App Store ", click on Apple ID and in the window that opens select " Go out" Afterwards, on the same page you need to click “ To come in» and indicate your account information Apple records ID.

Reconnect your device to iCloud

It’s also worth logging out and logging back into your account. iCloud recording. To do this, go to the menu " Settings» → iCloud and at the very bottom of the page click “ Go out" Then log in to iCloud again on the same page.

Force reboot your device

The previous two steps may not help immediately, but only after performing tough reboot iPhone or iPad. Hold down the buttons Home(Volume Down button on iPhone 7/7 Plus) and Nutrition and hold them until the Apple logo appears on the display. After turning on the device, the problem with receiving notifications should disappear.

Note that in some cases forced reboot helps to cope with the problem software error by her own.

Alternative way

To many iPhone users and iPad with the problem of receiving notifications was helped by a method similar to the previous ones:

Step 1. Go to menu " Settings» → « iTunes Store and App Store" and exit account Apple ID.

Step 2: Turn your iPhone or iPad off and on.

Step 3. Once turned on, go to the menu " Settings» → « iTunes Store and App Store", click " To come in» and log in using your Apple ID account information.

Check your system settings

If the steps listed above did not help, most likely the problem lies in iOS settings or specific applications. Firstly, go to the menu " Settings» → « Do not disturb» and check if the “quiet” mode is turned on.

And, secondly, select the application from which you do not receive notifications in the “ menu Settings» → « Notifications" and make sure that the switch " Allowing notifications» active.

Lovers social network VKontakte often faces the problem of lack of push notifications. Windows do not pop up quick dialogues, which introduces some inconvenience. Problems can be different, we will try to talk about them and understand the methods of solution.

Problematic issues with notifications in VK

In fact, dealing with each problem is not difficult. Among them are the following:

Social network site updates, server overload and other technical issues. You can often encounter something like this when global changes occur in a social network. Many features are unavailable, including push notifications;
Global account settings failed. Perhaps you yourself or your relatives could accidentally or intentionally change some parameters in VK. Solving the problem of contacting the check individual parameters and returning the desired values to their original position;
Changing settings in private conversations with multiple people. The appearance of messages is often annoying and intrusive, so some users turn off certain elements and complain about the lack of pop-up windows;
The browser does not support java scripts. Of course, this is rare today, but problematic issues do arise. Only one remedy will help here! What exactly, read further in the article.

Technical points: waiting and updating

In this section we will try to solve problems with points No. 1 and 4. As for the first, everything is quite simple here. Updates and system overloads are temporary and you will need to be patient and wait. How long will this inconvenience last? It all depends on the specific situation:

If a major modification of individual elements of the site is carried out, the process will take up to 8 hours. During this time a reboot will be performed individual modules, establishing connections and checking functionality. To keep track of updates, we recommend subscribing to official group developers in VK;
Server overload can also be a problem when working with notifications. Now the developers have reduced the load on the site, but sometimes it is possible to encounter the phenomenon, especially in the summer. There is only one solution, waiting and hoping for self-fix situations. If red errors occur, we recommend clearing your browser cache.

Applications for working in the web environment are a different story. Some programs do not support java scripts or are simply blocked in global settings. Use something else software, reset everything to initial values or reinstall the latest version of the software. We've sorted this out, now let's move on to the parameters for VKontakte.

Incorrect or broken settings

Often the problem appears due to incorrect or broken parameters. The issue can be resolved through the following steps:

You need to go to the appropriate section. This is done by clicking on the name icon in the upper right corner;
In the new “Settings” window, you will need to find the “Notifications” section, after which sliders will appear on the central screen. They must be in the right position. If it's wrong, correct it;
In the case of mass dialogs, you need to check whether the corresponding function is enabled directly in the dialog. To do this, go to the desired chat, find the three dots at the top, and select “Disable/enable notifications.”

The problem is solved, in some cases you will need to log out and log in and clear the cache. We hope the tips helped and you eliminated the inconvenience. You also need to pay attention that VK uses notifications by email and SMS, we will talk about this in future articles.

Apple is responsible for the correct operation of Push notifications in iOS. Any third party application, if it wants to send notifications to the user, it must use Apple servers for this. The scheme looks like this: the developer will raise his own server, which accesses Apple's Push Notification Service (APNS), which in turn sends notifications to users on their devices.

Therefore, if some specific application does not send you notifications, then the problem lies in the crooked hands of the developer, who cannot properly configure the interaction of his server with APNS. If you stop receiving absolutely all notifications, then try the following instructions.

Sign out of your Apple ID account

For identification Apple devices uses your Apple ID. This is how the company understands where to send notifications. The first thing to do if you have problems with receiving Push-notifications – sign out and sign in again to your Apple ID. You can do this in Settings > iTunes Store & App Store.

Reconnect your device to iCloud

A similar step should be repeated with cloud service iCloud, which is responsible for synchronizing data between devices and with Apple servers. You can do this in Settings > iCloud.

Restart device

iOS doesn't have many tools for solving problems, reboot being the main one. Let us remind you that a reboot is different from a regular power off/on. You can restart your device by long pressing the power button and the Home key on older devices and long pressing the power and volume down button on the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

Check Do Not Disturb Mode

If the system is set to Do Not Disturb mode, you will not hear notifications in specified time. Make sure you don't turn it on permanently. This is understandable if there is a crescent icon in the device’s status bar.

Check your application settings

iOS has a very flexible notification system that allows you to customize each application the way you want. It can send Push notifications, it can show notifications only on the application icon, with banners at the top of the screen, it can show or not show notifications on closed screen. In short, there are many options, all of them can be viewed in “Settings” > “Notifications”. If, when you first launched the application, you accidentally blocked it from sending notifications, you can always change this setting in this menu.

Check the mute button

Absurd, but, as practice shows, extremely helpful advice. Small switch on the side iPhone panels does not affect the operation of Push notifications in any way, but disables system sounds notifications. Thus, if you accidentally switch it, you may not hear important notifications.

December 28, 2015 at 12:25 pm

Push notifications in Android. Rakes, crutches and bicycles

Mobile application development,
Android development

I was prompted to write this article by a task that was assigned to me in one of my work projects: to implement Push notifications in an application. It seemed that everything was simple: you study the documentation, examples and move forward. In addition, I already had experience working with notifications. But it was not there…

The service, within which the Android application is implemented, has quite strict requirements for the operation of Push notifications. It is necessary to notify the user of some action within 30-60 seconds. If the notification is successful, a request is sent from the user's device to the server with the appropriate status. From the documentation it is known that the GCM service ( Google Cloud Messaging) does not guarantee delivery of PUSH notifications to devices, therefore, as a backdoor option, if these time frames are violated, our service notifies the user with via SMS messages. Because the SMS cost messages are significantly higher than PUSH notifications, it is necessary to reduce the flow as much as possible SMS messages to client devices.

After studying the documentation and installing push notifications, we sent the first build of the application to test to several clients and began to wait. The results were approximately as follows:

with active Wifi connection everything works perfectly: notifications are delivered, clients are happy.
with active mobile internet The fun has begun.

Some clients wrote that they experienced delays in the delivery of push notifications, or received both PUSH and SMS at the same time, which is quite impractical. Others wrote that they received no notifications at all, but only SMS. For others, like our test devices, everything was ok. Collecting as much as possible from dissatisfied customers possible information, began to understand the problem and came up with the following list of restrictions (this list later resulted in a full-fledged FAQ):

Enabled Energy Saving mode (for example, Stamina on Sony devices) affects work Push notifications;
The user must have at least 1 active Google account on the device;
you need to make sure that your device has current version applications “ Google Services Play”;
check whether notifications for the application are disabled (check the box on the application page in the phone settings);
check whether the background mode for the application is limited (the setting is located in the “Data Usage” menu);
The GCM documentation states that notifications are sent only to certain ports, so the settings of the router, firewall and antivirus are also worth taking into account.

Having sent this reminder to all clients, we again began to wait for the results. And they turned out to be “not very good” again. They began to dig further.

On at this stage The one written by the guys from Mail.ru helped a lot. It describes in great detail the intricacies of implementing GCM on the client side, as well as the points due to which Push notifications refuse to work in mobile networks. Ultimately, the decision was made to keep my connection to the server in conjunction with GCM.

Before making a decision, it is worth highlighting a few very important points, which allow you to narrow down the range of potentially “non-working” devices:

the problem occurs only when connected to the mobile Internet;
According to customers, the problem occurs on Android version 4 and higher.

And so, let's move on to implementation.

An experienced Android developer will immediately say that there are at least 2 solutions to the problem: use Service or AlarmManager. We tried both options. Let's consider the first of them.

In order to create a system-indestructible service that will constantly hang in the background and perform our task, we used the method:

StartForeground(int notificationID, Notification notification);
Where

notificationId - some unique identificator notifications that will be displayed in the status bar and in the sliding curtain;
notification - the notification itself.

IN in this case prerequisite is to display a notification in the status bar. This approach ensures that the service will be given higher priority (since it interacts with the UI part of the system) when there is a lack of memory on the device and the system will be one of the last to unload it. We don’t need this notification, so we used the following trick: it’s enough to launch the second service simultaneously with the first one and for both services as notificationID use the same value. Then kill the second service. Wherein the notification will disappear from the status bar, but the functionality and priority capabilities of the first service will remain.

Having realized this approach, we sent the assembly for testing. Based on the results, it turned out that the system was still unloading the service, and from the logs we saw how significant time gaps occurred when requesting data in the background from our server. Therefore, we started implementing the second option - AlarmManager.

AlarmManager is a class that provides work with, roughly speaking, an “alarm clock”. It allows us to specify the time after which the system will send a broadcast notification, which will wake up our application and give it the opportunity to perform the necessary actions. There are some limitations to how this method works and they need to be addressed:

data about “alarm clocks” will be erased after rebooting the device;
Alarm data will be erased after updating the application.

The first rake we stepped on was the method

SetRepeating()
which allows you to set an alarm clock that repeats at a certain interval. Screwing it on this method, they began testing, and the tests showed the opposite - the “alarm clock” did not repeat. We began to figure out what was going on and looked at the documentation. And it was there that they found the answer to the question - starting from API lvl 19 (Kitkat), absolutely all “alarm clocks” in the system became one-time ones. Conclusion - always read the documentation.

This rake was not a reason for frustration, because the solution to the problem is quite simple - run a one-time “alarm clock” and reset it after it goes off. When implementing this approach, we came across the following rake - it turned out that for different levels The API needs to set alarms differently, but nothing was said in the documentation. But this problem I solved it quite simply - at random and by googling. Below is a code example that allows you to set alarms correctly:

Private static void setUpAlarm(final Context context, final Intent intent, final int timeInterval) ( final AlarmManager am = (AlarmManager) context.getSystemService(Context.ALARM_SERVICE); final PendingIntent pi = PendingIntent.getBroadcast(context, timeInterval, intent, 0); am.cancel(pi); if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP) ( final AlarmManager.AlarmClockInfo alarmClockInfo = new AlarmManager.AlarmClockInfo(System.currentTimeMillis() + timeInterval, pi); am.setAlarmClock(alarmClockInfo, pi); ) else if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.KITKAT) am.setExact(AlarmManager.RTC_WAKEUP, System.currentTimeMillis() + timeInterval, pi); else am.set(AlarmManager.RTC_WAKEUP, System.currentTimeMillis() + timeInterval, pi);
I want to draw your attention to the flag AlarmManager.RTC_WAKEUP- it is with the help of it that the system will allow our application to “wake up” when the screen is inactive, when the device is in a locked state.

This alarm clock approach gave us desired result- the application in the background correctly polls the server for new data. We are currently finalizing the algorithm. We are currently implementing and testing the following optimization, which will allow us to narrow the range of devices and thereby reduce the load on the server:

the message sent by GCM to the device contains some unique ID;
having received the data GET request V background we check whether an entry with the same ID already exists on the device;
if there is no such data locally on the device, we remember this ID and the time it was received T1;
we wait for PUSH with the same ID, upon receipt we remember the time T2 and check the difference between T2 and T1;
if the difference is more than some temporary criterion (value), then the device has a problem with delivery of notifications and for correct operation the service must constantly request data in the background from the server (I advise you to select the criterion based on the problem being solved. In our case, the criterion was chosen equal to 5 minutes);
this difference should be calculated several times, for example 5-10 times, only after that we can conclude that the device really has a problem with receiving Push notifications (this way, the situation of a banal connection disconnection, timeout, etc. is eliminated);
needs to be driven away this algorithm periodically (for example, once a week, or after updating the OS on the device).

All the best. And fewer such crutches.

P.S.
Helped a lot during the testing process