Push notification content

About push notifications

Though we mainly experience push notifications as banner alerts, push notifications may contain many other kinds of data such as images, sounds, badge updates, buttons, and more.

• Alert users when they are not in the app
• Pass extra data to users for marketing/segmentation use
• Keep users engaged with your app

Use cases:

• Breaking news
• Score updates
• Transaction confirmation
• Social interactions
• New content available

You can combine a push notification with an In-App MessageA message that appears inside of your app. You can send in-app messages to your entire app audience, not just users who have opted-in to push notifications. The standard format, as opposed to In-App Automation, is a banner that slides downward or upward from the top or bottom of a device screen. and/or Message CenterA place in your app where you can display persistent rich messages, including HTML, video, etc. Similar to email, Message Center represents both the medium (the in-app inbox) and the message type (the messages you send to the inbox). message.

When combining a push notification and Message Center, Airship sends the Message Center message to both opted-in and opted-out devices.

Silent push notifications

A silent push notification is a message that wakes a mobile app for processing without appearing on the device or producing sound or vibration. Silent push notifications are useful for performing background tasks such as sending custom keys, updating the app’s badge icon, fetching remote content, and enabling new features.

For more information, see Silent Notifications for iOS and Silent Notifications for Android.

You can send silent push notifications using the Message, Automation, and Sequence composers. You cannot combine a silent push notification with any other message type.

Appearance and behavior

Push notifications are in banner format and can appear on any screen on a device. They are displayed upon receipt and are not PersistentMessage content that remains available even if the alerts for the message are dismissed. For example, Message Center, email, and SMS content can be viewed in the app’s Message Center, email inbox, or the device’s native SMS client until the message is deleted by its recipient. Non-persistent message types become unavailable when users dismiss them. A message’s linked content, e.g., a web link, deep link, an Apple News story, remains available as determined by the source host..

Every push notification requires text, and you can also add optional features:

• Buttons — You can add one or two buttons.

• Title — A heading that appears above the notification text in:

  • iOS Notification Center
  • Apple Watch Looks
  • Android and Fire OS Notification Area/Drawer

• Media — See: Media guidelines.

• Summary — Supplemental text displayed with the notification. Position varies per platform.

Creating content

You configure the appearance of the message in the Content step of a composer; in the Delivery step you can configure content-related features that do not affect the appearance of the message.

Silent push notifications do not have visual content. In the Content step, click Silent Push Notification, then click Delivery in the header and complete the remaining steps in the composer.

The remainder of this section applies to regular push notifications.

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In the Content step, click Push Notification then Add content:

Now you can configure the body of the message:

1. Enter the message text. If you are using HandlebarsHandlebars is Airship’s templating language for personalization. Handlebars expressions use double curly braces wrapped around a content template, ranging from a simple variable, e.g., {{first_name}}, to complex evaluations of personalization data., you can test how the content will appear. See Previewing personalized content.

2. Select an ActionA configurable behavior that occurs when a user interacts with your message, e.g., opening a web page.:

   • Home
   • Message Center
   • Landing Page
   • Deep Link
   • Adaptive Link
   • Web Page
   • Share

3. (Optional) Set and/or remove tags when the user interacts with your message.

   1. Click Configure options.
   2. Select Add tag or Remove tag, then search for tags that exist in the system, or create a new tag.

      

   3. (Optional) Click Configure another option and repeat the previous step.
    Tip

   Setting one or more tags when a user interacts with a message can help you track user interactions for follow-on retargeting campaigns. For example, if you set a tag responded-campaign1, you can target users bearing the responded-campaign1 tag with another message at a later date, knowing that they are active users. Alternatively, you can re-engage users with this tag using an automated message if they are inactive for a period of time.

4. (Optional)iOS SDK 20+Android SDK 20+ Emit a custom event when the user interacts with your message. You can select an existing event or name a new one.

   You can also assign an event value and specify string, number, or boolean property values that you can use later when filtering Custom Events. If you want to use properties, you must define the event and its properties in your project in advance. See Manage Events.

   1. Select Configure options.
   2. Under Options, select Emit custom event and search for an event. If no result is found, select Use <event name> to add the event to your project.
   3. (Optional) Set an event value and/or specify property values to filter by in segments and triggers:
      1. Select Add event properties, then:
         • For a value, select Add event value and enter a numeric value for the event.
         • For properties, select Add property, then Search for properties, and then search for a string, number, or boolean event property and enter or select a value.
      2. Select Save.

5. Configure optional features:

   • Buttons
   • Media
   • Summary
   • Title

Now you are ready to complete the remaining steps in the composer.

Media

Enter a URL to add media to your notifications. See also Media guidelines.

If using a personalized media URL for an App push notification, you must specify the media type after entering the URL:

If your Airship plan includes CDN support, you can also upload media or select from previously uploaded media:

1. Select Upload and click Insert Media.
2. (To use an existing file) Select a file row.
3. (To upload media) Select Choose files and then and select one or more files to upload.
4. (Optional for uploaded media) Select each uploaded file and add or edit keywords to help organize your media. Enter text in the search field below the preview, and then select from returned matches or select Add keyword: [entered text]. Select the X icon to remove a keyword. Changes are applied immediately.
5. (Required for uploaded media) Select the file you want use, then Insert selected media.

For additional information, see Media library.

Summary

Add a summary line as supplemental text displayed with the notification.

• iOS: The summary appears below the push notification title.
• Android and Fire OS: The summary appears below the main notification text in most cases. This is the only visible text other than the title when Android Picture is visible in expanded mode, as the main notification text is suppressed.

Title

Enter a title to create a heading that appears above the notification text in:

• iOS Notification Center
• Apple Watch Looks
• Android and Fire OS Notification Area/Drawer

Default notification character limits

The following tables outline the maximum character counts for default notification display.

iOS

Device	Display	Lock screen Portrait	Lock screen Landscape	Notification Center	Banner style	Alert view
iPhone 14 Pro Max	6.7 in (170 mm) 2796 x 1290 px at 460 ppi	150 chars	n/a	150 chars	n/a	n/a
iPhone 14 Pro	6.1 in (154 mm) 2556 x 1179 px at 460 ppi	150 chars	n/a	150 chars	n/a	n/a
iPhone 14	6.1 in (154 mm) 2532 x 1170 px at 460 ppi	150 chars	n/a	150 chars	n/a	n/a
iPhone 14 Plus	6.7 in (170 mm) 2778 x 1284 px at 458 ppi	150 chars	n/a	150 chars	n/a	n/a
iPhone 13 Pro Max	6.7 in (170 mm) 2778 x 1284 px at 458 ppi	150 chars	n/a	150 chars	n/a	n/a
iPhone 13 Pro	6 in (152 mm) 2532 x 1170 px at 460 ppi	150 chars	n/a	150 chars	n/a	n/a
iPhone 13	6.1 in (152 mm) 2340 x 1080 px at 460 ppi	150 chars	n/a	150 chars	n/a	n/a
iPhone 13 mini	5.4 in (127 mm) 2340 x 1080 px at 476 ppi	150 chars	n/a	150 chars	n/a	n/a
iPhone 12 Pro Max	6.6 in (169 mm) 2532 × 1170 px at 470 ppi	150 chars	n/a	150 chars	n/a	n/a
iPhone 12 Pro	6.6 in (169 mm) 2532 × 1170 px at 470 ppi	150 chars	n/a	150 chars	n/a	n/a
iPhone 12	6 in (154 mm) 2532 x 1170 px at 460 ppi	150 chars	n/a	150 chars	n/a	n/a
iPhone 12 mini	5.4 in (137 mm) 2340 x 1080 px at 476 ppi	150 chars	n/a	150 chars	n/a	n/a
iPhone SE (2nd generation)	4.7 in (119 mm) 1334 × 750 px at 326 ppi	150 chars	n/a	150 chars	n/a	n/a
iPhone 11 Pro Max	6.4 in (164 mm) 2688 x 1242 px at 458 ppi	150 chars	n/a	150 chars	n/a	n/a
iPhone 11 Pro	5.8 in (148 mm) 2436 x 1125 px at 458 ppi	150 chars	n/a	150 chars	n/a	n/a
iPhone 11	6 in (154 mm) 1792 x 828 px at 326 ppi	150 chars	n/a	150 chars	n/a	n/a
iPhone XS Max	6.5 in (165 mm) 2688 x 1242 px at 458 ppi	150 chars	n/a	150 chars	n/a	n/a
iPhone 6/6S/7 Plus	5.5 in (140 mm) 1920 x 1080 px at 401 ppi	156 chars	n/a	156 chars	98 chars	1,283 chars, scroll for more
iPhone 6/6S/7	4.7 in (120 mm) 1334 x 750 px at 326 ppi	148 chars	n/a	148 chars	89 chars	1,217 chars, scroll for more
iPhone 5/5C/5S iPod touch (5th/6th generation)	4 in (100 mm) 1136 x 640 px at 326 ppi	119 chars	n/a	119 chars	74 chars	1,013 chars, no scroll
iPhone 4/4S iPod touch (4th generation, A1367)	3.5 in (89 mm) 960 x 640 px at 326 ppi	114 chars	n/a	166 chars	43 chars	153 chars, no scroll
iPad Air (3rd generation)	10.5 in (267 mm) 2224 x 1668 px at 264 ppi	220 chars	n/a	220 chars	n/a	n/a
iPad mini (1st generation, A1432)	7.9 in (200 mm) 1024 x 768 px at 163 ppi	211 chars	220 chars	229 chars	124 chars	Portrait: 1,957 chars, Landscape: 1,417 chars

Android

Device	Display	Lock screen Portrait	Lock screen Landscape	Notification drawer Default notification Big text style	Notification drawer System notification
Nexus 9 tablet	8.9 in (230 mm) 2048 x 1536 px at 287 ppi	44 chars	44 chars	536 chars	44 chars
Nexus 7 tablet 2013 version	7.02 (178 mm) 1920 x 1200 px at 323 ppi	42 chars	n/a	509 chars	42 chars
Nexus 6P phone	5.7 in (140 mm) 1440 x 2560 px at 518 ppi	37 chars	n/a	444 chars	37 chars
Nexus 5X phone	5.2 in (130 mm) 1080 x 1920 px at 423 ppi	46 chars	n/a	562 chars	46 chars
Nexus 6 phone	5.96 in (151 mm) 1440 x 2560 px at 493 ppi	37 chars	n/a	444 chars	37 chars
Nexus 5 phone	4.95 in (126 mm) 1080 x 1920 px at 445 ppi	37 chars	n/a	444 chars	37 chars
Nexus 4 phone	4.7 in (120 mm) 768 x 1280 px at 320 ppi	40 chars	n/a	482 chars	40 chars