Segmentation

You can define your audience based on named users, attributes, tags, tag groups, and Airship channel IDs.

Named Users

Named Users allow you to associate multiple devices to a single user or profile that may be associated with more than one device, e.g., an end-user’s tablet and phone. A device can have only one Named User, and a single Named User should not be associated with more than 50 devices. Named Users provide the ability to directly set tags on them.

By default, Named Users can only be associated server-side. A 403 Forbidden response is returned if Named User association is attempted when client-side association is disabled. In order to associate a Named User through the application, you must change the application’s Named User security setting to allow Named Users to be set from devices. See: Enable Named Users.

 Note

Associating the channel with a Named User ID will implicitly disassociate the channel from the previously associated Named User ID, if an association existed.

Associating the Named User
UAirship.namedUser().identifier = "NamedUserID"
[UAirship namedUser].identifier = @"NamedUserID";
Disassociating the Named User
UAirship.namedUser().identifier = nil
[UAirship namedUser].identifier = nil;

Attributes

Attributes are metadata that you can use for audience segmentation. Attributes differ from tags in that when evaluating users with attributes, Airship uses operators, e.g., equals, less than/greater than, contains, before/after, to determine whether or not to target a user. Supported attribute types are TEXT, NUMBER, and DATE. For more information see the attributes guide.

Channel Attributes Example
// Create the attribute mutations
let mutations = UAAttributeMutations()
mutations.setString("Bobby's Phone", forAttribute: "device_name")
mutations.setNumber(4.99, forAttribute: "average_rating")
mutations.removeAttribute("connection_type")

// Apply the attribute changes to the channel
UAirship.channel().apply(mutations)
// Create the attribute mutations
UAAttributeMutations *mutations = [UAAttributeMutations mutations];
[mutations setString:@"Bobby's Phone" forAttribute:@"device_name"];
[mutations setNumber:@(4.99) forAttribute:"average_rating"];
[mutations removeAttribute:@"connection_type"];

// Apply the attribute changes to the channel
[[UAirship channel] applyAttributeMutations:mutations];
Named User Attributes Example
// Create the attribute mutations
let mutations = UAAttributeMutations()
mutations.setString("Bobby", forAttribute: "first_name")
mutations.setDate(NSDate(timeIntervalSince1970: 524300400),
                  forAttribute: "birth_date")

// Apply the attribute changes to the named user
UAirship.namedUser().apply(mutations)
// Create the attribute mutations
UAAttributeMutations *mutations = [UAAttributeMutations mutations];
[mutations setString:@"Bobby" forAttribute:@"first_name"];
[mutations setDate:[NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSince1970:524300400]
      forAttribute:@"birth_date"];

// Apply the attribute changes to the named user
[[UAirship namedUser] applyAttributeMutations:mutations];

Tags

Tags are an easy way to group channels. Many tags can be applied to one or more devices. Then, a message sent to a tag will be sent out to all devices that are associated with that tag. After modifying tags, make sure to call updateRegistration to have the SDK sync the tags with Airship.

Modifying tags
// Set tags
UAirship.channel().tags = ["one", "two", "three"]

// Add a tag
UAirship.channel().addTag("a_tag")

// Remove a tag
UAirship.channel().removeTag("a_tag")

// Update registration
UAirship.channel().updateRegistration()
// Setting tags
[UAirship channel].tags = @[@"one", @"two", @"three"];

// Add a tag
[[UAirship channel] addTag:@"a_tag"];

// Remove a tag
[[UAirship channel] removeTag:@"a_tag"];

// Update registration
[[UAirship channel] updateRegistration];

Tag Groups

Tag groups are configurable namespaces for organizing tags for the channel and Named User. Please view the Tag Groups documentation for more details.

 Note

If setting channel tags is enabled on the device, the predefined device Tag Group cannot be modified from the device and will log an error message. Disable channel tags by disabling channelTagRegistrationEnabled on the UAPush instance if you want to modify this “default” Tag Group.

Channel Tag Group Example
// Add tags to a group
UAirship.channel().addTags(["silver-member", "gold-member"], group:"loyalty")

// Remove tags from a group
UAirship.channel().removeTags(["bronze-member", "club-member"], group:"loyalty")

// Set tags on a group
UAirship.channel().setTags(["bingo"], group:"games")

// Update registration
UAirship.channel().updateRegistration()
// Add tags to a group
[[UAirship channel] addTags:@[@"silver-member", @"gold-member"] group:@"loyalty"];

// Remove tags from a group
[[UAirship channel] removeTags:@[@"bronze-member", @"club-member"] group:@"loyalty"];

// Set tags on a group
[[UAirship channel] setTags:@[@"bingo"] group:@"games"];

// Force a registration update
[[UAirship channel] updateRegistration];
Named User Tag Group Example
// Add tags to a group
UAirship.namedUser().addTags(["silver-member", "gold-member"], group:"loyalty")

// Remove tags from a group
UAirship.namedUser().removeTags(["bronze-member", "club-member"], group:"loyalty")

// Set tags on a group
UAirship.namedUser().setTags(["bingo"], group:"games")

// Force a registration update
UAirship.namedUser().updateTags()
// Add tags to a group
[[UAirship namedUser] addTags:@[@"silver-member", @"gold-member"] group:@"loyalty"];

// Remove tags from a group
[[UAirship namedUser] removeTags:@[@"bronze-member", @"club-member"] group:@"loyalty"];

// Set tags on a group
[[UAirship namedUser] setTags:@[@"bingo"] group:@"games"];

// Force a registration update
[[UAirship namedUser] updateTags];

By default, Tag Groups can only be modified from the server. A 403 Forbidden response is returned if Tag Groups modification is attempted when client-side Tag Groups is disabled. In order to modify Tag Groups through the application, you must change the application’s Tag Group security settings to allow these tags to be set from devices. Follow the steps in Manage Tag Groups to enable this option.

Airship Channel IDs

The Channel ID is a unique identifier that ties together an application/device pair on iOS devices. The Channel ID is used to target pushes to specific devices using the Airship API.

The Channel ID will be logged for all apps. You can get the identifier with a couple of extra lines to your application:

Channel ID Access
let channelID = UAirship.channel().identifier
print("My Application Channel ID: \(channelID)")
NSString *channelID = [UAirship channel].identifier;
NSLog(@"My Application Channel ID: %@", channelID);

Don’t worry if this value initially comes back as null on your app’s first run as the Channel ID will be created and persisted during registration.

You can listen for channel creation by adding an NSNotificationCenter observer for UAChannelCreatedEvent . You can listen for channel updates by adding an NSNotificationCenter observer for UAChannelUpdatedEvent .

Adding an NSNotificationCenter observer for UAChannelCreatedEvent
NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self,
                              selector:#selector(myClass.mySelector),
                                  name:NSNotification.Name(UAChannelCreatedEvent),
                                object:nil);
// Add observer to the UAChannelCreatedEvent
[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
                                         selector:@selector(mySelector)
                                             name:UAChannelCreatedEvent object:nil];
Implementing the UARegistrationDelegate protocol
func notificationAuthorizedSettingsDidChange(_ settings: UAAuthorizedNotificationSettings) {
    // notification authorization settings changed
}
- (void)notificationAuthorizedSettingsDidChange:(UAAuthorizedNotificationSettings)authorizedSettings {
    // notification authorization settings changed
}
Setting the registration delegate on UAPush
UAirship.push().registrationDelegate = self
[UAirship push].registrationDelegate = self;