Configure Mobile Channels and Push Providers in the Airship Dashboard
iOS Channel Configuration
To configure an iOS channels, you must configure Apple Push Notification Service (APNs). To do this, you can either use token or certificate auth. It is recommended to use token auth to simplify setup and to avoid having to renew your certificate every year.
Note
Airship defaults to token-based authentication for APNs but will fall back on certificates if token authentication is not configured. For existing projects, it is recommended that you leave your certificate in place when migrating to token-based authentication so that push can be quickly restored if there are any issues during that process. Also, if you remove your certificate before setting up token-based authentication, you may have a period when you cannot send messages.
After confirming token-based authentication is working, you can let the certificate expire, or revoke the certificate from the Apple Developer Member Center.
Go to Account » Membership and copy your Team ID. You’ll need this ID when you configure the APNs service in Airship later.
In the left side menu, go to Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles » Identifiers.
Note
If you have not already registered an iOS App ID, select Identifiers from the menu on the left side, click + to add a new identifier, make sure that App IDs is selected from the menu on the right side, then click Continue:
Fill out the Register an App ID form. Note your Bundle ID, then check the Push Notifications checkbox and click Continue and Register. Now can skip to step 4 below.
Note your Bundle ID and check the box for Push Notifications, then click Save. If Push Notifications was already enabled, click All Identifiers at the top of the page to go back.
In the left side menu, click Keys.
Click + to register a new key, then enter a unique key name and enable Apple Push
Notifications service (APNs). Click Continue.
Click Register to finish registering your key.
On the following screen, note your Key ID and click Download to save the key
in .p8 format.
Important
Be sure to save your key in a secure location if you intend to use it across multiple apps or Airship
projects. Apple only allows two registered APNs keys per team, so reaching this limit would require you
to revoke one of your existing keys before creating a new one, which in turn would require an update for
any apps previously using the revoked key. Airship will not make your key available for download or
sharing across projects once it has been uploaded.
Navigate to the Airship dashboard.
Go to Settings » Channels » Mobile Apps » iOS.
Click Edit for Token-based authentication.
Upload the .p8 file and enter your Team, Bundle, and Key IDs.
In the left side menu, click Identifiers, then click your app’s name in the list of App IDs.
Note
If you have not already registered an iOS App ID, click +, select App IDs, and click Continue:
Fill out the Register an App ID form, making sure to check the Push Notifications checkbox, then click Continue and Register.
Click your app’s name in the list of App IDs, and skip to step 4 below.
In the list of Capabilities, check the box for Push Notifications, then click Configure to
continue to the Apple Push Notification service SSL Certificates section. The button will be labeled Edit if it has been configured previously.
Note
If the Configure/Edit button is not available, you may not be the
team agent or an admin. The person who originally created the developer
account is your team agent, and they will have to carry out the remaining
steps in this section.
Click Create Certificate to create a Production SSL Certificate. This will generate an
Apple Push Notification service SSL (Sandbox & Production) certificate compatible with both the
Production and Development environments.
You should now see the Create New Certificate section to generate an Apple Push Notification service SSL (Sandbox & Production) certificate:
Follow Apple’s instructions to create a certificate signing request
in the Create New Certificate section, then click Continue after your certificate signing request is uploaded.
You can now use the newly-created Certificate Signing request to generate
the APNs Push SSL certificate. The next step requires the Download
button to be active. You may need to reload the page if it is not yet active.
Click Download and save the file for use in the next step.
Open the certificate you downloaded in the previous step.
It should open in the Keychain Access app and be
listed in My Certificates.
Click the certificate in the list, then from the File menu, select
Export Items….
Note
Be sure to select
My Certificates under the Category menu on the lower left-hand side.
If My Certificates is not highlighted, you will not be able to export
the certificate as a .p12 file.
Save the file in the Personal Information Exchange (.p12) format.You will be prompted to create a certificate password. Use this password in
a later step.
Navigate to the Airship dashboard.
Go to Settings » Channels » Mobile Apps » iOS.
Click Edit for Certificate-based authentication.
Enter the certificate password and upload the .p12 file.
Click Save.
Android Channel Configuration
To configure Android channels, you must configure either Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) and/or Huawei Mobile Services (HMS). If both push providers are
configured, the Airship SDK will prioritize FCM as the push provider if the app and the SDK are set up for both.
Either create a new project or open an existing project that you want to
configure with Airship.
In the left side menu, click and select Project
settings.
Select Cloud Messaging from the options at the top of the screen, then
click for Cloud Messaging API (Legacy) and select Manage API in Google Cloud Console.
Go to the Develop Overview and scroll to the bottom. Copy the Client ID
and Client secret.
Configure Airship Android Channel with the HMS Credentials.
In Airship, go to Settings » Channels » Mobile Apps » Android.
Enter your Huawei client ID and client secret.
Click Add Android.
Amazon Channel Configuration
To configure Amazon channels, you must configure Amazon Device Messaging (ADM).
Note
While you will not need in-depth knowledge of Amazon’s ADM platform
in order to use ADM for push notifications, we recommend that you
review Amazon’s Overview of Amazon Device Messaging before continuing.
