React Native push notifications

[mattheworiordan]

A customer has asked when we plan on supporting push notifications in the React Native library.

This issue can keep track of customer requests to gauge demand.

┆Issue is synchronized with this Jira Story by Unito

[gianpaj]

That's great. Thanks for the visibility

Can you please provide more information on the current status of push notification with RN?

1. Today, is there a way to set up for example that a chat message triggers a push notification (APN/FCM) to a pushToken, if provided?
2. Do I need to write my own webhook server to listen for unread messages[1] and then manually send push notifications to the user's devices?

[1] would be good to know as well if JS library has a built-in functionality to keep track of the this.

[funkyboy]

@gianpaj Thanks for getting in touch.

1. Not yet. We are working on this.
2. Yes. It is a feature that we have thought of, but will not be available in the next release. So yes, you'd need a way to track unread messages. As you have mentioned, a webhook is a good solution for that task.

[gianpaj]

Thanks for the answers. While I was implementing your service I realise that data cannot be persisted for longer than 72 hours[1]. This is a deal breaker for chat messaging inside a marketplace app, think of Airbnb. We want to keep chat messages indefinitely. If there's a chance you're going to expand your services to such use cases, I'd be glad to give it another try.

All the best

[1] https://support.ably.io/support/solutions/articles/3000030059-how-long-are-messages-stored-for

[mattheworiordan]

@gianpaj did you read https://support.ably.io/solution/articles/3000071222-can-i-store-my-messages-for-longer-?

[gianpaj]

Congrats on the launch! https://www.producthunt.com/posts/ably-push-notifications

Does this mean RN developers will able to use this as well? 🙏

[Puzzleton]

Also interested in seeing push notifications supported in this package. 🙂

[SimonWoolf]

Unfortunately not yet. ably-js-react-native (and other platforms backed by ably-js) currently supports the admin side of push (e.g. publishing a message with a push payload, administration of devices & subscriptions etc.), but does not support being the target of a push notification -- at least, not built-in to the library in the way it is in ably-ios and ably-java. But doing that is on our roadmap.

[zivc]

Unfortunately not yet. ably-js-react-native (and other platforms backed by ably-js) currently supports the admin side of push (e.g. publishing a message with a push payload, administration of devices & subscriptions etc.), but does not support being the target of a push notification -- at least, not built-in to the library in the way it is in ably-ios and ably-java. But doing that is on our roadmap.

Hi @SimonWoolf - i am using RN and have discovered that Ably still doesn't have this feature :(

[Abramovick]

I'm also using RN and didn't see anything on RN push notifications with Ably todate

[jamienewcomb]

Hey everyone - pleased to say that 'Push notification support for web browser in ably-js lib' and 'React Native support for Push Notifications' are in development and should be released over the next 6-8 weeks.

cc @owenpearson