Push Notifications in Mobile App: APNs, FCM, Segmentation, Rich Push
We have implemented push notifications in mobile apps for 50+ projects — from startups to enterprise with audiences of 10M+ users. An irrelevant or technically broken notification is worse than none: the user disables push or deletes the app. According to a Localytics report, push permission rejection on iOS reaches 40% in the first week — the cause is almost always irrelevance, not mechanics. Within 2 weeks after implementing quality segmentation, open conversion increases by 25–30%. Contact us for an audit of your current implementation — we will evaluate the project and propose an optimal stack within one day.
How the Infrastructure Works: APNs and FCM
APNs is the only delivery channel on iOS. Everything else (OneSignal, Braze, Airship) is a wrapper on top of it. APNs accepts requests over HTTP/2, authentication via JWT token (p8 key) or certificate. JWT is preferable: one key for all apps in the account, doesn't expire annually unlike the certificate. For more details, see the official documentation.
A critical point: APNs distinguishes apns-push-type — alert, background, voip, complication, fileprovider, mdm. An incorrect type on iOS 13+ causes background notifications not to wake the app. We've seen projects where content-available: 1 was sent without apns-push-type: background — the app didn't receive silent push on some devices, and the team spent a month looking for an 'app bug'.
FCM on Android works through Google Play Services. For devices without GMS (Huawei, part of the Chinese market), Huawei Push Kit or a direct WebSocket is needed — a separate task. FCM supports data messages (handled in onMessageReceived) and notification messages (the system displays automatically if the app is in the background). Mixing them requires caution: if the notification block has a click_action but the deep link is not registered in the app, tapping the notification simply opens the main screen without navigation.
| Characteristic | APNs | FCM |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication | JWT token or certificate | Firebase service account |
| Message types | alert, background, voip, etc. | notification, data |
| Silent push | content-available + apns-push-type: background | data message with priority high |
| Payload limits | 4 KB | 4 KB (upper), up to 2 KB for notification |
| Works without Google Play | N/A (iOS only) | No, requires alternative provider |
Why Segmentation Is the Foundation of Effective Push Notifications?
Sending to everyone indiscriminately quickly exhausts user loyalty. Personalized messages are clicked 3 times more often than bulk ones, and proper segmentation reduces churn by 25% (on one project it brought significant additional revenue per quarter). The cost of setting up segmentation in OneSignal or a custom backend depends on the complexity of filters.
Proper segmentation is built on several levels.
| Segmentation Type | Tool | Example |
|---|---|---|
| By topics | FCM topics / APNs push-to-topic | Order status notifications |
| By attributes | OneSignal, Braze | last_active < 7_days + plan = premium |
| Personalized | Custom backend | By device_token linked to profile |
Topics are for broad categories: 'new promotions', 'order status updates'. User subscribes via FirebaseMessaging.getInstance().subscribeToTopic("orders"). Simple, but no flexible filtering.
Attribute-based segments — via OneSignal, Braze, or custom backend. We store in the user profile: language, device type, last activity, LTV segment. Notification goes only to those with last_active < 7_days and plan = premium. OneSignal allows building such filters in the interface without code.
Personalized — by specific device_token. It's important to store tokens correctly: the token updates on app reinstall, restoration from backup on a new phone, or resetting settings. On iOS, use UNUserNotificationCenter + didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken, save to backend on every launch, not just the first. Otherwise, after 3 months 30% of tokens in the database are outdated.
What Is Rich Push and How Does It Boost Conversion?
A standard notification with title and text is clicked less often than a rich push with image and action buttons — by 3 times. But implementing rich push is a separate task on each platform.
On iOS, rich content requires UNNotificationServiceExtension (to modify payload) and UNNotificationContentExtension (custom UI). The extension runs in a separate process with limited time and memory. If the extension crashes or exceeds the timeout, the system shows the original payload without media. A typical mistake is trying to load an image over HTTP (not HTTPS): ATS blocks the request, the extension silently fails, and the user sees a notification without an image.
On Android with API 26+, notifications are tied to NotificationChannel. If the channel is created with IMPORTANCE_LOW, sound and vibration are unavailable. Different notification types (transactional, marketing) should be in different channels so the user can disable marketing without losing order notifications. BigPictureStyle, MessagingStyle, InboxStyle are templates for expanded notifications. MessagingStyle with Person and avatars is the best choice for chats.
| Platform | Component | Details |
|---|---|---|
| iOS | UNNotificationServiceExtension | Runtime ~30 s, memory ~50 MB, HTTPS required |
| iOS | UNNotificationContentExtension | Custom UI, action buttons |
| Android | NotificationChannel | Importance level, sound, vibration — user-configurable |
| Android | BigPictureStyle / MessagingStyle | Expanded content, message grouping |
How to Track Delivery and Conversion of Push Notifications?
Sending a notification is half the work. It's important to know: was it delivered, opened, and did it lead to a target action.
FCM returns a MessageId on send, but does not guarantee a delivery callback — by design. For open tracking, custom logic is needed: on notification tap in onMessageReceived or via getInitialNotification() / onNotificationOpenedApp (OneSignal SDK), send an event to analytics with notification_id.
OneSignal provides built-in delivery and CTR analytics. For more detailed analysis — integrate with Amplitude or Mixpanel via webhook on open events. The budget for such a dashboard varies depending on event volume.
How We Implement Push Notifications: Typical Process
- Audit current implementation — check token storage, update handling, notification types.
- Design architecture — choose transport (FCM + APNs), segmentation layer (OneSignal/Braze/custom), personalization method.
- Implementation — write registration code, inbound handling, rich push, deep linking.
- Testing — send test campaigns, verify delivery on different devices, simulators, regions.
- Monitoring and analytics — set up dashboard, open and conversion events.
- Documentation and training — hand over operational materials to the team.
Typical stack: FCM + APNs at transport level, OneSignal or Firebase Notifications Composer for segmentation, custom backend for personalized event-based notifications. For large apps with >1M users, OneSignal has pricing limits — then we use Braze or a custom implementation on AWS SNS.
Common Mistakes When Setting Up Push Notifications
- Not storing updated
device_tokenon every launch — after 3 months 30% of tokens are outdated. - Confusing
apns-push-type— background notifications don't wake the app. - Creating a single
NotificationChannelfor all types — users can't disable marketing without losing transactions. - Loading media in rich push over HTTP — ATS blocks the request on iOS.
- Not testing deep link targeting — taps go to the main screen.
Timelines depend on complexity: basic FCM+APNs integration with transactional notifications — 1–2 weeks. A full system with segmentation, rich push, analytics, and A/B testing — 4–8 weeks. Order an audit of your current push infrastructure or get a consultation on implementing push notifications in your mobile app — we will contact you within a day and provide an accurate estimate.