Unable to send silent push notifications to iOS using FCM

Question

I'm attempting to send a silent data notification to an iOS device using node.js module firebase-admin 7.0.0 and the following code:

// load lib
var firebase = require('firebase-admin');

// add API keys
firebase.initializeApp({
    credential: firebase.credential.cert('./certs/firebase-private-key.json')
});

// device token send back from device
var token = '00397db1aa2f1fa625f71deef0c8e8ef0d4427cf60a13c0fb4bd290dcec41f4b';

// data message to send (contains no notification details so should be silent)
var message = {
   data: {
      key1: 'hello',
      key2: 'world'
   }
};

var options = {
    priority: 'high',
    timeToLive: 60 * 60 * 24,
    contentAvailable: true,
    mutableContent: true
};

// send the message
firebase.messaging().sendToDevice(token, message, options).then(function (res) {
    // it worked!
    console.log(res);
})
.catch(function (err) {
    // it failed :(
    console.log(err);
});

I get a response saying the message was sent, but it never arrives on the device. Whereas if I send the message using NWPusher it works fine (example payload below):

{"aps":{ "content-available": 1,"badge":0, "hello": "there" }}

Any ideas?

FYI: I have also opened a ticket on GitHub

Only silent notification is not coming.? or normal notification itself not coming ..? — Gokul G, Mar 08 '19 at 09:11
Can you please add what happens inside sendToDevice function — Gokul G, Mar 08 '19 at 09:13
Normal notifications work fine, the problem is that the silent notifications never arrive - but they do if sent via FWPusher — John Doherty, Mar 08 '19 at 09:13
@JohnDoherty Do you get any error message while sending notification — Gokul G, Mar 11 '19 at 05:02
Try looking into the message format being used. Maybe something in platform-specific fields here: https://firebase.google.com/docs/cloud-messaging/send-message I had a similar issue when using Amazon SNS. The screenshot shows the setting from the SNS console in AWS. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45303668/not-able-to-receive-push-notification-to-ios-devices-when-using-amazon-sns/53461298#53461298 — user3474985, Mar 12 '19 at 00:10
I'm not sure but I sent with a `notification: { badge: numOfBadge }` in message object and it works, silent noti. Because I want to update the badge number. `message = { data: { key1: 'hello', key2: 'world' }, notification: { badge: 0 } }` — tuledev, Mar 12 '19 at 07:08
@JohnDoherty Did you manage to get it to work? I am facing same issue and fcm is sending a success response but it is not delivered to a device. Works through NWPusher. — Balasubramanian, Sep 07 '20 at 07:37
No, I never managed to resolve it so had to move on. Might be worth reopening the ticket https://github.com/firebase/firebase-admin-node/issues/467 — John Doherty, Sep 07 '20 at 13:50

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 11 '19 at 07:31

Your code looks correct . You may try multiple combination of true and false in mutable content and content available. And you may also try not sending mutableContent fields. But as far as I remember both should be true.

Other way to debug is to check what json is going out from nodejs. Youcan try same payload in NWPusher or PostMan. This will give you some clue.

I have tried out the following payload in postman, for me it's working fine

{"mutable_content":true,"content_available" : true,"priority":"high","registration_ids":["d3-fa7XDQQ4:APA91bEKXbT3HAv6ko9RukcxaB4QBr8zOIT06CBpj9o0Sl6TxsMpTnAMQ86t14foIcuQuDUyzMApbvDORELYyD0WOX3BcfP7ZNtWx9uY0JGm2B7cmdlPoOFs68fe6rz3Q7tq_8Ib7Y4H"]}

@JohnDoherty, have you tried combination of true and false in mutable content and content available..? — Gokul G, Mar 12 '19 at 05:49

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 12 '19 at 04:51

For silent notifications you need to make sure couple of things:

1- Your payload doesn't have alert key in your payload

2- Have content-available" : 1 in your payload

3- Background mode for Push Notification is enabled ( select your target > capabilities > Background Modes > Remote Notification)

sample payload:

{
    "aps" : {
        "content-available" : 1
    },
    "acme1" : "bar",
    "acme2" : 42
}

for more information checkout apple's reference : Pushing Updates to Your App Silently

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 01 '21 at 14:22

For anyone still having this issue, as Gokul mentioned the code is just fine

Just make sure you are following the steps in the Apple docs

Specially make sure that you are adding the correct callback to your AppDelegate: application(_:didReceiveRemoteNotification:fetchCompletionHandler:)

Note that it is not the same as the one used to handle regular notifications application(_:didReceiveRemoteNotification:)

Also make sure that Remote Notifications is turned on under Background modes in the Project Settings as described here:

score -3 · Answer 4 · edited Mar 13 '19 at 03:51

-3

This is PHP version for sent silent for ios. Please add 'content-available' => 1 for silent notificication

 $body = array(
   'content-available' => 1,
   'sound' => ''
 ); 

{
  "aps" : {
    "alert" : "Notification with custom payload!",
    "badge" : 1,
    "content-available" : 1
  },
  "data" :{
    "title" : "Game Request",
    "body" : "Bob wants to play poker",
    "action-loc-key" : "PLAY"
  }
}

edited Mar 13 '19 at 03:51

answered Feb 27 '19 at 13:27

Rakesh Mandloi

361
2
11

You must be using an older version of the API, as I get the following error using that payload: `Messaging payload contains an invalid "aps" property. Valid properties are "data" and "notification".` – John Doherty Feb 27 '19 at 14:04
I did, and it failed with the error I mentioned. As I said, you must be using a different version of the API – John Doherty Feb 28 '19 at 08:22
The question doesnt ask for a PHP script – Aakash Dave Aug 04 '20 at 17:38

Unable to send silent push notifications to iOS using FCM

4 Answers4