Tools for push notifications

Setup

• Install Node
• Install pnpm: npm install --global pnpm
• Install dependencies: pnpm install
• Switch to tool directory: cd tool/
• Create config.yaml and update it according to the comments in the file: cp example.config.yaml config.yaml

Usage

• Set up example app
• Connect a device or launch an iOS/Android emulator/simulator: flutter emulators and flutter emulators --launch $
  • skip this step for macOS
• get a device id from the output of flutter devices
  • skip this step for macOS
• Run your app: flutter run -d $device_id
  • on macOS, run flutter run -d macos
• Get the device token from the Flutter output or your app, and update config.yaml

Run pnpm start. For example, run

• pnpm start to send to all devices
• pnpm start [--android] [--macos] [--ios], e.g. pnpm start --ios to send to specific platforms

For more information, run pnpm start --help

Known issues

• iOS Simulators don't seem to support background message on simulators (when app is in foreground or background). A real device will be more realistic/helpful (less confusing).
• We can't use bun or node's built-in fetch for connecting to APNs, because they don't support HTTP/2. See https://github.com/oven-sh/bun/issues/7194. We use fetch-h2 to support HTTP/2

Resources

• You can also use Apple's Push Notification Console to test push notifications. There is a quick shortcut button to open the page in Xcode > Targets > Target name > Signing & Capabilities > Push Notifications, but this is buggy and may open the wrong app on developer.apple.com.
• For more help with debugging on iOS, take a look at my guide, Debugging Push Notifications on iOS.
• To debug Android push notifications whilst the app is in the terminated state, take a look at How to debug Android apps (including Flutter) without launching from the debugger?.