Get started with Firebase Cloud Messaging


This quickstart describes how to set up Firebase Cloud Messaging in your mobile and web client apps so that you can reliably send messages. For server environments, see Your server environment and FCM .

Set up a Firebase Cloud Messaging client app on Apple platforms

For Apple client apps, you can receive notification and data payloads up to 4096 bytes over the Firebase Cloud Messaging APNs interface.

To write your client code in Objective-C or Swift, we recommend that you use the FIRMessaging API . The quickstart example provides sample code for both languages.

Before you get started, add Firebase to your Apple project .

Method swizzling in Firebase Cloud Messaging

The FCM SDK performs method swizzling in two key areas: mapping your APNs token to the FCM registration token and capturing analytics data during downstream message callback handling . Developers who prefer not to use swizzling can disable it by adding the flag FirebaseAppDelegateProxyEnabled in the app's Info.plist file and setting it to NO (boolean value). Relevant areas of the guides provide code examples, both with and without method swizzling enabled.

Upload your APNs authentication key

Upload your APNs authentication key to Firebase. If you don't already have an APNs authentication key, make sure to create one in the Apple Developer Member Center .

  1. Inside your project in the Firebase console, select the gear icon, select Project Settings, and then select the Cloud Messagingtab.

  2. In APNs authentication keyunder iOS app configuration, click the Uploadbutton to upload your development authentication key, or production authentication key, or both. At least one is required.

  3. Browse to the location where you saved your key, select it, and click Open. Add the key ID for the key (available in the Apple Developer Member Center ) and click Upload.

Register for remote notifications

Either at startup, or at the desired point in your application flow, register your app for remote notifications. Call registerForRemoteNotifications as shown:

Swift

 UNUserNotificationCenter 
 . 
 current 
 (). 
 delegate 
  
 = 
  
 self 
 let 
  
 authOptions 
 : 
  
 UNAuthorizationOptions 
  
 = 
  
 [. 
 alert 
 , 
  
 . 
 badge 
 , 
  
 . 
 sound 
 ] 
 UNUserNotificationCenter 
 . 
 current 
 (). 
 requestAuthorization 
 ( 
  
 options 
 : 
  
 authOptions 
 , 
  
 completionHandler 
 : 
  
 { 
  
 _ 
 , 
  
 _ 
  
 in 
  
 } 
 ) 
 application 
 . 
 registerForRemoteNotifications 
 () 
  

Objective-C

 [ 
 UNUserNotificationCenter 
  
 currentNotificationCenter 
 ]. 
 delegate 
  
 = 
  
 self 
 ; 
 UNAuthorizationOptions 
  
 authOptions 
  
 = 
  
 UNAuthorizationOptionAlert 
  
 | 
  
 UNAuthorizationOptionSound 
  
 | 
  
 UNAuthorizationOptionBadge 
 ; 
 [[ 
 UNUserNotificationCenter 
  
 currentNotificationCenter 
 ] 
  
 requestAuthorizationWithOptions 
 : 
 authOptions 
  
 completionHandler 
 : 
 ^ 
 ( 
 BOOL 
  
 granted 
 , 
  
 NSError 
  
 * 
  
 _Nullable 
  
 error 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 // ... 
  
 }]; 
 [ 
 application 
  
 registerForRemoteNotifications 
 ]; 
  

Access the registration token

By default, the FCM SDK generates a registration token for the client app instance on app launch. Similar to the APNs device token, this token allows you to send targeted notifications to any particular instance of your app.

In the same way that Apple platforms typically deliver an APNs device token on app start, FCM provides a registration token via FIRMessagingDelegate 's messaging:didReceiveRegistrationToken: method. The FCM SDK retrieves a new or existing token during initial app launch and whenever the token is updated or invalidated. In all cases, the FCM SDK calls messaging:didReceiveRegistrationToken: with a valid token.

The registration token may change when:

  • The app is restored on a new device
  • The user uninstalls/reinstall the app
  • The user clears app data.

Set the messaging delegate

To receive registration tokens, implement the messaging delegate protocol and set FIRMessaging 's delegate property after calling [FIRApp configure] . For example, if your application delegate conforms to the messaging delegate protocol, you can set the delegate on application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: to itself.

Swift

 Messaging 
 . 
 messaging 
 (). 
 delegate 
  
 = 
  
 self 

Objective-C

 [ 
 FIRMessaging 
  
 messaging 
 ]. 
 delegate 
  
 = 
  
 self 
 ; 

Fetching the current registration token

Registration tokens are delivered via the method messaging:didReceiveRegistrationToken: . This method is called generally once per app start with registration token. When this method is called, it is the ideal time to:

  • If the registration token is new, send it to your application server.
  • Subscribe the registration token to topics. This is required only for new subscriptions or for situations where the user has re-installed the app.

You can retrieve the token directly using token(completion:) . A non null error is provided if the token retrieval failed in any way.

Swift

 Messaging 
 . 
 messaging 
 (). 
 token 
  
 { 
  
 token 
 , 
  
 error 
  
 in 
  
 if 
  
 let 
  
 error 
  
 = 
  
 error 
  
 { 
  
 print 
 ( 
 "Error fetching FCM registration token: 
 \( 
 error 
 ) 
 " 
 ) 
  
 } 
  
 else 
  
 if 
  
 let 
  
 token 
  
 = 
  
 token 
  
 { 
  
 print 
 ( 
 "FCM registration token: 
 \( 
 token 
 ) 
 " 
 ) 
  
 self 
 . 
 fcmRegTokenMessage 
 . 
 text 
  
 = 
  
 "Remote FCM registration token: 
 \( 
 token 
 ) 
 " 
  
 } 
 } 

Objective-C

 [[ 
 FIRMessaging 
  
 messaging 
 ] 
  
 tokenWithCompletion 
 :^ 
 ( 
 NSString 
  
 * 
 token 
 , 
  
 NSError 
  
 * 
 error 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 if 
  
 ( 
 error 
  
 != 
  
 nil 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 NSLog 
 ( 
 @"Error getting FCM registration token: %@" 
 , 
  
 error 
 ); 
  
 } 
  
 else 
  
 { 
  
 NSLog 
 ( 
 @"FCM registration token: %@" 
 , 
  
 token 
 ); 
  
 self 
 . 
 fcmRegTokenMessage 
 . 
 text 
  
 = 
  
 token 
 ; 
  
 } 
 }]; 

You can use this method at any time to access the token instead of storing it.

Monitor token refresh

To be notified whenever the token is updated, supply a delegate conforming to the messaging delegate protocol. The following example registers the delegate and adds the proper delegate method:

Swift

 func 
  
 messaging 
 ( 
 _ 
  
 messaging 
 : 
  
 Messaging 
 , 
  
 didReceiveRegistrationToken 
  
 fcmToken 
 : 
  
 String 
 ?) 
  
 { 
  
 print 
 ( 
 "Firebase registration token: 
 \( 
 String 
 ( 
 describing 
 : 
  
 fcmToken 
 )) 
 " 
 ) 
  
 let 
  
 dataDict 
 : 
  
 [ 
 String 
 : 
  
 String 
 ] 
  
 = 
  
 [ 
 "token" 
 : 
  
 fcmToken 
  
 ?? 
  
 "" 
 ] 
  
 NotificationCenter 
 . 
 default 
 . 
 post 
 ( 
  
 name 
 : 
  
 Notification 
 . 
 Name 
 ( 
 "FCMToken" 
 ), 
  
 object 
 : 
  
 nil 
 , 
  
 userInfo 
 : 
  
 dataDict 
  
 ) 
  
 // TODO: If necessary send token to application server. 
  
 // Note: This callback is fired at each app startup and whenever a new token is generated. 
 } 
  

Objective-C

 - 
 ( 
 void 
 ) 
 messaging: 
 ( 
 FIRMessaging 
  
 * 
 ) 
 messaging 
  
 didReceiveRegistrationToken: 
 ( 
 NSString 
  
 * 
 ) 
 fcmToken 
  
 { 
  
 NSLog 
 ( 
 @"FCM registration token: %@" 
 , 
  
 fcmToken 
 ); 
  
 // Notify about received token. 
  
 NSDictionary 
  
 * 
 dataDict 
  
 = 
  
 [ 
 NSDictionary 
  
 dictionaryWithObject 
 : 
 fcmToken 
  
 forKey 
 : 
 @"token" 
 ]; 
  
 [[ 
 NSNotificationCenter 
  
 defaultCenter 
 ] 
  
 postNotificationName 
 : 
  
 @"FCMToken" 
  
 object 
 : 
 nil 
  
 userInfo 
 : 
 dataDict 
 ]; 
  
 // TODO: If necessary send token to application server. 
  
 // Note: This callback is fired at each app startup and whenever a new token is generated. 
 } 
  

Alternatively, you can listen for an NSNotification named kFIRMessagingRegistrationTokenRefreshNotification rather than supplying a delegate method. The token property always has the current token value.

Swizzling disabled: mapping your APNs token and registration token

If you have disabled method swizzling, or you are building a SwiftUI app, you'll need to explicitly map your APNs token to the FCM registration token. Implement the application(_:didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken:) method to retrieve the APNs token, and then set Messaging 's apnsToken property:

Swift

 func 
  
 application 
 ( 
 application 
 : 
  
 UIApplication 
 , 
  
 didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken 
  
 deviceToken 
 : 
  
 Data 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 Messaging 
 . 
 messaging 
 (). 
 apnsToken 
  
 = 
  
 deviceToken 
 } 

Objective-C

 // With "FirebaseAppDelegateProxyEnabled": NO 
 - 
 ( 
 void 
 ) 
 application: 
 ( 
 UIApplication 
  
 * 
 ) 
 application 
  
 didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken 
 :( 
 NSData 
  
 * 
 ) 
 deviceToken 
  
 { 
  
 [ 
 FIRMessaging 
  
 messaging 
 ]. 
 APNSToken 
  
 = 
  
 deviceToken 
 ; 
 } 

After the FCM registration token is generated, you can access it and listen for refresh events using the same methods as with swizzling enabled.

Prevent auto initialization

When an FCM registration token is generated, the library uploads the identifier and configuration data to Firebase. If you want to get an explicit opt-in from users first, you can prevent token generation at configure time by disabling FCM. To do this, add a metadata value to your Info.plist (not your GoogleService-Info.plist ):

FirebaseMessagingAutoInitEnabled = NO

To re-enable FCM, you can make a runtime call:

Swift

 Messaging 
 . 
 messaging 
 (). 
 autoInitEnabled 
  
 = 
  
 true 

Objective-C

 [ 
 FIRMessaging 
  
 messaging 
 ]. 
 autoInitEnabled 
  
 = 
  
 YES 
 ; 

This value persists across app restarts once set.

Send a notification message

  1. Install and run the app on the target device. On Apple devices, accept the request for permission to receive remote notifications.
  2. Check that the app is in the background on the device.
  3. In the Firebase console, open the Messaging page.
  4. If this is your first message, select Create your first campaign.
    1. Select Firebase Notification messagesand select Create.
  5. Otherwise, on the Campaignstab, select New campaignand then Notifications.
  6. Enter the message text.
  7. Select Send test messagefrom the right pane.
  8. In the field labeled Add an FCM registration token, enter your registration token.
  9. Select Test.

After you select Test, the targeted client device, with the app in the background, should receive the notification.

For insight into message delivery to your app, see the FCM reporting dashboard , which records the number of messages sent and opened on Apple and Android devices.

Next steps

After you have set up your Apple client, you can start receiving and sending messages to your users:

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