Push notifications

Overview

Push notifications are brief messages or alerts delivered to a user's device through mobile applications or websites. They serve to engage users by delivering timely and relevant information even when the user is not actively using the application or website.

Accessing push notifications

To access the push notifications page, go to Settings > Channels > Push notifications.

Managing push notifications

The push notifications page allows users to:

• Setup iOS notifications.
• Setup android notifications.
• Configure web notifications.
• Configure push notification limits.

Key notes

Creating push notifications with Ortto involves three main steps:

1. Configure Platforms: Go to Settings > Push Notifications to set up your push campaigns. Customize settings for each platform by entering your application IDs and completing any required authentication steps. For Android and iOS, make sure to install the Ortto SDK.
2. Capture Permissions: For web push notifications, set up a push capture widget to obtain permission from your contacts to receive notifications. For Android and iOS, permission is obtained through your app.
3. Create Push Campaigns: Design and launch your push campaigns to send messages directly to your subscribers.

Android and iOS push

Ortto enables mobile push notifications using Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) for Android and Apple Push Notification Service (APNs) for iOS.

Android Setup

1. Create or use an existing Firebase project.
2. Add the project's .json file to Ortto's Android setup.

iOS Setup

1. Choose Firebase or APNs and provide the necessary .json file, keys, and IDs in Ortto.

Ortto SDKs

• Ortto provides SDKs for Android and iOS, including APIs, libraries, and code samples.

Key steps to enable push notifications

1. Set up a Firebase project or APNs.
2. Install Ortto's SDK for Android or iOS.
3. Identify your contacts.
4. Track activity events (to capture custom activities in Ortto).
5. Complete setup in Ortto.

Once these steps are completed, you can start creating and sending push campaigns.

iOS notifications

Configuring iOS notifications with Ortto involves a few steps aimed at developers familiar with app development:

1. Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) Setup (optional):
   • Configure a Firebase project if needed.
2. iOS SDK Installation:
   • Install Ortto's iOS SDK as per our documentation.
3. Identify Contacts and Track Events:
   • Use Ortto's tools to manage contacts and track user interactions.

For detailed instructions on adding certificates, keys, or FCM data, visit Ortto’s Developer docs under Push Notifications for Android and iOS in Settings > Channels > Push notifications > iOS notifications > Setup.

Android notifications

Setting up Android notifications with Ortto involves a few steps aimed at developers familiar with app development:

1. Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) Setup (required):
   • Configure a Firebase project as per our documentation.
2. Android SDK Installation:
   • Install Ortto's Android SDK following our guidelines.
3. Identify Contacts and Track Events:
   • Utilize Ortto's tools to manage contacts and track user interactions.

For detailed instructions on adding the service account .json file, refer to Ortto’s Developer docs under Push Notifications for Android and iOS in Settings > Channels > Push notifications > Android notifications > Setup.

Web notifications

Web push notifications are delivered to a person's browser after they grant permission through a capture widget.

When you create a push campaign, Ortto tries to send the notification when the subscribed customer is online, within the time to live (TTL) you set.

To Enable web notifications:

• You need a service worker (SW) installed on your website at the domain where notifications will originate.

Learn more about setting up web notifications.

Push notification limits

In Ortto, the Push notification limits section allows you to control when push notifications are sent. This helps manage how often customers receive notifications and when they are triggered from journeys.

Key features

• Limit how frequently customers receive Ortto-generated push notifications.
• Specify specific dates and hours for when push notifications are triggered from journeys.

These limits are designed to prevent customers from receiving too many notifications in a short period, which could lead to them unsubscribing.

How to set limits

• Activate the required push notification limit restriction by selecting checkboxes.
• Configure settings such as the minimum time between notifications a customer can receive.
  • Prevent people receiving more than one push notification every X hours.
• Specify dates when no notifications should be sent, or set hours during which notifications should not be sent except for urgent cases.
  • Do not send push notifications within Journeys on specific dates.
  • Do not send mobile push notifications within Journeys outside of waking hours (8am - 9pm), except for notifications set to ignore limits.
    • When enabled, Ortto sends push notifications during waking hours (8am to 9pm in the recipient's timezone), unless the notification is set to override these limits.

Push subscription preferences

Platforms and subscriptions

• Push campaigns or shapes within a journey can target multiple platforms depending on your setup.
• Subscribers receive notifications on all devices or browsers they've enabled.

Device and browser limits

• Each subscriber can receive notifications on up to 5 devices per platform.

Multiple subscriptions

• Subscribers with multiple subscriptions on a platform are indicated by a number next to that platform in their profile.
• This means they may receive notifications more than once, such as on both their web browser and iOS device.

Counting recipients

• When sending a push campaign to all platforms, recipients are counted once per platform they're subscribed to.

Automatic unsubscribe

If a push campaign fails due to the recipient not having push notification permission (resulting in an Invalid push activity), they will be automatically unsubscribed from receiving further notifications on that platform.