Web/mobile push: Introduction and core concepts

What are push notifications?

These are messages sent to a user's device from a website or web app (web push) or from an app (mobile push), even when the user is not actively using the site or app. They're a form of real-time communication between a server and a user's browser and are often used for re-engagement, updates, promotions, or alerts

How push works

• Opt-in based: users must give permission for a website or app to send them notifications.
• Appear on the user's device: on desktops (Windows/macOS) and mobile (Android, iOS).
• Web push: delivered by browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and others support web push.
• Mobile push: triggered by servers. They’re “pushed” from an app’s backend or a notification service (like Firebase Cloud Messaging for Android or Apple Push Notification Service for iOS).
• Work even when the website/app is closed: As long as the browser/app is running in the background, push notifications can still be received.

Technical overview 

Web push notifications 

Web push notifications are powered by:

• Service Workers: Background scripts that manage the receipt and display of push messages.
• Push API: Enables servers to send messages to the browser.
• Notification API: Controls how notifications are displayed to the user.

Mobile push notifications

We distinguish three services that enable sending push notifications via mobile application: Apple Push Notification service (APNs), Huawei Message Service (HMS), and Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM).

To be able to use these services and send push notifications via mobile app, integration using our SDK is required.

SDK functionalities are:

• subscribe / unsubscribe for push notifications
• send event delivered / clicked
• send beacon

Documentation can be found here:

• iOS: https://github.com/ppgco/ios-sdk​
• Android / HMS: https://github.com/ppgco/android-sdk​
• Flutter: https://github.com/ppgco/flutter-sdk

Key benefits and use cases

Benefits:

• High visibility and engagement,
• Real-time delivery,
• Lightweight and quick to implement,
• Cross-platform (extra steps for iOS in web push), 
• Segmentation based on lables, geolocation and user on-site/in-app behaviour, custom triggers,
• GDPR compliance.

Use cases:

• Breaking news alerts,
• Sales or promotion announcements,
• Abandoned cart reminders,
• Event reminders or confirmations,
• Retargeting,
• Re-engagement,
• Lifecycle marketing.