Hello Thunkers!
As you voted on, here is the first for our Thunkable Deep Dive series on Push Notifications.
Overview
Thunkable utilizes the services of OneSignal to facilitate push notifications from your app. OneSignal is a free service that supports unlimited devices and notifications. You can learn more about their features here: OneSignal pricing page.
To send push notifications to your app’s users, you must link your Thunkable app to your OneSignal apps (iOS and/or Android). Once you’ve added your OneSignal App IDs into Thunkable, the work in Thunkable is done, and the remainder of the management takes place in third-party platforms (OneSignal, Apple Developer, and Firebase, depending on the platform).
OneSignal
A OneSignal account is required if you are wanting to incorporate Push Notifications into your Thunkable app. Most Creators will find that the “Freemium” version (with unlimited push notification sends) is more than enough but if you are interested in things like advanced integrations or in-app messaging, plans start at $9 USD/month.
A note on user tracking and Push Notifications: While your app may not track or collect data on any end users, allowing for and subscribing to Push Notifications can cause your end users to be tracked or have their data collected by OneSignal. Because of this, you’ll have to add a User Tracking Usage Description in your app settings if you plan on integrating with OneSignal
Push Notifications via Web API
You can also schedule Push Notifications via our Web API blocks. If you do this, you can use any number of data sources. Our preferred implementation is with Firebase and cloud variables but other options are available as well.
Here is a sample project calling the OneSignal API–all you’ll need to add is add in your own API key and App ID (these are generally the same for iOS and Android on newer OneSignal projects but you may have a unique key for each. In that case, we recommend using the test, if true, if false block with the Platform is X block.)
An email from Apple
Ever get this email from Apple after you have published your app to App Store Connect?
Us too. Even if you do not have Push Notifications incorporated into your app, the code for Push Notifications lives in every single Thunkable app for ease of adding them later. If get this email from Apple, treat it as nothing more than an advisory. Your app will still send to App Store Connect and no further action is required on your end.
This post will be updated throughout the week as we add new content. Have feedback? Please feel free to send it to us here!
Now, your turn! Ask away with any questions you have about Push Notifications or share any things you’ve found important while adding and using them in your apps!