H

20

239

I am using push notification service in my app. When app is in background I am able to see notification on notification screen(screen shown when we swipe down from top of iOS device). But if application is in foreground the delegate method

- (void)application:(UIApplication*)application didReceiveRemoteNotification:(NSDictionary*)userInfo

is getting called but notification is not displayed in notification screen.

I want to show notification on notification screen independent of whether app is in background or foreground. I am tired by searching for a solution. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Haupt answered 14/2, 2013 at 9:57 Comment(7)

Apple says: If you receive local or remote notifications while your app is running in the foreground, you’re responsible for passing the information to your users in an app-specific way. – Ectomere 18/3, 2016 at 6:23

Some up-to-date (oct "16) apple links: here, there and there – Associate 17/10, 2016 at 14:38

isn't foreground support of push notification for iOS 9.3 and less? – Teeter 10/4, 2017 at 11:8

@Lauri Lehmijoki link? I didn't find that on official website – Pippas 10/7, 2018 at 15:14

I am facing the same problem in ionic... – Benedikt 27/11, 2019 at 8:43

You may also find the answer here: iosarchitect.com/… – Electoral 11/10, 2020 at 9:46

Latest link to Apple's documentation regarding User Notifications is now here (general) and here (foreground notifications). – Subtlety 2/1, 2021 at 13:45

H

27

If the application is running in the foreground, iOS won't show a notification banner/alert. That's by design. But we can achieve it by using UILocalNotification as follows

Check whether application is in active state on receiving a remote
notification. If in active state fire a UILocalNotification.

if (application.applicationState == UIApplicationStateActive ) {

    UILocalNotification *localNotification = [[UILocalNotification alloc] init];
    localNotification.userInfo = userInfo;
    localNotification.soundName = UILocalNotificationDefaultSoundName;
    localNotification.alertBody = message;
    localNotification.fireDate = [NSDate date];
    [[UIApplication sharedApplication] scheduleLocalNotification:localNotification];
}

SWIFT:

if application.applicationState == .active {
    var localNotification = UILocalNotification()
    localNotification.userInfo = userInfo
    localNotification.soundName = UILocalNotificationDefaultSoundName
    localNotification.alertBody = message
    localNotification.fireDate = Date()
    UIApplication.shared.scheduleLocalNotification(localNotification)
}

Haupt answered 15/2, 2013 at 3:56 Comment(12)

I dont think this will help. Local and remote notifications are treated the same and as a result when this local notification fires off and if the app is running then the badge/banner or sound will not be shown/played. – Karafuto 24/4, 2013 at 22:23

my requirement was to show notification in notification view(view appears when swipe from top), and the above solution worked for me..try it yourself...:) – Humble 25/4, 2013 at 3:45

Am I right in assuming that this will show the notification banner, but will not leave an entry in the iOS Notification center? – Interdental 5/12, 2013 at 21:1

It will also leave an entry in iOS Notification Center – Humble 6/5, 2014 at 12:50

@Ab'initio: just curious, is there a point in using the LocalNotification here? Couln't the same effect be achieved using a plain alert (with the added benefit that the title could be customized as well)? Thank you for the solution though – Lynnelle 26/5, 2014 at 12:0

@Lynnelle as of iOS 7 that won't show anything when the app is in the foreground, I haven't tested with iOS 6 but I believe it's the same. Of course, that depends on what you have implemented in -application:didReceiveLocalNotification:. With an empty implementation nothing is shown. Maybe Ab'initio forgot to mention his implementation or people are mixing foreground with background. – Sampling 12/6, 2014 at 13:50

However I wouldn't launch a local notification when a push notification comes. I would launch a similar behaviour instead like @Lynnelle mentioned: showing an alert or some toaster. I guess I don't have to go through the operating system again for something that the operating system is asking me to handle. – Sampling 12/6, 2014 at 13:53

This solution is working, as local and remote are handled in the same way, where when app is in foreground, creating a location notification when remote notification comes won't show any thing. Using alert or custom alert is the solution – Tressietressure 6/11, 2014 at 3:11

This doesn't actually work. From the UILocalNotification docs:

If the app is foremost and visible when the system delivers the notification, the app delegate’s application:didReceiveLocalNotification: is called to process the notification. Use the information in the provided UILocalNotification object to decide what action to take. The system does not display any alerts, badge the app’s icon, or play any sounds when the app is already frontmost.

– Mays 30/6, 2015 at 20:3

It's not working. Application screen becomes dark and getting exception like XPC connection interrupted. – Shew 31/10, 2015 at 9:42

Is there a way you can get that default "message" from the server? How do you get that message?? If the app is inactive, the message would be visible to the users. If the app is active, how do you get that message as an instance? – Mistrot 4/12, 2016 at 18:43

It's not working. because remote and local push notification are treating as same. so this will not work – Androgen 23/12, 2016 at 5:36

T

252

For displaying banner message while app is in foreground, use the following method.

iOS 10, Swift 3/4 :

// This method will be called when app received push notifications in foreground
func userNotificationCenter(_ center: UNUserNotificationCenter, willPresent notification: UNNotification, withCompletionHandler completionHandler: @escaping (UNNotificationPresentationOptions) -> Void) 
{
    completionHandler([.alert, .badge, .sound])
}

iOS 10, Swift 2.3 :

@available(iOS 10.0, *)
func userNotificationCenter(center: UNUserNotificationCenter, willPresentNotification notification: UNNotification, withCompletionHandler completionHandler: (UNNotificationPresentationOptions) -> Void)
{
    //Handle the notification
    completionHandler(
       [UNNotificationPresentationOptions.Alert,
        UNNotificationPresentationOptions.Sound,
        UNNotificationPresentationOptions.Badge])
}

You must also register your app delegate as the delegate for the notifications center:

import UserNotifications

// snip!

class AppDelegate : UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate, UNUserNotificationCenterDelegate

// snip!

   func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {

      // set the delegate in didFinishLaunchingWithOptions
      UNUserNotificationCenter.current().delegate = self
      ...
   }

Tricyclic answered 23/11, 2016 at 4:44 Comment(17)

When this method is called? – Dehumidifier 19/12, 2016 at 10:2

Please guide me i am struck up displaying notification from top when my app background or foreground.Since 2 weeks i am working with push notifications.I am able receive msg from server. – Dehumidifier 19/12, 2016 at 10:4

@UmaMadhavi Can you receive push notifications? – Tricyclic 20/12, 2016 at 5:10

when i run my app i am getting message from fcm server. But in background or foreground i am not getting..Please check my code #41199151 – Dehumidifier 20/12, 2016 at 5:16

This kind of information i get when i launch my app . %@ [from: 730307127978, itemId: 5858bd87e4b0d0e761b1acb6, viewed: false, createdTS: 1482210690908, notificationToName: Uma Madhavi, notificationType: ISUPPORT_CREATED, collapse_key: do_not_collapse, actionByName: Uma Madhavi, notificationTo: 572c5ae7e4b08bce2f9641a7, actionBy: 572c5ae7e4b08bce2f9641a7] – Dehumidifier 20/12, 2016 at 5:34

This is working fine for iOS 10.2, Thanks for the code. – Cannot 20/2, 2017 at 13:57

Don't forget to set the Notification Center delegate as app delegate: UNUserNotificationsCenter.current().delegate = self in application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions – Ongun 7/6, 2017 at 1:7

@Tricyclic it is not working in ios 8 for foreground state – Pause 29/9, 2017 at 7:8

@DilipTiwari It's for iOS 10+. – Tricyclic 29/9, 2017 at 8:7

i know but i need in ios 8.0 @Tricyclic – Pause 29/9, 2017 at 9:24

@DilipTiwari For ios < 10.0, you need to make your own UI for it, e.g., a popup, as UNUserNotificationCenter is not available for iOS 9, 8, etc. – Margit 11/7, 2018 at 17:32

For those who still struggling, its UNUserNotificationCenter not UNUserNotificationsCenter with 's' before center – Larock 25/7, 2018 at 2:20

Thanks! This works even for notifications added via UNUserNotificationCenter.current().add() – Curtain 20/8, 2018 at 20:2

@Tricyclic how can i do it in objective c

import UserNotifications  // snip!  class AppDelegate : UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate, UNUserNotificationCenterDelegate  // snip!  // set the delegate in didFinishLaunchingWithOptions UNUserNotificationCenter.current().delegate = self

– Samite 24/10, 2018 at 8:1

@Achintya Ashok there is a typo on your comment, you added in 's' and Notification, it should be UNUserNotificationCenter.current().delegate = self – Laconic 25/4, 2019 at 10:1

it is working for me too but it dismisses after few sec.. is it possible to keep it presented until the user clicks on it ? @Tricyclic – Foreworn 31/3, 2020 at 12:51

This is how you should be handling the notification to show alert when app is open. This should be marked as answer. – Dwarf 23/7, 2020 at 15:36

M

61

Below code will be work for you :

- (void)application:(UIApplication *)application didReceiveRemoteNotification:(NSDictionary *)userInfo  {
    application.applicationIconBadgeNumber = 0;             
    //self.textView.text = [userInfo description];
    // We can determine whether an application is launched as a result of the user tapping the action
    // button or whether the notification was delivered to the already-running application by examining
    // the application state.

    if (application.applicationState == UIApplicationStateActive) {                
        // Nothing to do if applicationState is Inactive, the iOS already displayed an alert view.                
        UIAlertView *alertView = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"Did receive a Remote Notification" message:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"Your App name received this notification while it was running:\n%@",[[userInfo objectForKey:@"aps"] objectForKey:@"alert"]]delegate:self cancelButtonTitle:@"OK" otherButtonTitles:nil];
        [alertView show];          
    }    
}

Mcneely answered 14/2, 2013 at 10:50 Comment(2)

This works. A little more info about what it does; when the application is in the foreground, a native UI alert box appears with the notification text within it (the title is a slightly larger bolded text, and the message is smaller text under that. An 'OK' button to dismiss is at the bottom). The option applicationIconBadgeNumber being set to 0 is to hide the number that appears on top of the app icon in Springboard (for example signifying number of unread messages in a mail app). In this example, I don't know if that option is even needed. – Endor 6/10, 2017 at 17:47

Does this work for both UNnotification AND UILocalNotification? – Maintenon 9/5, 2018 at 15:18

A

42

Objective C

For iOS 10 we need integrate willPresentNotification method for show notification banner in foreground.

If app in foreground mode(active)

- (void)userNotificationCenter:(UNUserNotificationCenter* )center willPresentNotification:(UNNotification* )notification withCompletionHandler:(void (^)(UNNotificationPresentationOptions options))completionHandler {
    NSLog( @"Here handle push notification in foreground" ); 
    //For notification Banner - when app in foreground
    
    completionHandler(UNNotificationPresentationOptionAlert);
    
    // Print Notification info
    NSLog(@"Userinfo %@",notification.request.content.userInfo);
}

Arlie answered 28/1, 2017 at 7:52 Comment(5)

Just copy the code and don't forget to use UNUserNotificationCenterDelegate protocol. – Ostiary 6/2, 2017 at 13:0

if I want to show an alert instead of this notification then? – Millenarianism 5/6, 2017 at 13:59

@MihirOza You want UIAlertController? – Arlie 6/6, 2017 at 4:59

I know but I don't want notification popup when app is active. I want only alert in my app. – Millenarianism 6/6, 2017 at 10:2

i tried your function but i still can't get push in foreground – Redmon 16/7, 2020 at 12:45

M

37

For anyone might be interested, I ended up creating a custom view that looks like the system push banner on the top but adds a close button (small blue X) and an option to tap the message for custom action. It also supports the case of more than one notification arrived before the user had time to read/dismiss the old ones (With no limit to how many can pile up...)

Link to GitHub: AGPushNote

The usage is basically on-liner:

[AGPushNoteView showWithNotificationMessage:@"John Doe sent you a message!"];

And it looks like this on iOS7 (iOS6 have an iOS6 look and feel...)

enter image description here

Mechanotherapy answered 29/4, 2014 at 12:54 Comment(2)

Also now reimagined in Swift: github.com/charliewilliams/CWNotificationBanner (by me) – Wayless 16/4, 2016 at 12:17

Nice， this shall be useful. – Kremer 17/5, 2017 at 14:15

H

27

If the application is running in the foreground, iOS won't show a notification banner/alert. That's by design. But we can achieve it by using UILocalNotification as follows

Check whether application is in active state on receiving a remote
notification. If in active state fire a UILocalNotification.

if (application.applicationState == UIApplicationStateActive ) {

    UILocalNotification *localNotification = [[UILocalNotification alloc] init];
    localNotification.userInfo = userInfo;
    localNotification.soundName = UILocalNotificationDefaultSoundName;
    localNotification.alertBody = message;
    localNotification.fireDate = [NSDate date];
    [[UIApplication sharedApplication] scheduleLocalNotification:localNotification];
}

SWIFT:

if application.applicationState == .active {
    var localNotification = UILocalNotification()
    localNotification.userInfo = userInfo
    localNotification.soundName = UILocalNotificationDefaultSoundName
    localNotification.alertBody = message
    localNotification.fireDate = Date()
    UIApplication.shared.scheduleLocalNotification(localNotification)
}