It takes a lot of planning and time to start your website or mobile application. Thanks to the open-source and coding technology, developers do not require developing these applications from the starting line.
You can easily get an application for your business by hiring any cloud service provider that provides such platforms.
What is a firebase, and why do you need to choose it to implement react native push notifications?
Firebase is an app developing platform brought to you by Google. It facilitates quick application creation and offers a variety of built-in features and functionalities that can be consolidated effectively. You will find many features that come with Firebase are cloud messaging, analytics, ad-mob, remote configurations, email authentication, performance monitoring, and social logins.
You can enhance user engagement on your app or website through messaging features.
Firebase has a steady notification incorporation service to use push notifications services with much ease.
Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) is known to be a messaging feature that can be simultaneously implemented on different platforms. It is compatible with C++ setups, Unity, iOS, Android, and web.
FCM is a medium to send data messages or notification messages to the users. It can segment users based on their interests and requirements and accordingly send personalized messages to different user groups.
Firebase can actively implement numerous acknowledgment notifications and toast messages.
Cloud functions or CRON jobs can also trigger the messages manually. The two components that can be used to send and receive messages through FCM are:
- To send messages an application server or cloud functions environment for Firebase is needed.
- To receive messages, a platform-specific client application for each platform with components is needed.
Now that we have a clear picture of what Firebase is and its usage, let’s discuss the steps to implement react native push notifications with firebase.
Step 1: Design a brand new Firebase Project
- The first step includes creating a new project for which you need to go to the Firebase console. Keep following the prompts and modifying them based on your needs. To initiate a new Firebase project you simply need to go through these three simple steps which are mentioned below:
Select the “create a project” option. Give a name to your project, click on “accept the Firebase terms and conditions” and then click on continue.
- For the execution of the second step, choose to enable and disable Google Analytics for the respective project.
- Finally complete the steps by selecting a Google Analytics account that requires linking with the project, selecting settings, and accepting the terms. Click ‘create project’ to complete the process.
Step 2: Develop a React Native App
To do so, you need to create a fresh react native app based on the react documentation.
For instance: $ react-native init pushNotifExample
To run the android application use the following code snippet:
$ react-native run-android
Step 3: Dependency on push notification
To include push notification dependency to your React application you can use multiple packages. One of the best packages to add all firebase functionalities to a react application is react-native-firebase.
The package react-native-push-notification can be used as it only deals with the functionality of push notification. To get the package using node package manager use the following snippet:
For npm: $ npm install –save react-native-push-notification
For yarn: yarn add react-native-push-notification
Step 4: Application registration
In this step, you need to start by registering your Android and/or iOS application in the Firebase dashboard. Using the given example, you will be able to handle implementing push notifications only for Android apps.
Once you register the Android application with a name, install the google-services.json file. In the application module, place it in the root directory.
From the Firebase documentation, you will be able to use the following code in the bracket for the project-level build.gradle (<project>/build.gradle).
Now with the code given in the bracket, develop the application level build.gradle (<project>/<app-module>/build.gradle) from the Firebase documentation.
Add the following code to AndroidManifest.xml.
Finally, sync the code.
5: Push Functionality Implementation
To call PushNotification.configure at the start of the app uses the following code which must be written in a different JS file and transferred to App.js.
Under the project settings, you can access the Sender ID and other authentication details in the Cloud Messaging section
Step 6: Run the Android App
The Android application built in the previous steps can be run through the following code snippet:
$ react-native run-android
Step 7: Deliver Push Notifications from FCM
To send messages to come on the FCM dashboard. It is in the following section: Engage>Cloud Messaging.
Compose and select targets by following the prompts for the push notification.
Select the required target. You can either send the message now or schedule it for next time.
Modify the additional options based on your requirements. Then go for the review button. Select the publish button in the given popup to deliver the message based on the provided settings.
What Next?
After you are done implementing the react native push notifications, you can indulge in engaging your users by providing them with an option to access the notifications by using an inbox. While using FCM to design the push notification, set when the message will expire. An inbox provides a secure place to store messages where users can see them anytime.
