Push notifications are an essential feature for modern web apps that allow users to communicate in real time. They enable applications to notify users of updates, messages, or other events without requiring the user to manually check the app.
In this guide, let’s look at the key concepts and steps involved in using Push API.
Push API
Push API is a web API that allows web applications to receive push notifications from a server, even when the client-side is not active. This enables web applications to deliver real-time updates and notifications to users even when they are not active.
How it works?
Let's take a look at how Push API works.
- The first step is to subscribe to a push service using the
PushManagerinterface. This creates a unique endpoint that the push service uses to send push messages. - Once registered, the server can send a push message to the push service associated with the endpoint of the user's application.
- The push service then sends an event to the Service Worker to deliver the push message.
Service Workers are an important part of the Push API because they act as a background process. They handle push messages and perform various actions on behalf of the application.
When the Service Worker receives a push notification, it can display a notification or update the application's data.
Push API Interfaces
Here is a list of the main interfaces in the Push API:
PushManager
This provides methods for subscribing to a push service, getting a subscription, and unregistering from the push service.
PushSubscription
This represents a subscription to a push service. It contains information about the endpoint URL, the public key, and the authentication secret.
PushEvent
This represents a push message event. It is dispatched when a push message is received and contains information about the message payload and other metadata.
PushMessageData
This is the data that is sent in a push message. It contains a payload of arbitrary data, which can be in any format that is supported by the push service. The data is typically used by the service worker to display a notification to the user.
PushSubscriptionOptions
This represents the options that are used when creating a push subscription. It contains information about the user agent, the application server, and the subscription parameters.
These options are typically used to configure the push service and to provide additional metadata about the subscription.
Support
Push API is supported by all modern web browsers like Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc. However, the level of support may vary among different browsers, and some older versions of these browsers may not support Push API.
Wrap up
Integrating push notifications into an application can be a powerful way to provide users with real-time updates. You can use the Push API to create subscriptions to push services, receive push messages, and display notifications to users.
If you want to learn more about Web APIs, we have written a lot of guides on it that you can find here.