Implemented PUSH notifications for XenForo

Alpha1

Well-known member
The responsive design already makes XenForo great on mobile devices. We almost do not need an app. But one thing is missing: Instant PUSH notifications.

If XenForo would have PUSH notifications then users could be notified of new alerts , events on their mobile device, in their browser, etc. This keeps users up to date and pulls off site users back onto the website.

Possibly with the addition of mini-apps.
 
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Most people on my site post from their phone. They prefer it when 8th has push notifications. Some of them really like Tapatalk as that's what they use to browse a lot of forums. Those who had tapatalk visit less since I can't get it to work right now. They're not getting their notifications. The less member activity I have, means less traffic which causes less ad revenue. So yeah Push notifications are worth me paying for to have on my site. In the past I made enough money from Google Adsense to see the correlation. Push notifications are more than worth it. I do actually have a paid subscription btw and members pay for that yearly, so it's not like they're also not putting money into the site.
And when I go shopping I prefer to be waited on my buxom 23 year redheads and brunettes in string bikinis... does it mean it's going to happen? :whistle:
Point is... what you want as default most people do not want as it will incur additional recurring costs... the ideal position for an add-on (which we have) available using a third party service.
Can it be done by yourself - sure, I think @digitalpoint is already doing something similar.
 
I'm also okay with letting members be able to use push notifications if they buy a paid subscription. I think that can be done with Chris and xFrock's PushOver addon.
And I'm sure you could contact the fine folks at Pushover and get a branded app that you offer for your end users (and that could be used anywhere but be branded and advertise your site) - but pretty sure you would have to give Pushover a guaranteed monthly return for them to do that.

I'm already doing that (paid subscription if you want to use it) at my Linux site (except for licensed XenForo members - they get promoted to that ability for free).
 
And when I go shopping I prefer to be waited on my buxom 23 year redheads and brunettes in string bikinis... does it mean it's going to happen? :whistle:
Point is... what you want as default most people do not want as it will incur additional recurring costs... the ideal position for an add-on (which we have) available using a third party service.
Can it be done by yourself - sure, I think @digitalpoint is already doing something similar.
If Xenforo is up to it, they should. One of their competition offers IPS Chat which is a service admins have to pay for.

http://www.invisionpower.com/apps/chat/

I think more of us would be interested in a push server for Xenforo Push notifications than a chat service.

And I'm sure you could contact the fine folks at Pushover and get a branded app that you offer for your end users (and that could be used anywhere but be branded and advertise your site) - but pretty sure you would have to give Pushover a guaranteed monthly return for them to do that.

I'm already doing that (paid subscription if you want to use it) at my Linux site (except for licensed XenForo members - they get promoted to that ability for free).
We can't do that unfortunately. There's no option in Pushover for a branded app. https://pushover.net/faq#overview-fees
 
If Xenforo is up to it, they should. One of their competition offers IPS Chat which is a service admins have to pay for.

http://www.invisionpower.com/apps/chat/

I think more of us would be interested in a push server for Xenforo Push notifications than a chat service.
Correct me if I'm wrong.. but that's an ADD-ON feature and not a core inclusion. Wonder why it's an add-on that you have to pay from 10-40 for a 6 month subscription? Could it be because there is an associated back end cost to it? ;)
I have no problems if XF saw to do the same thing (heck, even have their own custom app coded that could be offered by the forum owner) making it an add-on service similar to RM or ES. But core? Again - no thanks from this pigeons roost.

We can't do that unfortunately. There's no option in Pushover for a branded app. https://pushover.net/faq#overview-fees
That's what email and contractual talks are for. They already have the ability to monitor #'s of messages - you purchase X amount of guaranteed messages a month, then give Pushover a set amount based upon Y amount of branded apps that you have that are used to connect. Problem solved.
I don't think you really realize how much back end processing power it would take to do what you want on your own forum.
Are you on a shared host or small VPS now - get ready to dump it because it won't be enough to push it - so now your paying (for a GOOD dedicated server) in the range of $200 a month - and more depending on the size of your forum.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong.. but that's an ADD-ON feature and not a core inclusion. Wonder why it's an add-on that you have to pay from 10-40 for a 6 month subscription? Could it be because there is an associated back end cost to it? ;)
I have no problems if XF saw to do the same thing (heck, even have their own custom app coded that could be offered by the forum owner) making it an add-on service similar to RM or ES. But core? Again - no thanks from this pigeons roost.


That's what email and contractual talks are for. They already have the ability to monitor #'s of messages - you purchase X amount of guaranteed messages a month, then give Pushover a set amount based upon Y amount of branded apps that you have that are used to connect. Problem solved.
I don't think you really realize how much back end processing power it would take to do what you want on your own forum.
Are you on a shared host or small VPS now - get ready to dump it because it won't be enough to push it - so now your paying (for a GOOD dedicated server) in the range of $200 a month - and more depending on the size of your forum.
If Xenforo does it, it might be an optional addon like Xenforo Enhanced Search, that has a branded and branded fee version for the actual app in the app store. I think vBulletin did the same thing with their mobile app. http://www.vbulletin.com/en/mobile/
 
If Xenforo does it, it might be an optional addon like Xenforo Enhanced Search, that has a branded and branded fee version for the actual app in the app store. I think vBulletin did the same thing with their mobile app. http://www.vbulletin.com/en/mobile/
IB grabbed Forum Runner rebranded it and ruined it if that's what I'm thinking about.
FR used to be a nice application that worked for multiple forums... I really liked it better than Tapatalk.
 
IB grabbed Forum Runner rebranded it and ruined it if that's what I'm thinking about.
FR used to be a nice application that worked for multiple forums... I really liked it better than Tapatalk.
When I was on vBulletin 4, they released the mobile app before they bought Forum Runner. Was the vBulletin Forum App an actual software created first by vBulletin that they replaced with Forum Runner? :confused:
 
When I was on vBulletin 4, they released the mobile app before they bought Forum Runner. Was the vBulletin Forum App an actual software created first by vBulletin that they replaced with Forum Runner? :confused:
As I said.. they grabbed Forum Runner and ruined a perfectly good application. Wonder why they did that? :whistle:
 
Just wanted to say that this would be a brilliant feature and I hope that at some point there will be a way to do it natively on iOS and Android. Can't see it happening for a couple of years though, at least not like it functions on OS X.
 
Anything new on this front? Are we any closer to having a feasible push service outside of Pushover which I just don't see very many members paying for...
 
Anything new on this front? Are we any closer to having a feasible push service outside of Pushover which I just don't see very many members paying for...
I have one working that works with Chrome... unfortunately waiting for Chrome to support payload data... right now without payload data with the push notification, you get no unique info for what the push is about... it's basically more like, "Hey, there's something new at this site, but I can't tell you what it is."

It's marginally better than useless right now because of that.

The good news is that payload data is coming to Chrome... it should be pretty nice once that happens... just waiting on Chrome at this point.

Issue 434808 - chromium - PushEvents should be delivered with a PushMessageData object - An open-source project to help move the web forward. - Google Project Hosting
Issue 486040 - chromium - Support encrypted payloads for push messages - An open-source project to help move the web forward. - Google Project Hosting

Right now it looks like this:
upload_2015-3-16_15-25-43-png.101376


upload_2015-3-17_14-52-59-png.101459


And clicking on it takes you to: https://www.digitalpoint.com/account/alerts

What it will look like when can get payload data is more like how Safari push notifications work (where clicking on it takes you right to whatever unique URL you should go to):

upload_2013-10-31_18-29-14-png.60335
 
I saw your add on. Unfortunately, the vast majority of my active members use mobile and the very hardcore ones have gotten hooked on Group Me for leagues and such. My only hope to get them more active on the forum and away from the app is to have some sort of push notification that alerts them to activity on the forum and makes it easy to get to that part of the forum.
 
Would be great if something could be sorted. Until then I guess I'm stuck with tapatalk as so many members rely on push notifications.

I can't really see a solution unless XenForo were to release an official mobile app the way notifications work currently.

DigitalPoint's add-on looks great for OSX though.
 
I would be interested in helping fund a project like this if its feasible and someone has the ability to do it. If you are interested in developing it or sharing in the funding, send me as PM and we can talk.
 
The responsive design already makes XenForo great on mobile devices. We almost do not need an app. But one thing is missing: Instant PUSH notifications.
If XenForo would have PUSH notifications then users could be notified of new alerts , events on their mobile device, in their browser, etc. This keeps users up to date and pulls off site users back onto the website.
W3C's new standard ....
Push API
 
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