Safari push notifications coming to macOS and iOS

Ok. So there is some work for us to do.

Specifically, the display mode for the PWA will need changing but that poses another problem in that the browser UI is lacking - no navigation or address bar.

For that to be practical we might need to add some special UI into the default style, although it’s worth noting that you can use gestures to go back and forth.
 
This is going to be excellent once implemented and functioning.

The vast majority of our users are on iOS devices and push notifications are going to be a real game changer for increasing page views, user stickiness and the general user experience.
 
The vast majority of our users are on iOS devices and push notifications are going to be a real game changer for increasing page views, user stickiness and the general user experience.
As long as they don't just turn them off. I don't use them myself and I am not sure many users do. A lot is going to depend on your content and audience whether there is interest in constantly getting notified of alerts, etc. If it is a site where it might be important to get real time notifications, like a support forum, maybe it would be used more. For me, I find it a bloody nuisance the rare times I turn it on to try it and my site is just a friendly (well, mostly) discussion forum so there is no real urgency to finding out something has been posted.
 
This is going to be excellent once implemented and functioning.

The vast majority of our users are on iOS devices and push notifications are going to be a real game changer for increasing page views, user stickiness and the general user experience.
For my forum where a lot of the users are also in huge Facebook groups about the same topic, the push notifications should hopefully increase activity by a lot. Many of my members are not tech savvy so the Facebook groups are what they know. And then they ask why my forum isn’t an “app” with notifications. Which is a completely reasonable complaint. So, I’m pretty excited to finally have this.
 
What everyone needs to understand about the changes in iOS 16.4 is push notifications are only available to users if they add your site to their Home Screen as a PWA.

Our PWA implementation is by design slightly limited on iOS. Our PWA on iOS is using a display mode that isn’t compatible with push notifications.

You need to be using the standalone display mode which removes the entirety of the browser chrome - no address bar, no navigation, no reload. Links to that open in a new tab will open in a separate in-app window.

This really does enhance the experience to make it feel like a real app, with features like push notifications and badge API. (The badge API a doesn’t currently seem to work; however).

But it may add a bunch of steps that your users aren’t familiar with or want to do.

Plus the experience in stand-alone which I am testing now does mean they’ll have to get used to using gestures. And not having a reload button.

We may have to retrofit some UI elements into the XF 2.2 style itself.
 
Yes quite possibly though at least once upon a time or at least on some Android variants, the back button is/was shown.
 
I hope the push notifications prefernces at /account/preferences get simplified. Far too many of them for most users to feel comfortable and not overwhelmed, especially when you start adding in add-on's providing them too.

I'd like to see a much more simplified approach, with an 'advanced' reveal options for users to further fine tune if they wish.
 
What everyone needs to understand about the changes in iOS 16.4 is push notifications are only available to users if they add your site to their Home Screen as a PWA.

Our PWA implementation is by design slightly limited on iOS. Our PWA on iOS is using a display mode that isn’t compatible with push notifications.

You need to be using the standalone display mode which removes the entirety of the browser chrome - no address bar, no navigation, no reload. Links to that open in a new tab will open in a separate in-app window.

This really does enhance the experience to make it feel like a real app, with features like push notifications and badge API. (The badge API a doesn’t currently seem to work; however).

But it may add a bunch of steps that your users aren’t familiar with or want to do.

Plus the experience in stand-alone which I am testing now does mean they’ll have to get used to using gestures. And not having a reload button.

We may have to retrofit some UI elements into the XF 2.2 style itself.
Hi Chris, I have downloaded this beta, but don’t seem to have the option to install PWAs. Is there something special other than the PushAPI I need to explicitly enable to test this?

EDIT: Nevermind, I have sussed it - just like that I finally have push notifications on iOS! :D
 
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One thing I wasn't looking forward to with iOS web push was being forced to use Safari... but was skimming though the notes about iOS web push on the WebKit website:


Third-party browser support for Add to Home Screen​

In iOS and iPadOS 16.4 beta 1, third-party browsers can now offer their users the ability to add websites and web apps to the Home Screen from the Share menu.
So that's nice... browsers will need to implement it, but at least it's now a thing.

Also noticed they are allowing badging updates in the background (changing the count number overlayed on top of the PWA icon for things like unread alerts or conversations)

Badging API​

Both setAppBadge and clearAppBadge change the count while the user has the web app open in the foreground or while the web app is handling push events in the background...
 
Hi Chris, I have downloaded this beta, but don’t seem to have the option to install PWAs. Is there something special other than the PushAPI I need to explicitly enable to test this?

EDIT: Nevermind, I have sussed it - just like that I finally have push notifications on iOS! :D
I’m missing something on the beta. Clicked share when on Xenforo website, then add to Homepage. Just added a link to the page and no option for notifications. 🤔
 
My site had the push notifications message to enable this feature but when accepted nothing happened. When I accepted it here on Xenforo there was another box that opened asking me to accept again, my site did not so that. Is there something not set up correctly on my website?
 
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