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Push Notifications

Architectural Overview​

FLow diagram for how push notification get to the app from the Vetext service

Getting Your Push In The App​

  1. Contact VANotify and VEText to get onboarded to their API and get a push template created. Reach out in slack: #va-notify-public or by emailing oitoctovanotify@va.gov
  2. Get your push template content approved by the mobile team

Example push template content​

{
  "default": "Appointment Reminder Default",
  "APNS": {"aps":{"alert": {"title":"VA Appointment Reminder","body":"You have an upcoming VA appointment."}},  "appt":"%APPOINTMENT%"},
    "APNS_SANDBOX": {"aps":{"alert": {"title":"VA Appointment Reminder","body":"You have an upcoming VA appointment."}},"appt":"%APPOINTMENT%"},
  "GCM": {"notification": {"title": "VA Appointment Reminder","body":"You have an upcoming VA appointment."},"data": {"appt": "%APPOINTMENT%"}}
}
tip

The "data" field should include any variable data for the alert title or body, and the necessary metadata from the app to deeplink to the correct location.

  1. Connect your system to VANotify API to trigger push and test pre-app triggering in staging. General VANotify Docs
  2. Get access to testflight app from mobile team to test notifications and notification preferences in staging. Testflight & App Tester
  3. Do a Prod test if possible
  4. Mobile will update store info to acknowledge new notifications if necessary
  5. Go live