Google Firebase Cloud Messaging Cordova Push Plugin

Extremely easy plug&play push notification plugin for Cordova applications with Google Firebase FCM.

How it works | Installation | Push Payload Configuration | Features | Example Apps | Companion Plugins | Changelog | Authorship

How it works

Send a push notification to a single device or topic.

• Application is in foreground:

  • The notification data is received in the JavaScript callback without notification bar message (this is the normal behavior of mobile push notifications).
  • For Android, to show the notification received on the foreground, it's recommended to use cordova-plugin-local-notification as it provides many presentation and interaction features.

• Application is in background or closed:

  • The device displays the notification message in the device notification bar.
  • If the user taps the notification, the application comes to foreground and the notification data is received in the JavaScript callback.
  • If the user does not tap the notification but opens the application, nothing happens until the notification is tapped.

Push Notifications on iOS

On Android, push notifications don't require any special permission and can be tested from emulators freely.

Unfortunately, Apple is not as nice to work with, requiring:

• The running device to be a real device, no simulators allowed;
• Application has require the UIBackgroundModes=[remote-notification] permission (automatically configured by this plugin);
• The user running the application has to manually allow the application to receive push notifications;
• The application must be build with credentials created from a paid account (or team) that is allowed to receive push notifications;
• The build installed has to have come from either Apple Store or TestFlight; Or, be build with a special certificate (https://customersupport.doubledutch.me/hc/en-us/articles/229495568-iOS-How-to-Create-a-Push-Notification-Certificate)

Installation

Make sure you have ‘google-services.json’ for Android and/or ‘GoogleService-Info.plist’ for iOS in your Cordova project root folder.

Preferences

|Preference|Default Value|Description| |---|---|---| |ANDROID_DEFAULT_NOTIFICATION_ICON|@mipmap/ic_launcher|Default notification icon.| |ANDROID_FCM_VERSION|21.0.0|Native Firebase Message SDK version.:warning: Replaced by BoM versioning on Gradle >= 3.4.| |ANDROID_FIREBASE_BOM_VERSION|26.0.0|Firebase BoM version.| |ANDROID_GOOGLE_SERVICES_VERSION|4.3.4|Native Google Services SDK version.| |ANDROID_GRADLE_TOOLS_VERSION|4.1.0|Gradle tools version.| |IOS_FIREBASE_MESSAGING_VERSION|~> 7.4.0|Native Firebase Message SDK version|

Cordova

Default preferences:

npm install -g cordova@latest # Version 9 or higher required
npm uninstall @ionic-native/fcm # Ionic support is included and conflicts with @ionic-native's implementation.
cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-fcm-with-dependecy-updated

Complete:

npm install -g cordova@latest # Version 9 or higher required
npm uninstall @ionic-native/fcm # Ionic support is included and conflicts with @ionic-native's implementation.
cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-fcm-with-dependecy-updated \
  --variable ANDROID_DEFAULT_NOTIFICATION_ICON="@mipmap/ic_launcher" \
  --variable ANDROID_FIREBASE_BOM_VERSION="26.0.0" \
  --variable ANDROID_GOOGLE_SERVICES_VERSION="4.3.4" \
  --variable ANDROID_GRADLE_TOOLS_VERSION="4.1.0" \
  --variable IOS_FIREBASE_MESSAGING_VERSION="~> 7.4.0"

Ionic

Default preferences:

npm install -g cordova@latest # Version 9 or higher required
npm uninstall @ionic-native/fcm # Ionic support is included and conflicts with @ionic-native's implementation.
ionic cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-fcm-with-dependecy-updated

Complete:

npm install -g cordova@latest # Version 9 or higher required
npm uninstall @ionic-native/fcm # Ionic support is included and conflicts with @ionic-native's implementation.
ionic cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-fcm-with-dependecy-updated \
  --variable ANDROID_DEFAULT_NOTIFICATION_ICON="@mipmap/ic_launcher" \
  --variable ANDROID_FIREBASE_BOM_VERSION="26.0.0" \
  --variable ANDROID_GOOGLE_SERVICES_VERSION="4.3.4" \
  --variable ANDROID_GRADLE_TOOLS_VERSION="4.1.0" \
  --variable IOS_FIREBASE_MESSAGING_VERSION="~> 7.4.0"

Push Payload Configuration

Besides common FCM configuration (https://firebase.google.com/docs/cloud-messaging/ios/certs), the Push payload should contain "notification" and "data" keys and "click_action" equals to "FCM_PLUGIN_ACTIVITY" within "notification".

Structure expected:

{
  ...,
  "notification": {
    ...
  },
  "data": {
    ...
  },
  "android": {
    "notification": {
      "click_action": "FCM_PLUGIN_ACTIVITY"
    }
  },
  ...,
}

Example:

{
  "token": "[FCM token]",
  "notification":{
    "title":"Notification title",
    "body":"Notification body",
    "sound":"default",
  },
  "data":{
    "param1":"value1",
    "param2":"value2"
  },
  "android": {
    "notification": {
      "icon":"fcm_push_icon",
      "click_action": "FCM_PLUGIN_ACTIVITY"
    }
  }
}

Features

• As its own
  • FCM.clearAllNotifications()
  • FCM.createNotificationChannel()
  • FCM.deleteInstanceId()
  • FCM.getAPNSToken()
  • FCM.getInitialPushPayload()
  • FCM.getToken()
  • FCM.hasPermission()
  • FCM.onNotification()
  • FCM.onTokenRefresh()
  • FCM.requestPushPermission()
  • FCM.subscribeToTopic()
  • FCM.unsubscribeFromTopic()
  • FCM.eventTarget
• With Ionic
  • FCM.onNotification()
  • FCM.onTokenRefresh()

As its own

The JS functions are now as written bellow and do require Promise support. Which, for Android API 19 support, it can be fulfilled by a polyfill.

FCM.clearAllNotifications()

Removes existing push notifications from the notifications center.

await FCM.clearAllNotifications();

FCM.createNotificationChannel()

For Android, some notification properties are only defined programmatically. Channel can define the default behavior for notifications on Android 8.0+. Once a channel is created, it stays unchangeable until the user uninstalls the app.

await FCM.createNotificationChannel({
  id: "urgent_alert", // required
  name: "Urgent Alert", // required
  description: "Very urgent message alert",
  importance: "high", // https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/notifiers/notifications#importance
  visibility: "public", // https://developer.android.com/training/notify-user/build-notification#lockscreenNotification
  sound: "alert_sound", // In the "alert_sound" example, the file should located as resources/raw/alert_sound.mp3
  lights: true, // enable lights for notifications
  vibration: true // enable vibration for notifications
});

FCM.deleteInstanceId()

Deletes the InstanceId, revoking all tokens.

await FCM.deleteInstanceId();

FCM.getAPNSToken()

Gets iOS device's current APNS token.

const apnsToken: string = await FCM.getAPNSToken();

FCM.getInitialPushPayload()

Retrieves the message that, on tap, opened the app. And null, if the app was open normally.

const pushPayload: object = await FCM.getInitialPushPayload()

FCM.getToken()

Gets device's current registration id.

const fcmToken: string = await FCM.getToken()

FCM.hasPermission()

Checking for permissions on iOS. On android, it always returns true.

const doesIt: boolean = await FCM.hasPermission()

FCM.onNotification()

Callback firing when receiving new notifications. It serves as a shortcut to listen to eventTarget's "notification" event.

const disposable = FCM.onNotification((payload: object) => {
  // ...
})
// ...
disposable.dispose() // To remove listener

:warning: If the subscription to notification events happens after the notification has been fired, it'll be lost. As it is expected that you'd not always be able to catch the notification payload that the opened the app, the FCM.getInitialPushPayload() method was introduced.

FCM.onTokenRefresh()

Callback firing when receiving a new Firebase token. It serves as a shortcut to listen to eventTarget's "tokenRefresh" event.

const disposable = FCM.onTokenRefresh((fcmToken: string) => {
  // ...
})
// ...
disposable.dispose() // To remove listener

FCM.requestPushPermission()

Request push notification permission on iOS, alerting the user if he/she/they have not yet accepted or denied. For Android, it'll always return true.

const wasPermissionGiven: boolean = await FCM.requestPushPermission({
  ios9Support: {
    timeout: 10,  // How long it will wait for a decision from the user before returning `false`
    interval: 0.3 // How long between each permission verification
  }
})

:warning: Without this request, the Application won't receive any notification on iOS! :warning: The user will only have its permition required once, after that time, this call will only return if the permission was given that time.

FCM.subscribeToTopic()

Subscribes you to a topic.

const topic: string
// ...
await FCM.subscribeToTopic(topic)

FCM.unsubscribeFromTopic()

Unsubscribes you from a topic.

const topic: string
// ...
await FCM.unsubscribeFromTopic(topic)

FCM.eventTarget

EventTarget object for native-sourced custom events. Useful for more advanced listening handling.

const listener = (data) => {
  const payload = data.detail
  // ...
}
FCM.eventTarget.addEventListener("notification", listener, false);
// ...
FCM.eventTarget.removeEventListener("notification", listener, false);

With Ionic

Ionic support was implemented as part of this plugin to allow users to have access to newer features with the type support. It is available in 3 flavors:

• Ionic v5:

import { FCM } from "cordova-plugin-fcm-with-dependecy-updated/ionic";

• Ionic ngx:

import { FCM } from "cordova-plugin-fcm-with-dependecy-updated/ionic/ngx";

• Ionic v4 (also works for Ionic v3):

import { FCM } from "cordova-plugin-fcm-with-dependecy-updated/ionic/v4";

It brings the same behavior as the native implementation, except for FCM.onNotification() and FCM.onTokenRefresh(), which gain rxjs' Observable support.

To avoid confusion, it's suggested to also remove the redundant @ionic-native/fcm package.

FCM.onNotification()

Event firing when receiving new notifications.

this.fcm.onNotification().subscribe((payload: object) => {
  // ...
});

FCM.onTokenRefresh()

Event firing when receiving a new Firebase token.

this.fcm.onTokenRefresh().subscribe((token: string) => {
  // ...
});

Example Apps

Cordova

https://github.com/andrehtissot/cordova-plugin-fcm-with-dependecy-updated-app-example

Ionic v3

https://github.com/andrehtissot/cordova-plugin-fcm-with-dependecy-updated-ionic-v3-example

Ionic v5

https://github.com/andrehtissot/cordova-plugin-fcm-with-dependecy-updated-ionic-v5-example

Companion Plugins

Optional standalone FCM Image Support for Cordova iOS

After a lot of work, the first release of the plugin is out. Which should enable the support, just by installing it.

Link: https://github.com/andrehtissot/cordova-plugin-fcm-image-support

Optional standalone Cocoapods CDN source switcher

When the environment supports, the cocoapods source is automatically set to the official CDN instead of the slow Github repository.

Link: https://github.com/andrehtissot/cordova-plugin-cocoapods-cdn

Authorship

This started as a fork from https://github.com/fechanique/cordova-plugin-fcm and, gradually, had most of its implementation rewritten and improved, for newer dependency versions support, jitpack and cocoapods support, and new useful features.