Send a test message to a backgrounded iOS app

To get started with FCM, build out the simplest use case: sending a test notification message from the Notifications composer to a development device when the app is in the background on the device. This page lists all the steps to achieve this, from setup to verification — it may cover steps you already completed if you have set up an iOS client app for FCM.

Add Firebase to your iOS project

This section covers tasks you may have completed if you have already enabled other Firebase features for your app. For FCM specifically, you'll need to upload your APNs authentication key and register for remote notifications.

Prerequisites

Install Xcode 10.1 or later.
Install CocoaPods 1.4.0 or later.
Open your project in Xcode.
- Your project must target iOS 8 or later.
- Swift projects must use Swift 3.0 or later.
Set up a physical iOS device or the iOS simulator for running your app.
- For Cloud Messaging, you'll need:
  - A physical iOS device
  - An Apple Push Notification Authentication Key for your Apple Developer account
  - In Xcode, enable Push Notifications in App > Capabilities.
- For all other Firebase products, you can use either a physical iOS device or the iOS simulator.
Sign into Firebase using your Google account.

If you don't already have an Xcode project, you can download one of our quickstart samples if you just want to try out a Firebase product.

Create a Firebase project

Before you can add Firebase to your iOS app, you need to create a Firebase project to connect to your iOS app. Visit Understand Firebase Projects to learn more about Firebase projects.

Create a Firebase project

In the Firebase console, click Add project, then select or enter a Project name.

If you have an existing Google Cloud Platform (GCP) project, you can select the project from the Project name dropdown menu. Otherwise, enter a new Project name.
(Optional) Edit the Project ID.

Firebase automatically assigns a unique ID to your Firebase project. Visit Understand Firebase Projects to learn about how Firebase uses the project ID.

After Firebase provisions resources for your Firebase project, you cannot change your project ID.
To use a specific identifier, you must edit your project ID during this setup step.
Follow the remaining setup steps in the Firebase console, then click Create project (or Add Firebase, if you're using an existing Google project).

Firebase automatically provisions resources for your Firebase project. When the process completes, you'll be taken to the overview page for your Firebase project in the Firebase console.

Register your app with Firebase

After you have a Firebase project, you can add your iOS app to it.

Visit Understand Firebase Projects to learn more about best practices and considerations for adding apps to a Firebase project, including how to handle multiple build variants.

In the center of the Firebase console's project overview page, click the iOS icon to launch the setup workflow.

If you've already added an app to your Firebase project, click Add app to display the platform options.
Enter your app's bundle ID in the iOS bundle ID field.

Make sure that you enter the ID that your app is actually using. You cannot add or modify this value after you register your app with your Firebase project.
- Find this bundle ID by opening your app in XCode, then accessing the General tab in the top-level Runner directory. The value of the Bundle Identifier field is the iOS bundle ID (for example, com.yourcompany.yourproject).
(Optional) Enter other app information as prompted by the setup workflow.
- App nickname: An internal, convenience identifier that is only visible to you in the Firebase console
- App Store ID: Used by Firebase Dynamic Links to redirect users to your App Store page and by Google Analytics for Firebase to import conversion events into Google Ads. If your app doesn't yet have an App Store ID, you can add the ID later in your Project Settings.
Click Register app.

Add a Firebase configuration file

Click Download GoogleService-Info.plist to obtain your Firebase iOS config file (GoogleService-Info.plist).
- You can download your Firebase iOS config file again at any time.
- Make sure the config file is not appended with additional characters, like (2).
Move your config file into the root of your Xcode project. If prompted, select to add the config file to all targets.

If you have multiple bundle IDs in your project, you must associate each bundle ID with a registered app in the Firebase console so that each app can have its own GoogleService-Info.plist file.

Add Firebase SDKs to your app

We recommend using CocoaPods to install the Firebase libraries. However, if you'd rather not use CocoaPods, you can integrate the SDK frameworks directly.

Note that if you're using one of the quickstart samples, the Xcode project and Podfile (with pods) are already present, but you'll still need to add your Firebase configuration file and install the pods.

You can add any of the supported Firebase products to your iOS app.

Create a Podfile if you don't already have one:
```
cd your-project-directory
```
```
pod init
```
To your Podfile, add the pods that you want to use in your app.
```
pod 'Firebase/Core'
pod 'Firebase/Messaging'
```
This pod will add the prerequisite libraries needed to get Firebase up and running in your iOS app.
Install the pods, then open your .xcworkspace file to see the project in Xcode:
```
pod install
```
```
open your-project.xcworkspace
```

Upload your APNs authentication key

Upload your APNs authentication key to Firebase. If you don't already have an APNs authentication key, see Configuring APNs with FCM.

Inside your project in the Firebase console, select the gear icon, select Project Settings, and then select the Cloud Messaging tab.
In APNs authentication key under iOS app configuration, click the Upload button.
Browse to the location where you saved your key, select it, and click Open. Add the key ID for the key (available in Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles in the Apple Developer Member Center) and click Upload.

Initialize Firebase in your app

You'll need to add Firebase initialization code to your application. Import the Firebase module and configure a shared instance as shown:

Import the Firebase module in your UIApplicationDelegate:
Swift
```
import Firebase
```
Objective-C
```
@import Firebase;
```
Configure a FirebaseApp shared instance, typically in your app's application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: method:
Swift
```
// Use Firebase library to configure APIs
FirebaseApp.configure()
```
Objective-C
```
// Use Firebase library to configure APIs
[FIRApp configure];
```

Register for remote notifications

Either at startup, or at the desired point in your application flow, register your app for remote notifications. Call registerForRemoteNotifications as shown:

Swift

if #available(iOS 10.0, *) {
  // For iOS 10 display notification (sent via APNS)
  UNUserNotificationCenter.current().delegate = self

  let authOptions: UNAuthorizationOptions = [.alert, .badge, .sound]
  UNUserNotificationCenter.current().requestAuthorization(
    options: authOptions,
    completionHandler: {_, _ in })
} else {
  let settings: UIUserNotificationSettings =
  UIUserNotificationSettings(types: [.alert, .badge, .sound], categories: nil)
  application.registerUserNotificationSettings(settings)
}

application.registerForRemoteNotifications()
AppDelegate.swift

Objective-C

if ([UNUserNotificationCenter class] != nil) {
  // iOS 10 or later
  // For iOS 10 display notification (sent via APNS)
  [UNUserNotificationCenter currentNotificationCenter].delegate = self;
  UNAuthorizationOptions authOptions = UNAuthorizationOptionAlert |
      UNAuthorizationOptionSound | UNAuthorizationOptionBadge;
  [[UNUserNotificationCenter currentNotificationCenter]
      requestAuthorizationWithOptions:authOptions
      completionHandler:^(BOOL granted, NSError * _Nullable error) {
        // ...
      }];
} else {
  // iOS 10 notifications aren't available; fall back to iOS 8-9 notifications.
  UIUserNotificationType allNotificationTypes =
  (UIUserNotificationTypeSound | UIUserNotificationTypeAlert | UIUserNotificationTypeBadge);
  UIUserNotificationSettings *settings =
  [UIUserNotificationSettings settingsForTypes:allNotificationTypes categories:nil];
  [application registerUserNotificationSettings:settings];
}

[application registerForRemoteNotifications];AppDelegate.m

For devices running iOS 10 and above, you must assign the UNUserNotificationCenter's delegate property and FIRMessaging's delegate property. For example, in an iOS app, assign it in the applicationWillFinishLaunchingWithOptions: or applicationDidFinishLaunchingWithOptions: method of the app delegate.

Access the registration token

To send a message to a specific device, you need to know that device's registration token. Because you'll need to enter the token in a field in the Notifications composer to complete this tutorial, make sure to copy the token or securely store it after you retrieve it.

By default, the FCM SDK generates a registration token for the client app instance on app launch. Similar to the APNs device token, this token allows you to send targeted notifications to any particular instance of your app.

In the same way that iOS typically delivers an APNs device token on app start, FCM provides a registration token via FIRMessagingDelegate's messaging:didReceiveRegistrationToken: method. The FCM SDK retrieves a new or existing token during initial app launch and whenever the token is updated or invalidated. In all cases, the FCM SDK calls messaging:didReceiveRegistrationToken: with a valid token.

The registration token may change when:

The app is restored on a new device
The user uninstalls/reinstall the app
The user clears app data.

Set the messaging delegate

To receive registration tokens, implement the messaging delegate protocol and set FIRMessaging's delegate property after calling [FIRApp configure]. For example, if your application delegate conforms to the messaging delegate protocol, you can set the delegate on application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: to itself.

Swift

Messaging.messaging().delegate = self

Objective-C

[FIRMessaging messaging].delegate = self;

Fetching the current registration token

Registration tokens are delivered via the method messaging:didReceiveRegistrationToken:. This method is called generally once per app start with registration token. When this method is called, it is the ideal time to:

If the registration token is new, send it to your application server.
Subscribe the registration token to topics. This is required only for new subscriptions or for situations where the user has re-installed the app.

You can retrieve the token directly using instanceIDWithHandler:. This callback provides an InstanceIDResult, which contains the token. A non null error is provided if the InstanceID retrieval failed in any way.

Swift

InstanceID.instanceID().instanceID { (result, error) in
  if let error = error {
    print("Error fetching remote instance ID: \(error)")
  } else if let result = result {
    print("Remote instance ID token: \(result.token)")
    self.instanceIDTokenMessage.text  = "Remote InstanceID token: \(result.token)"
  }
}

Objective-C

[[FIRInstanceID instanceID] instanceIDWithHandler:^(FIRInstanceIDResult * _Nullable result,
                                                    NSError * _Nullable error) {
  if (error != nil) {
    NSLog(@"Error fetching remote instance ID: %@", error);
  } else {
    NSLog(@"Remote instance ID token: %@", result.token);
    NSString* message =
      [NSString stringWithFormat:@"Remote InstanceID token: %@", result.token];
    self.instanceIDTokenMessage.text = message;
  }
}];

Generally, the token is available locally, so this method does not open a network connection. You can use this method at any time to access the token instead of storing it.

Avoid calling .getToken(authorizedEntity,scope) unless there is a need to enable multiple senders. Use instanceIDWithHandler: instead.

Monitor token refresh

To be notified whenever the token is updated, supply a delegate conforming to the messaging delegate protocol. The following example registers the delegate and adds the proper delegate method:

Swift

func messaging(_ messaging: Messaging, didReceiveRegistrationToken fcmToken: String) {
  print("Firebase registration token: \(fcmToken)")

  let dataDict:[String: String] = ["token": fcmToken]
  NotificationCenter.default.post(name: Notification.Name("FCMToken"), object: nil, userInfo: dataDict)
  // TODO: If necessary send token to application server.
  // Note: This callback is fired at each app startup and whenever a new token is generated.
}AppDelegate.swift

Objective-C

- (void)messaging:(FIRMessaging *)messaging didReceiveRegistrationToken:(NSString *)fcmToken {
    NSLog(@"FCM registration token: %@", fcmToken);
    // Notify about received token.
    NSDictionary *dataDict = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObject:fcmToken forKey:@"token"];
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] postNotificationName:
     @"FCMToken" object:nil userInfo:dataDict];
    // TODO: If necessary send token to application server.
    // Note: This callback is fired at each app startup and whenever a new token is generated.
}AppDelegate.m

Alternatively, you can listen for an NSNotification named kFIRMessagingRegistrationTokenRefreshNotification rather than supplying a delegate method. The token property always has the current token value.

Send a notification message

Install and run the app on the target device. You'll need to accept the request for permission to receive remote notifications.
Make sure the app is in the background on the device.
Open the Notifications composer and select New Message.
Enter the message text.
Select Test on Device.
In the field labeled Add an FCM registration token, enter the registration token you obtained in a previous section of this guide.
Click Test

After you click Test, the targeted client device (with the app in the background) should receive the notification in the notification center.

For insight into message delivery to your app, see the FCM reporting dashboard, which records the number of messages sent and opened on iOS and Android devices, along with data for "impressions" (notifications seen by users) for Android apps.

Next steps

To go beyond notification messages and add other, more advanced behavior to your app, see: