Push Notifications
Notifications are short alerts Qik sends to people when something needs their attention, such as a new form submission, a mention, or a message. A notification always appears in the person's in-app notification feed. Depending on how it's set up, it can also be sent as an email, a push notification to their phone, or a text message.
How a notification is delivered
Each notification has one or more delivery methods:
| Method | Where it appears | What the person needs |
|---|---|---|
| In-app (always included) | The notification feed in the dashboard or app, updated live | A login |
| An email in a simple standard layout, from your organisation's Communications Name (or organisation name) | An email address on their profile or login | |
| App push notification | A push notification on their phone | A login on a mobile app that has push notifications set up, with notifications allowed on their device |
| SMS | A text message | A mobile number, and SMS enabled for your organisation. Charged in credits like any other text (see Sending SMS) |
If a person can't be reached by a method, for example they have no email address or haven't installed the app, that method is skipped and the others still go out.
What sends notifications
- Content type notifications: on a content type or form, under Automations and Notifications, add a Notification. Choose the People to notify, Send by (Email and/or App push notification), Trigger when (A new item is created, An item is updated, An item is deleted), and optionally If matches rules to notify only for certain records. For example, notify the office manager by email and push whenever a new enquiry form is submitted. See Definition Automations.
- Mentions: when someone @mentions a person in a comment or conversation, that person is notified. See Comments and Notes.
- Messaging: new messages in team conversations notify the participants. See Conversations and Messaging.
- Actions and integrations: builders can create notifications from server-side actions and custom apps, choosing any combination of email, push and SMS (see below).
The notification feed
In the dashboard, notifications appear under the bell in the top bar, with a badge showing how many are unread. If team messaging is switched on and shown in the top bar, the bell is replaced by the Inbox, which holds both your messages and your notifications.
- Click a notification to open the record it's about, such as the submission, event or workflow card.
- Click the tick to mark one notification as read, or use Mark all read.
- For a full-page view, go to My Notifications.
Notifications are removed automatically six months after they're created, whether or not they've been read. The record they point to isn't affected.
To see the notifications your organisation has sent, open Notifications from the Communications dashboard. Each notification email or text is also saved as an email or SMS record, linked back to its notification, so you can check whether it was delivered.
Push notifications to phones
Push notifications only reach people who:
- use a mobile app built on Qik that has push notifications set up,
- have signed in to that app with a login in your organisation, and
- allowed notifications when the app asked.
When someone signs in and allows notifications, the app registers their device with Qik automatically. There's nothing for admins to do per person. If someone reinstalls the app or turns notifications off, Qik removes the old device the next time a push to it fails.
Push notifications are matched to people through their login. When a notification is addressed to a profile, Qik finds the logins that use one of that profile's email addresses and sends to their devices. If a person isn't getting pushes, check that their profile's email address matches the email they sign in to the app with.
Setting up push for an app (builders)
Push notifications are delivered with Firebase Cloud Messaging. To enable them for one of your applications, a builder creates a Firebase Cloud Messaging integration (using the Firebase project's service account credentials) and selects it in the application's FCM Integration setting. Devices can only register for push on applications that have this integration. If you're not sure whether your app has it, contact support.
Sending notifications from actions (builders)
Server-side actions and apps can send notifications with POST /notifications/create, passing recipients (people, groups, smart lists or topics), a title, an optional body, methods (any of email, push, sms; the default is email and push), an optional reference record to open when tapped, and scopes. You need permission to create notifications, and recipients you aren't allowed to view are skipped.
Tips
- Choose methods to match how urgent the notification is. Push is good for time-sensitive alerts, and email for things people may need to refer back to.
- Use If matches rules on content type notifications so people are only told about records relevant to them. Too many notifications get ignored.
- Set your organisation's Communications Name in Organisation Settings. Notification emails are sent under that name.