Enable push notifications in iOS branded apps

 

Before you begin: Ensure that you have completed the steps described in Enable push notifications in your branded apps.

Note that this process is more involved than the Android version.

To enable push notifications in iOS branded apps:

1. Sign in to the Firebase Console and navigate to your project.
2. Click  > Project settings.
   
   
3. Click the General tab and then click Add app. 
   
   
4. Select iOS as the platform.
   
   
5. Paste in the iOS bundle ID you used when creating your branded app without push notifications and click Register app.
   
   
6. Click Download Googleservice-Info.plist to download the GoogleService-Info.plist file configuration file, needed for sending push notifications to your branded app.
7. Skip through the next few steps of this form, then click Continue to console.
8. Modify the properties of your app on the Apple Developer side. Navigate to the Apple developer site and go to your account. For more information about setting up your Apple developer account, see Create and deploy branded apps for iOS.
9. Select and edit the application ID you're using for your branded app in the Identifiers section.
   
   
10. Under Capabilities, enable the push notifications capability by selecting Push Notifications, and create your push certificates.
    
    
11. Make sure you generate both the development and production certificates.
    
    
12. To create a certificate, create a certificate signing request (CSR) by following the steps described in Create a certificate signing request on the Apple Developer site.
13. Make sure to click Saved to Disk rather than email to the CA in the certificate assistant wizard and click Continue.
14. Upload the .CSR file that you created and click Continue.
15. Download and install the newly created certificate by clicking on it once it's downloaded.
16. Click Done.
17. Export the certificate-key pair as a .p12 file by right-clicking the certificate (make sure it contains the key in the drop-down). 
18. Upload the newly created development and production certificates to Firebase. This will be available in the Settings > Project Settings > Could Messaging > your iOS app section.
19. Upload the corresponding files, and plug in the password you used when exporting the .p12 files. 
    
    
20. Open your app in the AppSheet app editor.
21. Go to Manage > Deploy > Branded Apps and expand the For iOS section.
22. In the For iOS section, do the following:
    1. Upload the certificate file, exported in step 16, in the Certificate File field.
    2. Upload the provisioning profiles created when you set up your Apple developer account. For more information, see Create provisioning profiles.
    3. Upload the GoogleService-info.plist file, downloaded in step 6, in the Optional: Firebase Notification Configuration File field. 
    4. If you haven't already created a branded app for iOS, click Create a branded version of this app for iOS devices.
    

Congratulations! You have just generated a native app capable of receiving push notifications from AppSheet.

After you download and install your app, you can try this feature out by navigating to Manage > Broadcast Notifications and broadcast a notification to your users.  Be sure to verify that it works before sending out your app to your users.