Confirmed receipt

Confirmed receipt (also known as Confirmed Delivery) tracks when the OneSignal SDK on a device receives a push. The SDK sends a confirmation containing the notification ID and the device’s Subscription ID. You can inspect those receipts in push message reports, Audience Activity, and the message.push.received Event Stream event. Confirmed receipt is not available on every plan or platform. See Requirements and Platform limitations. For metric definitions, see the Metrics glossary.

Diagram of a push reaching the device and the OneSignal SDK sending a confirmation receipt back to OneSignal — Confirmed receipt flow

Confirmed receipt is different from Delivered. Platform push services (APNs, FCM, ADM, HMS) report whether they accepted the notification, not whether the device received it. Confirmed receipt is the device-side confirmation.

Requirements

Available only on paid plans. Compare plans. There is no separate dashboard toggle. If the app is on a paid plan and the device has the OneSignal SDK, confirmed receipt is recorded for supported platforms.
Complete the Web SDK Setup and/or Mobile SDK Setup. Confirmed receipt only works if the device has the OneSignal SDK installed.
Not supported for subscriptions created via API only, with no OneSignal SDK on the device.

Platform limitations

Confirmed receipt does not fire in these cases, even when Delivered is greater than zero:

Safari web push.
Huawei message type. HMS displays the notification. OneSignal does not get a device receipt.
Silent iOS notifications. iOS never launches the Notification Service Extension for content-available silent pushes. See Do confirmed deliveries work with silent notifications?.
VoIP pushes. The Notification Service Extension does not run for VoIP. See VoIP notifications.
Subscriptions created via API only, with no OneSignal SDK on the device.
Live Activities on iOS SDK versions earlier than 5.2.15. See Live Activities analytics.

iOS limitations

Requires both the Notification Service Extension and App Group to be set up correctly. See Troubleshoot iOS.
Push notifications must include the mutable-content key set to 1. OneSignal sets this automatically. Do not set mutable_content: false.
APNs keeps only one message per app when offline. If multiple pushes are sent while the device is offline, only the latest is delivered.
Live Activities confirmed receipt also requires iOS SDK 5.2.15 or higher, plus the same NSE and App Group setup.

Android limitations

Some device manufacturers treat swiping the app away as a force quit, which stops the SDK from running and sending a receipt. See Mobile push troubleshooting.
A custom Android notification service extension can suppress display or block the receipt. See Troubleshoot Android.

Huawei limitations

Supported only for the data Huawei message type.
For the message type, Huawei provides receipt data only in their own dashboard.

Web limitations

Safari does not support confirmed receipt.
Other browsers require the v16 Web SDK. See Troubleshoot Web.

Troubleshooting confirmed receipt

If you are not receiving push notifications at all, see Notifications not showing first.

Troubleshoot iOS

Confirmed receipt on iOS requires two things working together:

A Notification Service Extension (NSE) that runs OneSignal code when a push arrives
An App Group shared between your main app target and the NSE target so they can exchange data

If either is missing or misconfigured, the device receives the push but never reports it back to OneSignal.

Verify your iOS setup

Confirm the NSE target exists and has the correct code

In Xcode, check that you have a OneSignalNotificationServiceExtension target listed under your project targets. If it does not exist, follow Step 2 of the iOS SDK Setup.Open the NSE’s NotificationService.swift (or .m) file. It must call OneSignalExtension.didReceiveNotificationExtensionRequest inside didReceive(_:withContentHandler:). If the file still contains Apple’s default template code, replace it with the OneSignal NSE code.

Confirm the NSE has the OneSignalExtension package

Select your NSE target > General > Frameworks and Libraries (or Build Phases > Link Binary With Libraries). Verify that OneSignalExtension is listed. The main app target uses OneSignalFramework, but the NSE target must use OneSignalExtension. These are different packages.

Verify the App Group is configured correctly on both targets

The OneSignal SDK uses an App Group to share data between your main app and the NSE. There are two ways to configure this. Pick the one that matches your setup.

Select your main app target > Signing & Capabilities > App Groups.
Confirm the App Group.

If your App Group is group.YOUR_MAIN_APP_BUNDLE_ID.onesignal (where YOUR_MAIN_APP_BUNDLE_ID is your main app target’s Bundle Identifier under General > Identity), follow the Default App Group tab. Otherwise, follow the Custom App Group tab.

Default App Group - group.YOUR_MAIN_APP_BUNDLE_ID.onesignal
Custom App Group

Select your NSE target > Signing & Capabilities > App Groups.
Confirm the exact same App Group is listed. If missing, add it via + Capability > App Groups and select the same group.

A common mistake is using the NSE’s bundle identifier instead of the main app’s:

Correct: group.YOUR_MAIN_APP_BUNDLE_ID.onesignal
Wrong: group.YOUR_MAIN_APP_BUNDLE_ID.OneSignalNotificationServiceExtension.onesignal

Your main app target and NSE target should have the same App Group identifier.

Use this option if your App Group identifier does not follow the group.YOUR_MAIN_APP_BUNDLE_ID.onesignal format.

Select your main app target > Signing & Capabilities > App Groups.
Confirm your custom App Group is listed.
Select the Info.plist of your main app target and add the following key:

<key>OneSignal_app_groups_key</key>
<string>group.your-custom-group-name</string>

Replace group.your-custom-group-name with your actual App Group name.

Select your NSE target > Signing & Capabilities > App Groups.
Confirm the exact same custom App Group is listed. If missing, add it via + Capability > App Groups and select the same group.
Select the Info.plist of your NSE target and add the following key:

<key>OneSignal_app_groups_key</key>
<string>group.your-custom-group-name</string>

Replace group.your-custom-group-name with your actual App Group name.Your main app target and NSE target should have the same App Group identifier.

If you use .xcconfig files for build settings, verify the App Group is not being overridden or omitted in those files.

Confirm minimum deployment targets match

Select your NSE target > General > Minimum Deployments. This value must match your main app target’s minimum deployment. A mismatch can prevent the NSE from running on certain OS versions.

Uncheck "Copy only when installing"

Select your main app target > Build Phases > Embed App Extensions. Make sure “Copy only when installing” is unchecked. If checked, the NSE is not embedded during development builds, so it never runs when testing.

Verify NSExtension Info.plist values

Select your NSE target > Info tab and expand the NSExtension key. Confirm it contains:

<key>NSExtensionPointIdentifier</key>
<string>com.apple.usernotifications.service</string>
<key>NSExtensionPrincipalClass</key>
<string>$(PRODUCT_MODULE_NAME).NotificationService</string>

If your NSE is written in Objective-C, use NotificationService instead of $(PRODUCT_MODULE_NAME).NotificationService.

Verify mutable-content is set

OneSignal automatically sets mutable-content: 1 in the push payload, which tells iOS to invoke the NSE. If you send pushes via the REST API, verify you are not explicitly setting mutable_content: false. Without mutable-content, iOS does not run the NSE and confirmed receipt cannot fire.

Test that the NSE is running

Add this line temporarily inside didReceive before the OneSignal call:

bestAttemptContent.body = "[Modified] " + bestAttemptContent.body

Send yourself a test push. If the notification body starts with [Modified], the NSE is running correctly. If it does not, revisit the steps above. The NSE is not being invoked. Remove this line after testing.For advanced NSE debugging with Xcode Console logs, see Debugging the iOS Notification Service Extension.

Troubleshoot Android

If notifications are not displaying, see Mobile push troubleshooting.
If notifications show but confirmed receipt is missing, a custom Android notification service extension may be blocking it. See Android notification service extension.

Troubleshoot Web

Safari is not supported.

For other browsers, use the v16 Web SDK:

SDK init:

<script src="https://cdn.onesignal.com/sdks/web/v16/OneSignalSDK.page.js" defer></script>

Service Worker reference:

importScripts("https://cdn.onesignal.com/sdks/web/v16/OneSignalSDK.sw.js");

FAQ

Why are my confirmed receipt numbers low or missing?

The most common causes are setup issues (especially on iOS), inactive devices, and platform limitations.

iOS misconfiguration: The Notification Service Extension or App Group is missing or incorrect. See Troubleshoot iOS.
Inactive or abandoned devices: Devices that are offline or no longer in use do not receive pushes or send confirmed receipt events. See How do I handle inactive devices?.
Platform limitations: Safari, Huawei message type, silent iOS notifications, VoIP, API-only subscriptions, and Live Activities on iOS SDK versions earlier than 5.2.15 do not confirm. See Platform limitations.
Android force quit: Some device manufacturers treat swiping the app away as a force quit, which stops SDK events. See Mobile push troubleshooting.

How do I handle inactive devices?

Devices that are offline or abandoned do not receive push notifications or send confirmed receipt events. This is common when users replace or abandon devices. To follow up with Subscriptions that did not confirm:

From the message report, use Retargeting on the Did Not Confirm Receipt Audience Activity category. Retargeting is available for 30 days after the send.
Create Segments based on Last Session (for example, inactive for 90+ days).
- Combine with a re-engagement Journey to win them back.
- Periodically target inactive users to prune unreachable devices.

See When do push Subscription statuses update? for more details on how OneSignal updates subscription status.

Why does confirmed receipt show but the notification doesn’t appear?

A confirmed receipt event means the device received the push payload. In rare cases, the notification may not display. Possible causes:

Missed notification: Send yourself a test push via Find and set Test Users to rule this out.
iOS Focus Mode: Do Not Disturb, Sleep, or other Focus modes delay or group notifications. You may have dismissed a grouped notification without seeing it.
App code suppressing display:
- event.preventDefault() in the foreground lifecycle listener or the Android notification service extension stops the notification from displaying. The iOS Notification Service Extension does not use preventDefault().
- Calls to removeDeliveredNotifications(withIdentifiers:) or removeAllDeliveredNotifications() remove notifications after they arrive.
Push payload settings:
- Ensure priority is set to high. See Push priority.
- collapse_id replaces older pushes with newer ones using the same ID.

Push notification message reports

Review delivery, engagement, and confirmed receipt metrics for each push.

Analytics metrics glossary

Definitions for every delivery and engagement metric in OneSignal.

iOS SDK setup

Add the Notification Service Extension and App Group required for iOS.

Service extensions

Customize notification behavior on iOS and Android with service extensions.

Need help?Chat with our Support team or email support@onesignal.comPlease include:

Details of the issue you’re experiencing and steps to reproduce if available
Your OneSignal App ID
The External ID or Subscription ID if applicable
The URL to the message you tested in the OneSignal Dashboard if applicable
Any relevant logs or error messages

We’re happy to help!

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Privacy & Security

Requirements

Platform limitations

iOS limitations

Android limitations

Huawei limitations

Web limitations

Troubleshooting confirmed receipt

Troubleshoot iOS

Verify your iOS setup

Troubleshoot Android

Troubleshoot Web

FAQ

Why are my confirmed receipt numbers low or missing?

How do I handle inactive devices?

Why does confirmed receipt show but the notification doesn’t appear?

Push notification message reports

Analytics metrics glossary

iOS SDK setup

Service extensions

​Requirements

​Platform limitations

​iOS limitations

​Android limitations

​Huawei limitations

​Web limitations

​Troubleshooting confirmed receipt

​Troubleshoot iOS

​Verify your iOS setup

​Troubleshoot Android

​Troubleshoot Web

​FAQ

​Why are my confirmed receipt numbers low or missing?

​How do I handle inactive devices?

​Why does confirmed receipt show but the notification doesn’t appear?

​Related pages

Push notification message reports

Analytics metrics glossary

iOS SDK setup

Service extensions

Requirements

Platform limitations

iOS limitations

Android limitations

Huawei limitations

Web limitations

Troubleshooting confirmed receipt

Troubleshoot iOS

Verify your iOS setup

Troubleshoot Android

Troubleshoot Web

FAQ

Why are my confirmed receipt numbers low or missing?

How do I handle inactive devices?

Why does confirmed receipt show but the notification doesn’t appear?

Related pages