How to add push notifications and in-app messages to your iOS app with OneSignal.
Step-by-step instructions for configuring your OneSignal app.
Create or select your app
Example shows creating a new app.
Set up and activate a platform
Example setting up your first OneSignal app, org, and channel.
Configure platform credentials
Choose target SDK
Select which SDK you are using to be navigated to the docs.
Install SDK and save your App ID
Save your App ID and invite additional team members.
.xcworkspace
file in Xcode.The app target is given Push Notifications capability.
The app target is given Remote Notifications background execution mode.
group.your_bundle_id.onesignal
your_bundle_id
with your app’s bundle identifier.com.onesignal.MyApp
, will have the container name group.com.onesignal.MyApp.onesignal
.The app target is part of the App Group.
OneSignalNotificationServiceExtension
and press Finish.Select the Notification Service Extension target.
Name the Notification Service Extension .
Cancel activation to continue debugging your app target.
Set the same deployment target as the main app.
The NSE now belongs to the same app group as your app target.
NotificationService.swift
or NotificationService.m
file with the following:Navigate to your NotificationService file.
This file shows an error until you install the package in the next step.
Library | Target | Required |
---|---|---|
OneSignalExtension | OneSignalNotificationServiceExtension | ✅ |
OneSignalFramework | App | ✅ |
OneSignalInAppMessages | App | Recommended |
OneSignalLocation | App | Optional |
https://github.com/OneSignal/OneSignal-iOS-SDK
Select the onesignal-ios-sdk package and click Add Package.Choose Package Products for OneSignal-iOS-SDK.If your app doesn't require location tracking, you can remove the package as shown in this example.
<APP_NAME>App.swift
file and initialize OneSignal with the provided methods.Replace YOUR_APP_ID
with your OneSignal App ID found in your OneSignal dashboard Settings > Keys & IDs. If you don’t have access to the OneSignal app, ask your Team Members to invite you.Launch your app on a test device.
requestPermission
method during initialization.iOS and Android push permission prompts
Check your OneSignal dashboard
Dashboard showing subscription with 'Never Subscribed' status
Return to the app and tap Allow on the prompt.
Refresh the OneSignal dashboard Subscription's page.
Dashboard showing subscription with 'Subscribed' status
Add to Test Subscriptions.
Adding a device to Test Subscriptions
Name your subscription.
Dashboard showing the 'Name your subscription' field
Create a test users segment.
Name the segment.
Test Users
(the name is important because it will be used later).Add the Test Users filter and click Create Segment.
Creating a 'Test Users' segment with the Test Users filter
Get your App API Key and App ID.
Update the provided code.
YOUR_APP_API_KEY
and YOUR_APP_ID
in the code below with your actual keys. This code uses the Test Users
segment we created earlier.Run the code.
Check images and confirmed delivery.
Push notification with image on iOS and Android
Check for confirmed delivery.
Delivery stats showing confirmed delivery
Confirmed delivery at the device level in Audience Activity
.txt
file. Then share both with support@onesignal.com
.Close or background your app on the device.
Create an in-app message.
Targeting the 'Test Users' segment with an in-app message
Customize the message content if desired.
Example customization of in-app Welcome message
Set Trigger to 'On app open'.
Schedule frequency.
In-app message scheduling options
Make message live.
Open the app and see the message.
Welcome in-app message shown on devices
Test Users
segment?
support@onesignal.com
and we will help investigate what’s going on.login
method each time they are identified by your app.
username
, role
, or preferences) and events (like purchase_date
, game_level
, or user interactions). Tags power advanced Message Personalization and Segmentation allowing for more advanced use cases.
Set tags with our SDK addTag
and addTags
methods as events occur in your app.
In this example, the user reached level 6 identifiable by the tag called current_level
set to a value of 6
.
A user profile in OneSignal with a tag called "current_level" set to "6"
Segment editor showing a segment targeting users with a current_level value of greater than 4 and less than 10
Screenshot showing a push notification targeting the Level 5-10 segment with a personalized message
The push notification is received on an iOS and Android device with the personalized content
addEmail
method to create email subscriptions.addSms
method to create SMS subscriptions.A user profile with push, email, and SMS subscriptions unified by External ID
setConsentRequired(true)
: Prevents data collection until consent is given.setConsentGiven(true)
: Enables data collection once consent is granted.requestPermission()
immediately on app open, take a more strategic approach. Use an in-app message to explain the value of push notifications before requesting permission.
For best practices and implementation details, see our Prompt for push permissions guide.
addClickListener()
: Detect when a notification is tapped. Helpful for Deep Linking.addForegroundLifecycleListener()
: Control how notifications behave in foreground.addObserver()
for user state: Detect when the External ID is set.addPermissionObserver()
: Track the user’s specific interaction with the native push permission prompt.addObserver()
for push subscription: Track when the push subscription status changes.addClickListener()
: Handle in-app click actions. Ideal for deep linking or tracking events.addLifecycleListener()
: Track full lifecycle of in-app messages (shown, clicked, dismissed, etc.).support@onesignal.com
Please include: