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Overview

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Requirements

  • A managed Expo app. For bare React Native apps, see React Native SDK setup.
  • Expo SDK 48+ (instructions use version 52.0.43)
  • EAS CLI (EAS Build documentation)
  • React Native 0.71+ (instructions use version 0.78.2)
  • Configured OneSignal app and platform
iOS Requirements
  • macOS with Xcode 14+ (setup instructions use Xcode 16.2)
  • Device with iOS 12+, iPadOS 12+, or Xcode simulator running iOS 16.2+
  • CocoaPods 1.16.2+
Android Requirements
  • Android 7.0+ device or emulator with Google Play Store (Services) installed

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Configure your OneSignal app and platform

Required setup for push notifications To start sending push notifications with OneSignal, you must first configure your OneSignal app with all the platforms your support—Apple (APNs), Google (FCM), Huawei (HMS), and/or Amazon (ADM).
If your organization already has a OneSignal account, ask to be invited as an admin role to configure the app. Otherwise, sign up for a free account to get started.

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SDK setup

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1. Add SDK

Install the OneSignal Expo plugin using the Expo CLI.
npm
npx expo install onesignal-expo-plugin
Add the react-native-onesignal package to your project. 
  npm install --save react-native-onesignal

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2. Configure the plugin

Open your app.json (or app.config.js). In the plugins array, you should see "onesignal-expo-plugin". Configure the desired plugin props:
json
  {
    "expo": {
      "ios": {
        "bundleIdentifier": "com.yourcompany.yourapp", // ✅ Required for iOS builds
        "infoPlist": {
          "UIBackgroundModes": ["remote-notification"] // ✅ Required for push notifications
        },
        "entitlements": {
          "aps-environment": "development", // ✅ Required for push notification, change to "production" for Testflight and App Store builds
          "com.apple.security.application-groups": [
            "group.${ios.bundleIdentifier}.onesignal" // // ✅ Required for confirmed delivery
          ]
        }
      },
      "android": {
        "package": "com.yourcompany.yourapp" // ✅ Required for Android builds
      },
      "plugins": [
        [
          "onesignal-expo-plugin",
          {
            "mode": "development"
          }
        ]
      ]
    }
  }
Make sure to add the plugin [onesignal-expo-plugin] to the front of the plugins array. It should be the first plugin in the array. This will prevent the OneSignal/OneSignal.h file not found error.

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3. Initialize SDK

Depending on your Expo structure (Traditional App entry or Expo Router), initialize OneSignal following these options.
In your App.tsx or App.js file 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.
App.tsx
import React, { useEffect } from 'react';
// Include the OneSignal package
import { OneSignal, LogLevel } from 'react-native-onesignal';

export default function App(): React.JSX.Element {
  // Initialize OneSignal in useEffect to ensure it runs only once
  useEffect(() => {
    // Enable verbose logging for debugging (remove in production)
    OneSignal.Debug.setLogLevel(LogLevel.Verbose);
    // Initialize with your OneSignal App ID
    OneSignal.initialize('YOUR_APP_ID');
    // Use this method to prompt for push notifications.
    // We recommend removing this method after testing and instead use In-App Messages to prompt for notification permission.
    OneSignal.Notifications.requestPermission(false);
  }, []); // Ensure this only runs once on app mount
}
Review our OneSignal Expo Plugin GitHub repo for additional configuration options, more complex setup instructions or open an issue. Our SDKs are open source and we welcome PRs!

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Android setup

Make sure your OneSignal app is configured for the Android platform using your Firebase credentials. Set up your notification icons to match your app’s branding. If this step is skipped, a default bell icon will display for your push notifications. Build for Android At this point, you should be able to build and run your app on a physical Android device or emulator without issues.
After confirming that your Android build works:

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iOS setup

Make sure your OneSignal app is configured for the iOS platform using either the p8 Token (Recommended) or p12 Certificate.
This should use the same credentials setup in your EAS configuration.

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Build for iOS

You should now be able to build and run your app on a real iOS device or iOS simulator (16.2+).

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Common iOS build errors

After confirming that your iOS build works, continue with Testing the OneSignal SDK integration.

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Testing the OneSignal SDK integration

This guide helps you verify that your OneSignal SDK integration is working correctly by testing push notifications, subscription registration, and in-app messaging.

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Check mobile subscriptions

1

Launch your app on a test device.

The native push permission prompt should appear automatically if you added the requestPermission method during initialization.

iOS and Android push permission prompts

2

Check your OneSignal dashboard

Before accepting the prompt, check the OneSignal dashboard:
  • Go to Audience > Subscriptions.
  • You should see a new entry with the status “Never Subscribed”.

Dashboard showing subscription with 'Never Subscribed' status

3

Return to the app and tap Allow on the prompt.

4

Refresh the OneSignal dashboard Subscription's page.

The subscription’s status should now show Subscribed.

Dashboard showing subscription with 'Subscribed' status

You have successfully created a mobile subscription. Mobile subscriptions are created when users first open your app on a device or if they uninstall and reinstall your app on the same device.

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Set up test subscriptions

Test subscriptions are helpful for testing a push notification before sending a message.
1

Add to Test Subscriptions.

In the dashboard, next to the subscription, click the Options (three dots) button and select Add to Test Subscriptions.

Adding a device to Test Subscriptions

2

Name your subscription.

Name the subscription so you can easily identify your device later in the Test Subscriptions tab.

Dashboard showing the 'Name your subscription' field

3

Create a test users segment.

Go to Audience > Segments > New Segment.
4

Name the segment.

Name the segment Test Users (the name is important because it will be used later).
5

Add the Test Users filter and click Create Segment.

Creating a 'Test Users' segment with the Test Users filter

You have successfully created a segment of test users. We can now test sending messages to this individual device and groups of test users.

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Send test push via API

1

Get your App API Key and App ID.

In your OneSignal dashboard, go to Settings > Keys & IDs.
2

Update the provided code.

Replace 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.
curl -X \
POST --url 'https://api.onesignal.com/notifications' \
 --header 'content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8' \
 --header 'authorization: Key YOUR_APP_API_KEY' \
 --data \
 '{
  "app_id": "YOUR_APP_ID",
  "target_channel": "push",
  "name": "Testing basic setup",
  "headings": {
  	"en": "👋"
  },
  "contents": {
    "en": "Hello world!"
  },
  "included_segments": [
    "Test Users"
  ],
  "ios_attachments": {
    "onesignal_logo": "https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/11823027?s=200&v=4"
  },
  "big_picture": "https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/11823027?s=200&v=4"
}'
3

Run the code.

Run the code in your terminal.
4

Check images and confirmed delivery.

If all setup steps were completed successfully, the test subscriptions should receive a notification with an image included:

Push notification with image on iOS and Android

Images will appear small in the collapsed notification view. Expand the notification to see the full image.
5

Check for confirmed delivery.

In your dashboard, go to Delivery > Sent Messages, then click the message to view stats.You should see the confirmed stat, meaning the device received the push.

Delivery stats showing confirmed delivery

If you’re on a Professional plan or higher, scroll to Audience Activity to see subscription-level confirmation:

Confirmed delivery at the device level in Audience Activity

You have successfully sent a notification via our API to a segment.
  • No image received? Your Notification Service Extension might be missing.
  • No confirmed delivery? Review your App Groups setup.
  • Having issues? Copy-paste the api request and a log from start to finish of app launch into a .txt file. Then share both with support@onesignal.com.

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Send an in-app message

In-app messages let you communicate with users while they are using your app.
1

Close or background your app on the device.

This is because users must meet the in-app audience criteria before a new session starts. In OneSignal, a new session starts when the user opens your app after it has been in the background or closed for at least 30 seconds. For more details, see our guide on how in-app messages are displayed.
2

Create an in-app message.

  • In your OneSignal dashboard, navigate to Messages > In-App > New In-App.
  • Find and select the Welcome message.
  • Set your Audience as the Test Users segment we used previously.

Targeting the 'Test Users' segment with an in-app message

3

Customize the message content if desired.

Example customization of in-app Welcome message

4

Set Trigger to 'On app open'.

5

Schedule frequency.

Under Schedule > How often do you want to show this message? select Every time trigger conditions are satisfied.

In-app message scheduling options

6

Make message live.

Click Make Message Live so it is available to your Test Users each time they open the app.
7

Open the app and see the message.

After the in-app message is live, open your app. You should see it display:

Welcome in-app message shown on devices

Not seeing the message?
  • Start a new session
    • You must close or background the app for at least 30 seconds before reopening. This ensures a new session is started.
    • For more, see how in-app messages are displayed.
  • Still in the Test Users segment?
    • If you reinstalled or switched devices, re-add the device to Test Subscriptions and confirm it’s part of the Test Users segment.
  • Having issues?
    • Follow Getting a Debug Log while reproducing the steps above. This will generate additional logging that you can share with support@onesignal.com and we will help investigate what’s going on.
You have successfully setup the OneSignal SDK and learned important concepts like:Continue with this guide to identify users in your app and setup additional features.

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User identification

Previously, we demonstrated how to create mobile Subscriptions. Now we’ll expand to identifying Users across all their subscriptions (including push, email, and SMS) using the OneSignal SDK. We’ll cover External IDs, tags, multi-channel subscriptions, privacy, and event tracking to help you unify and engage users across platforms.

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Assign External ID

Use an External ID to identify users consistently across devices, email addresses, and phone numbers using your backend’s user identifier. This ensures your messaging stays unified across channels and 3rd party systems (especially important for Integrations). Set the External ID with our SDK’s login method each time they are identified by your app.
OneSignal generates unique read-only IDs for subscriptions (Subscription ID) and users (OneSignal ID).As users download your app on different devices, subscribe to your website, and/or provide you email addresses and phone numbers outside of your app, new subscriptions will be created.Setting the External ID via our SDK is highly recommended to identify users across all their subscriptions, regardless of how they are created.

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Add data tags

Tags are key-value pairs of string data you can use to store user properties (like 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"

We can create a segment of users that have a level of between 5 and 10, and use that to send targeted and personalized messages:

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

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Add email and/or SMS subscriptions

Earlier we saw how our SDK creates mobile subscriptions to send push and in-app messages. You can also reach users through emails and SMS channels by creating the corresponding subscriptions. If the email address and/or phone number already exist in the OneSignal app, the SDK will add it to the existing user, it will not create duplicates. You can view unified users via Audience > Users in the dashboard or with the View user API.

A user profile with push, email, and SMS subscriptions unified by External ID

Best practices for multi-channel communication
  • Obtain explicit consent before adding email or SMS subscriptions.
  • Explain the benefits of each communication channel to users.
  • Provide channel preferences so users can select which channels they prefer.
To control when OneSignal collects user data, use the SDK’s consent gating methods: See our Privacy & security docs for more on:

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Prompt for push permissions

Instead of calling 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.

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Listen to push, user, and in-app events

Use SDK listeners to react to user actions and state changes. The SDK provides several event listeners for you to hook into. See our SDK reference guide for more details.

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Push notification events

For full customization, see Mobile Service Extensions.

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User state changes

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In-app message events

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Advanced setup & capabilities

Explore more capabilities to enhance your integration:

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Mobile SDK setup & reference

Make sure you’ve enabled all key features by reviewing the Mobile push setup guide. For full details on available methods and configuration options, visit the Mobile SDK reference.
Congratulations! You’ve successfully completed the Mobile SDK setup guide.
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!