Images & Rich Media

Adding images and additional media to push notifications.

This guide details push notification images for mobile apps.

Mobile App Images

There are 2 types of images on notifications:

  1. Icons: smaller images that are generally used for brand recognition. iOS icons are set automatically based on the app's icon. Android supports large and small icons which can be updated. See Android Notification Icons for details.
  2. Big Picture: Large mobile push images that may look small in the "collapsed view" and will display fully in the "expanded view" of the notification; generally when you long-press or swipe to view.

Images can be added to push using the Dashboard or API Image Parameters.

Recommended Image Details

The recommended image is a jpg filetype with 2:1 aspect ratio landscape, size 512x256px or 1440x720px.

iOSAndroid
FiletypesRecommended: jpg

jpeg, png, gif
Recommended:jpg

jpeg, png, gif*
ResolutionRecommended: 2:1 aspect ratio landscape

Common sizes:
512x256px
1440x720px

Max Width: 4096 pixels
Min Width: 300 pixels
Recommended: 2:1 aspect ratio landscape

Common sizes:
512x256px
1440x720px

Max Width: 2000 pixels
Min Width: 300 pixels
OneSignal API Parameterios_attachmentsbig_picture
  • gif image animations not supported on Android mobile apps.
  • Adding Action Buttons may affect image sizes, please try testing on your devices to make sure the layout fits your needs.
  • Android 4.1+ and iOS 10+ supports large images.
  • For troubleshooting, see Notification Images Not Showing.

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Push Media Upload Limitations

OneSignal has a 5MB limit on images you upload to our server and does not support uploading video or audio media.

OneSignal only stores images uploaded to our servers for 33 days from the time it was uploaded.

If you duplicate or use a draft message with an image uploaded longer than 33 days, you will need to re-upload the image.

If you need the image for longer, you can use templates or store the image on your own servers and reference the resource URL directly.


Rich Notifications

Apple introduced the concept of Rich Notifications in iOS 10, which allow deeper interaction with your app from the notification itself. These are great for short interactions that do not require the full app experience, and represent the growing importance of notifications to an app's user experience.

Rich notifications side-step the process of tapping a notification, unlocking the phone, waiting for the app to load, and then interacting with the app, by creating opportunities for short interactions within the notification itself.

At a technical level, there are two types of rich notifications: content extensions and media attachments.

Content Extensions

Content extensions allow developers to add custom views of their app within a notification. For instance, this notification lets the user view the relevant details of their calendar when responding to a meeting invite.

See iOS Image Carousel Push Notifications for example.

Media Attachments

Media attachments allow developers to attach URLs to relevant content. This is great for live events, photo tagging, and game updates, as well as all sorts of other visual content. Pictures speak a thousand words, and video more so, and with media attachments its never been easier to transport users into another place at the touch of a button. In the following example, a travel app could prompt users with visuals of a wonderful destination.

Supported media formats

Media formats supported by iOS 10+.

Make sure the hosted image, video or audio is a direct link to the resource. If it does not end in a correct file extension (listed File Type's below), you can add for example &file=type.mp4 (use your resource's correct .file_extension) to the end of the url so our SDK recognizes this as a media url.

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Media Uploads

OneSignal has a 5MB limit on images you upload to our server and does not support uploading video or audio media.

You would need to host the video or larger image files on your own servers and include the URL to the resource.

AttachmentFile TypeMax Size
Audioaif / aiff5MB
Audiowav5MB
AudioMP35MB
Audio/VideoMP45MB
ImageJPEG10MB
ImageGIF10MB
ImagePNG10MB
VideoMPEG50MB
VideoMPEG250MB
VideoMPEG450MB
VideoAVI50MB

Mobile Push Image Troubleshooting

See Notification Images Not Showing Troubleshooting guide.