Firebase Cloud Messaging not sending aps payload in correct format for iOS Notification Content & Service Extensions

Question

I'm trying to implement notifications using Firebase. The notification is received correctly when the app is in the background or foreground. So, the basic mechanics are working.

Now I've added Content Extensions and Service Extensions to the app. The Content Extension works when I use a local notification, but the Firebase message payload seems incorrect as far as the optional fields are considered. Here is a link to an image of my console:

And here is the Firebase remote notification payload that comes across (with some of the long Google numbers edited for anonymity:

{
    aps = 
    {
        alert = 
        {
        body = "Eureka! 11";
        title = "Patient is not doing well";
        };
    };
    category = provider-body-panel;
    gcm.message_id = 0:149073;
    gcm.n.e = 1;
    google.c.a.c_id = 2825604;
    google.c.a.e = 1;
    google.c.a.ts = 149073;
    google.c.a.udt = 0;
    mutable-content = 1;
}

It appears that the "category" and "mutable-content" are not in the correct place. They should be in the aps payload.

How can I get those options to be in the payload so that my app can correctly parse it and connect it with the Content and Service Extensions?

Answer 1

To start off, I'm going to mention that there are two types of message payloads for FCM. notification and data. See the documentation here

When sending notifications through the Firebase Notifications Console, it will be treated as a notification payload. However, if you add in Custom Data, it will add it in the payload as a custom key-value pair.

For example, in your post, the FCM payload should look something like this:

{
    "notification": {
        "body" : "Eureka!",
        "title": "Patient is not doing well"
    },

    "data": {
        "category": "provider-body-panel",
        "mutable-content" : true,
        "click_action" : "provider-body-panel"
    }
}

What's wrong?

• click_action should be inside notification.
• mutable-content should be mutable_content (notice the underscore) and should be on the same level as notification.
• (this one I might've misunderstood, but) There is no category parameter for FCM, click_action already corresponds to it.

See the docs for the parameters here.

It it is currently not possible to set the value for click_action and mutable_content when using the Firebase Notifications Console. You'll have to build the payload yourself, something like this:

{
    "to": "<REGISTRATION_TOKEN_HERE>",
    "mutable_content" : true,
    "notification": {
        "body" : "Eureka!",
        "title": "Patient is not doing well",
        "click_action" : "provider-body-panel"
    }
}

Then send it from your own App Server. You could also do this by using Postman or cURL