Is there any issue delivering notifications through GCM/FCM to devices based in China

Question

We have a global mobile app with push notifications and we are planning to use GCM/FCM service for push notifications. As I understand, Google and playstore is blocked in China, is there any restrictions / block on GCM as well?

Will the push notifications sent using GCM be delivered to mobile devices in China?

Kedar

Answer 1

FCM is not blocked by censorship. It works in Mainland China if a device has Google Play Service running. The reason that FCM doesn't work in Mainland China is that most Android Phones sold in Mainland China has nothing of Google Play Service. Therefore, if you travel to China with an Phone bought in US, FCM works fine.

Answer 2

The Answer is No. Unfortunately Google notifications are banned in China, as you already know so any notification will be blocked.

We had the same issue with an application and we ended up implementing an hybrid solution with Google notifications and another service called Pushy.Me which use a different technology.

Answer 3

That's correct, due to China's ban on Google products (which includes Firebase Cloud Messaging) push notifications sent via traditional push SDKs will not deliver to Android devicesin China.

However, hybrid mobile engagement platforms such as that of OpenBack use edge computing to process data on individual devices, with no need to send data to a third-party cloud server. In this default mode, data is only transmitted between the device and the app backend, meaning it is fully compatible with China's firewall, as well as local data privacy laws.

If you would like some more information, you can check out this blog post: Accessing China's Mobile App Market: Overcoming the FCM Firewall

[Disclaimer: I am the blog manager for OpenBack.]

Best,

Anna