You can send notifications to your mobile app users from Messages. Finalsite's dual-platform mobile app comes with the capability to send push messages to your app users, if they sign up for it. Sending a push notification is handled through Messages. This article outlines the different ways you can send notifications to mobile app users from Messages.
Legacy Product
This article is for our 2019 Mobile App, which will be phased out in the near future due to the release of our New Mobile App.
Additional information about how current clients can upgrade will be sent soon.
- Browse to find more documentation in the 2024 New Mobile App section.
- To manage existing mobile app configurations, check out our articles in the 2019 Mobile App section.
In this Article
- Understand different message types
-
Step 1: Configure settings and permissions
- Step 2: App users can now manage their mobile app notifications
- Step 3: Push a message to mobile app users
Understand different message types
It's important to understand that the way notifications are sent to mobile app users depends upon the message type.
Promotional pushes to mobile app
Promotional messages are non-urgent, newsletter-type messages. Those receiving notifications on their mobile app will be recipients who are on a List that you choose in Messages when sending your promotional message.
- Recipients may subscribe themselves. See "Manage your subscriptions" to learn more.
- Recipients are added in a variety of other ways. See "Add recipients to a List" to learn more.
Important Note
For Promotional messages, only users on the selected list(s) will receive mobile app push notifications.
Important Announcement pushes to mobile app
Important announcement messages are urgent and emergency messages sent out. They behave a bit differently than promotional messages when it comes to sending push notifications to the mobile app. When selecting recipients for an Important Announcement message, recipients are selected from Groups which consist of the data living in Constituent Manager in each person's account profile.
- All mobile app users are automatically subscribed to receive notifications for Important Announcements.
- Selecting only a certain group will not override the fact that all mobile app users will still receive an Important Announcement.
Important Note
It doesn’t matter which group(s) are selected with regard to sending a notification to mobile app from an Important Announcement message send. All recipients belonging to a group will receive notifications from Important Announcements pushed to mobile app.
Step 1: Configure settings and permissions
Promotional Message settings
Configure List setting for Promotional Messages
- Navigate to Messages > Lists feature: Open up each list you'd like to make available for your mobile app users to subscribe to and configure List Settings > General tab. Learn more at "Configure List Settings."
- Check the Allow App Notifications checkbox. This checkbox makes the list show up on the Notifications area of the mobile app.
-
Privacy tab > Everyone or Constituents Only: Change to Everyone or Constituents Only, as appropriate. Your list can also be used as a regular email mailing list, simplifying your communications to those who would prefer emails or app notification alerts.
- Success! Now, these lists appear in the Notifications area of the mobile app. This is accessible via the More button in your toolbar.
Important Notes
- The Notifications link in the app only appears when you have have at least one mailing list with Mobile Notifications enabled.
- Users can enable the toggle next to any list from which they would like to receive notifications. The first time they select to receive notifications, they will receive a system message confirming this choice.
- Notifications for their selected lists will appear on the Notifications screen. Once they have signed up for notifications, they can manage their subscription settings using the gear icon on the Notifications screen or in the Settings section of their device.
Important Announcement Message settings
Configure Constituent and/or Group settings for Important Announcement messages
Remember, though, that all mobile app users will receive Important Announcement messages regardless of their notification settings.
Messages sending permissions
Confirm Messages permissions
In order to push messages to mobile app users, admin users must Global Messages permissions set at the Channel Selection level. Here's how:
- Confirm the admin user's level in Messages permissions > Global Level tab.
- Make a selection in the Channel Selection column. Learn more in the article, "Messages permissions" in the Global tab, by expanding out the Channel Selection accordion.
- Click the pencil next to each dropdown to configure the channels each admin user group can select to send messages to.
- Select Mobile App in the Channel Selection View Permission dropdown.
Step 2: App users can now manage their mobile app notifications
Once the list has been created with the Allow App Notifications option selected, notifications can be configured by the app user. The Notifications options in the app will only appear when you have have at least one mailing list with Allow App Notifications enabled.
Step 3: Push a message to mobile app users
Learn how to create a message that you can send out to mobile app users in the article, "Send messages from Messages and Messages XR" by skipping straight to the Include other channels section and clicking on the Mobile Apps accordion to expand out the directions.
Recipients will see the message as a notification on their device, and tapping it will take them to the Notifications section of the Mobile App. A log of messages sent to the list will be available from this screen.
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