Mobile Messaging Push Notifications
The cluster discusses how messaging apps like Signal handle notifications and offline message delivery on mobile devices using push services such as Google FCM/GCM and Apple Push instead of persistent connections to conserve battery and manage connectivity issues.
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On mobile you want messages to come through without each app maintaining a connection.
Just like Apple Push or Google FCM. How would that work otherwise if not with an idle connection? :)
Signal uses gcm to push to the phone thus waking it so it can download any messages. Not sure about the others though.
Not getting messages when I'm offline is a feature.
I guess they don't want the app to hold open connections to every site (some people have solved the C1M problem but some haven't) and they probably want a server to buffer messages when the app is not running. You'd run into these same issues whether the notifications are received by Firefox or a different desktop app.
I assume it's because not every server (most notably: google's) support the XEP for offline messages, and having to always keep a connection to the remote server is mobile/battery-unfriendly.All these newfangled alternatives usually rely on the Google services' push notifications api afaik.
Or push notification support (which is the same, but basically the OS (Android/iOS) is the thing holding an open connection :) )
It uses Google Cloud Messaging. There needs to be a server in between and I believe GCM is free. Consider a situation where Bobs phone is switched off. Alice sends a message and turns off their phone. Now, Bob turns in their phone. How do we get the message Alice sent to Bob?
How does it manage the offline messages without a server?
Couldn't the intermediate conversation be stored and sent when there's connectivity?