Silent push

Silent push notifications allow us to remotely request a fresh location from a user. Radar supports requesting these locations through an API endpoint, starting with iOS and Android SDK version 3.24.0.

There are two types of silent push notifications that can be sent to a device: regular app silent push and location service extension push.

App silent push can be used to wake the app to perform a track if the app is in the foreground or background. This can be used to restart tracking if tracking was stopped due to device memory or CPU resource constraints. However the silent push notification will not work if the app has been manually killed by the user.

Location extension service can be used to request a location for devices even if the app was manually terminated. The app will wake for ~30 seconds to respond to the request and perform a track request with a fresh location. The location extension service acts as a separate app, so it can only restart continuous tracking for 30 seconds before the extension is shutdown.

Radar dashboard setup

Obtain an encryption key for APN (Apple push notification).

Navigate to Settings tab, and enable push notifications.

Then enter in the app’s bundle ID, team ID, key ID, and key for iOS. Enter the project ID, client email, and private key for Android. Then save the settings.

Your private key should begin and end with -----BEGIN/END PRIVATE KEY-----, include this in your key.

Build configuration

Native iOS and Android

For iOS, Add the “Push Notifications” app capabilities, and turn on “Remote notifications” in the “Background Modes” capability.

For Android, Add Firebase to your project and then generate a service account from the Firebase console. You’ll need the account details to send silent push notifications.

Add the following firebase messaging service configuration to your project

<manifest>
    ...
    <application>
        ...
        <service android:name="io.radar.sdk.RadarFirebaseMessagingService"
            android:exported="false">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="com.google.firebase.MESSAGING_EVENT" />
            </intent-filter>
        </service>
    </application>
</manifest>

Add firebase messaging dependency to gradle

dependencies {
    ...
    implementation platform('com.google.firebase:firebase-bom:34.5.0')
    implementation "com.google.firebase:firebase-messaging"
}

React Native

The Android manifest service entry and Gradle dependencies above are for native Android projects only. For React Native, the react-native-radar package automatically registers RadarFirebaseMessagingService in your AndroidManifest.xml.

For iOS, add "remote-notification" to UIBackgroundModes in your Info.plist. If using Expo, add it to app.json:

{
  "expo": {
    "ios": {
      "infoPlist": {
        "UIBackgroundModes": ["remote-notification"]
      }
    }
  }
}

Add the “Push Notifications” capability in Xcode under Signing & Capabilities.

For Android, install @react-native-firebase/messaging and ensure you have added Firebase to your Android project with the google-services plugin applied:

npm install --save @react-native-firebase/app @react-native-firebase/messaging

For location extension service support (iOS), see Location extension service setup.

App setup (automated setup)

Initialize Radar with RadarInitializeOptions.silentPush = true.

Swift

import RadarSDK

@UIApplicationMain
class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {

    func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
        // initialization Radar with the silent push option
        let radarInitializeOptions = RadarInitializeOptions()
        radarInitializeOptions.silentPush = true
        Radar.initialize(publishableKey: "prj_test_pk_...", options: radarInitializeOptions)

        return true
    }

}

On iOS, silentPush: true handles push token registration automatically. On Android, you must also pass the FCM token to Radar via Radar.setPushNotificationToken().

Manual setup

Initialize Radar, register for silent push notifications and pass the push token to Radar.

Swift

import UIKit
import RadarSDK

@UIApplicationMain
class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {
    func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
        // initialize Radar, silent push option defaults to false
        Radar.initialize(publishableKey: "prj_test_pk_...")

        application.registerForRemoteNotifications()

        return true
    }

    func application(_ application: UIApplication, didReceiveRemoteNotification userInfo: [AnyHashable : Any]) async -> UIBackgroundFetchResult {
        await Radar.didReceivePushNotificationPayload(userInfo)
        return .newData
    }
}

Location extension service setup (iOS only)

The location extension service requires a native CLLocationPushServiceExtension target, an app group shared between the main app and the extension, and the com.apple.developer.location.push entitlement on both targets.

Build configuration

Add the following capabilities to both the main app target and the location push extension target:

• App Groups — use a shared group (e.g., group.yourApp.data)
• Push Notifications

Add the com.apple.developer.location.push entitlement to both targets.

For React Native with Expo, you can configure this in app.json:

{
  "expo": {
    "ios": {
      "entitlements": {
        "com.apple.security.application-groups": ["group.yourApp.data"],
        "com.apple.developer.location.push": true
      }
    }
  }
}

The location push extension is a native iOS target and must be created in Xcode (or with a tool like @bacons/apple-targets for Expo). The extension target needs the RadarSDK pod, CoreLocation framework, and the same App Group and com.apple.developer.location.push entitlements.

Main app setup

Initialize Radar, set the app group, and start monitoring for location extension pushes.

Swift

import UIKit
import RadarSDK

@UIApplicationMain
class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {

    let locationManager = CLLocationManager()

    func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
        let radarInitializeOptions = RadarInitializeOptions()
        radarInitializeOptions.silentPush = true // (or true if you only want location extension)
        Radar.initialize(publishableKey: "prj_test_pk_...", options: radarInitializeOptions)
        Radar.setAppGroup("group.yourApp.data")

        locationManager.startMonitoringLocationPushes() { data, error in
            Radar.setLocationExtensionToken(data?.map { String(format: "%02x", $0) }.joined())
        }

        return true
    }
}

CLLocationManager.startMonitoringLocationPushes() is not exposed by the React Native SDK. You need to bridge this call natively using either a custom Expo Module, a React Native native module, or by calling it from your AppDelegate. Once you have the token, pass it to Radar from JavaScript:

React Native

Radar.setLocationExtensionToken(token);

Extension setup

Create a CLLocationPushServiceExtension target. When a location payload is received, initialize Radar using the shared app group and pass the payload to the SDK.

Swift

import CoreLocation
import RadarSDK

class LocationPushService: NSObject, CLLocationPushServiceExtension {
    func didReceiveLocationPushPayload(_ payload: [String : Any], completion: @escaping () -> Void) {
        Radar.initialize(withAppGroup: "group.yourApp.data")
        Radar.didReceivePushNotificationPayload(payload, completionHandler: completion)
    }
}

This extension code is the same whether your main app is native Swift or React Native.

Usage

Silent push or location extension push notifications can be triggered by sending a POST API request to the /users/refresh endpoint. See the API reference for full details.

iOS Environments

APNs operate in two separate environments for production and non-production app builds. When using the live Radar environment, Radar sends silent push notifications to the production APN environment, and when using the test Radar environment, Radar sends silent push notifications to the non-production environment.

When using the live Radar environment, your device must be in a production build, and vice versa. You will receive “BadDeviceToken” if there is a mismatch.