Message Reference

Feature and usage reference for Urban Airship Messages. See also: Message and Workflow Types.

Message Types and Combinations

Available message types and combinations per workflow and template types.

Workflows

Available message types and combinations per workflow type and their equivalent API endpoints.

  • Silent Push Notifications and Apple News Notifications cannot be combined with any other message types.
  • Upload Users (Create and Send in the API) can only be used with a single platform at a time.
Important

The message types you can combine are determined by the platforms you select.

  1. When you select both app (iOS, Android, Amazon) and non-app (Email, SMS, Open Channel) platforms, you cannot include Message Center.
  2. When you select Web in addition to any other platform, you cannot include In-App Message.
Workflow TypeMessage TypeAllowed Combinations
Message
  • Push Notification
  • Silent Push Notification
  • Web Push Notification
  • In-App Message
  • Message Center
  • SMS Notification
Any combination of:

  • Push Notification
  • In-App Message
  • Message Center

Any combination of:

  • Push Notification
  • In-App Message
  • Email Notification
  • SMS Notification

    Any combination of:

  • Push Notification
  • Web Push Notification
  • Email Notification
  • SMS Notification
    • A/B Test
    • Push Notification
    • In-App Message
    • Push Notification + In-App Message
    Automation
    • Push Notification
    • Silent Push Notification
    • Web Push Notification
    • In-App Message
    • Message Center
    		Any combination of:

    • Push Notification
    • In-App Message
    • Message Center
    In-App Automation
    • In-App Message
    		Not supported
    Apple News
    • Apple News Notification
    		Not supported

    Templates

    Available message types and combinations per template type.

    Template TypeMessage TypesAllowed Combinations
    Push
    • Push Notification
    • In-App Message
    • Push Notification + In-App Message
    Email
    • Email Notification
    		Not supported

    Workflows and Templates

    Available workflows and templates per message type and their equivalent API objects.

    Message TypeWorkflow TypesTemplate
    Push Notification
    • Message
    • A/B Test
    • Automation
    Silent Push Notification
    • Message
    • Automation
    Web Push Notification
    • Message
    • Automation
    In-App Message
    • Message
    • A/B Test
    • Automation
    • In-App Automation
    Message Center
    • Message
    • Automation
    Apple News Notification
    • Apple News
    Email Notification
    SMS Notification
    • Message

    Channels

    Available channels per workflow type and their equivalent API endpoints, and whether or not multiple channels can be combined for a single message.

    Workflow TypeChannelsMulti-channel
    Message
    • App
    • Web
    • SMS
    • Email
    • Open Channels
    		✓1
    A/B Test
    • App1
    Automation
    • App
    • Web
    		✓
    In-App Automation
    • App
    Apple News
    • Apple News app

    1 If Web is combined with App, the only available message type is Push Notification.

    Actions

    Actions apply to workflow types and their equivalent API endpoints.

    • The In-App Automation workflow has the same button actions available in every message.
    • The Apple News workflow does not have actions.

    Message and Automation

    Available message actions for the Message and Automation workflows, depending on selected message types. Combining all three message types gives you the same available actions as Push Notification + In-App Message.

    • In the Message workflow, when Web Browsers is the only selected audience platform, the only available actions will be Home, Adaptive Link, and Web Page.
    Message ActionAPI ObjectPush NotificationIn-App MessagePush Notification + In-App MessageMessage CenterPush Notification + Message CenterIn-App + Message Center
    Home✓✓
    Home Screen [combined]✓
    Message Center✓✓✓✓1✓2✓2
    Landing Page1open3✓✓✓✓✓
    Deep Linkopen4✓✓✓✓✓
    Adaptive Linkopen5✓✓✓✓✓
    Web Pageopen5✓✓✓✓✓
    Shareshare✓✓✓✓✓

    1 When Message Center is the only selected message type, the Actions dropdown menu is replaced by a Rich Page create button.
    2 When Message Center is combined with another message type, the Actions dropdown menu defaults to Message Center, but you may choose another action.
    3 With type attribute landing_page.
    4 With type attribute deep_link.
    5 With type attribute url.

    Web Notify

    When Web Browsers is the only selected audience platform, the only available actions will be Home, Adaptive Link, and Web Page.

    When combining a Web Push Notification with mobile app Push Notifications and In-App Messages, you may select from these Message Actions:

    • Home: Opens the app's home screen for mobile users. Home for web browsers is the default URL configured in the Web Notify setup.
    • Adaptive Link
    • Web Page
    • Landing Page
    • Deep Link

    Landing Page and Deep Link are for mobile app users only. When Web Browsers is an included platform and Deep Link or Landing Page is chosen as the message action, also enter a Web Page URL for your Web Notify audience.

    Rich Pages

    Rich Pages can be configured with buttons that perform these actions:

    • Deep Link
    • URL
    • Share

    See: Message Actions: Rich Pages.

    A/B Test

    Available message actions for the A/B Test workflow, depending on selected message types.

    • Push templates share the message types and actions. Exceptions are noted.
    • Message Center is not an available type for the A/B Test workflow or push templates.
    Message ActionPush NotificationIn-App MessagePush Notification + In-App Message
    Home✓
    Home Screen [combined]✓
    Message Center
    Landing Page1✓✓✓
    Deep Link✓✓✓
    Adaptive Link✓✓✓
    Web Page✓✓✓
    Share1✓✓✓

    1Not available in push templates.

    Configuration and Requirements

    Actions that do not require configuration, cannot be disabled from appearing in the dashboard, and do not have a minimum SDK:

    • Home
    • Home (combined)

    Actions that require configuration, can be disabled from appearing in the dashboard, and have a minimum SDK:

    • Message Center
    • Landing Page
    • Deep Link
    • Adaptive Link
    • Web Page (URL)

    The minimum SDK version is listed in Settings » Configuration » Composer, along with an enable/disable toggle. The Adaptive Link action is enabled via the UA Actions Framework.

    The Share action is an exception to these two lists. It requires configuration, cannot be disabled from appearing in the dashboard, and its minimum SDK is 4.0.

    Delivery

    Delivery applies to workflows and their equivalent API endpoints.

    • The In-App Automation workflow does not have delivery settings. The messages are instead stored on the user’s device then displayed according to the triggers you define.

    Equivalent API endpoints are noted.

    Workflow TypeImmediateScheduled1Optimal Time2During Available Window
    Message/push/schedules✓3
    A/B Test/experiments/experiments
    Automation/pipelines/pipelines4✓
    In-App Automation
    Apple News
    ✓5

    1 Scheduled messages must contain a schedule object.
    2 Optimal Time is one of our Predictive features. Please contact your Urban Airship Account Manager to purchase.
    3 In the API, Optimal Time uses the schedule specification best_time.
    4 See: Automation Timing below.
    5 If the selected story is still processing, it will send when the story is live.

    Automation Timing

    Workflow OptionAPI Object
    Delaydelay object with seconds attribute
    Scheduledate object with start and end attributes
    Send during available windowdate object with recent attribute

    Optional Delivery Features

    These apply to the workflow Optional Delivery Features only. Also refer to their entries in the API Platform Overrides documentation.

    Workflow OptionAPI Object
    Expirationexpiry
    Custom Keysextra
    Background Processing1content_available
    Mutable Content1mutable_content
    Group1thread_id
    Critical1critical
    Collapse Key (iOS)collapse_id
    Collapse Key (Amazon)consolidation_key
    Collapse Key (Android)collapse_key
    Delay While Idle2delay_while_idle
    Delivery Priority2delivery_priority
    Require Interaction3require_interaction

    1 iOS only.
    2 Android only.
    3 Web only.

    Display Format and Timing

    Delivery applies to message types and their equivalent API objects.

    Message TypeDisplay FormatDisplay Timing
    Push NotificationBannerUpon receipt.
    Silent Push NotificationNoneNot displayed.
    Web Push NotificationBannerUpon receipt, as long as the browser is open.
    In-App MessageBanner, modal, or fullscreenUpon opening the app.
    Message CenterFullscreenAvailable in the app's Message Center.
    Apple News NotificationBannerUpon receipt. If the selected story is still processing, it will send when the story is live.
    Email NotificationTemplate layout, HTML, or plain-textUpon opening the message.
    SMS NotificationTextUpon receipt.

    SDK Requirement

    Message TypeRequires SDK
    Push Notification✓
    Silent Push Notification✓
    Web Push Notification✓
    In-App Message✓
    Message Center✓
    Apple News Notification
    Email Notification
    SMS Notification

    API Equivalents

    Additional API equivalents are noted in the various tables in this document.

    Messages

    Message TypeAPI Object
    Push Notification"notification": {}
    Web Push Notification"notification": { "web": {}}
    In-App Message"in_app": {} 1
    Message Center"message": {}
    Apple News NotificationNot supported
    Email Notification"notification": { "email": {}}
    SMS Notification"notification": { "sms": {}}

    1 There is currently no server API for In-App Automation.

    Workflows

    Workflow TypeAPI Endpoint
    Message/push
    A/B Test/experiments
    Automation/pipelines
    In-App AutomationNot supported
    Apple NewsNot supported

    Optional Features

    These apply to the workflow Optional Message Features only. Also refer to their entries in the API Platform Overrides documentation.

    Workflow OptionAPI Object
    Buttonsinteractive
    Titletitle
    Summarysummary
    Media (iOS)media_attachment
    Media (Android and Amazon)style
    Badge1badge
    Sound1sound
    Notification category2notification_channel
    Icon3icon

    1 iOS only.
    2 Android only.
    3 Web only.

    In-App Automation

    In-App Automation is dashboard-only. See: Optional Message Features: In-App Automation.

    Workflow OptionAPI Object
    Specify start and end datesNot supported
    Display more than onceNot supported
    Message priorityNot supported