All 7 Push Notifications in Flutter (FCM) questions
More in Push Notifications in Flutter (FCM)
How do you properly request notification permission from a user, and what genuinely differs between how Android and iOS each respectively handle this specific particular permission request? How should you properly handle a push notification differently depending on whether your app is currently genuinely running in the foreground, running in the background, or completely fully terminated? How do you properly implement topic based messaging in FCM, letting you send a genuinely single targeted notification to every single device that has actually genuinely subscribed to a specific particular topic? How can you properly customize the actual visual appearance of a displayed notification, such as adding a genuinely custom sound, a specific image, or genuinely custom action buttons, using local notifications combined with FCM data messages? How should a backend server properly and securely send targeted push notifications through FCM using the Firebase Admin SDK, rather than relying purely on manually sending them directly through the Firebase console? How can you properly implement a genuinely comprehensive notification analytics strategy, tracking specific delivery rates, open rates, and overall genuine user engagement with your app's own sent push notifications?
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Flutter › Push Notifications in Flutter (FCM)

What is Firebase Cloud Messaging, and how does it let you actually send genuine push notifications to a Flutter app running on a user's own device?

Beginner

Answer

Firebase Cloud Messaging, commonly abbreviated as FCM, is Google's own genuinely free cross platform messaging service specifically for sending push notifications and other data messages directly to an app running on a user's own device, and integrating it involves properly setting up the firebase_messaging Flutter package, obtaining a genuinely unique device token for each specific individual installed device, and then using either the Firebase console or your own backend server to actually send a targeted notification directly to that particular specific device using that same unique token.
final fcmToken = await FirebaseMessaging.instance.getToken();
// Send this token to your own backend to properly target this specific device
Real-world example A news app uses Firebase Cloud Messaging to send a breaking news push notification directly to every single one of their subscribed users' own devices, alerting them genuinely instantly the moment a significant story is actually published.

Common follow-ups: What genuinely happens to a device's own FCM token if a user actually reinstalls the app?;What is the specific practical difference between a notification message and a genuinely separate data message in FCM?

Firebase Authentication in Flutter;Networking with HTTP & Dio
All 7 Push Notifications in Flutter (FCM) questions