You have an app, a new Idea, a new Update. You wonder how will you deliver them to the right user? Google won’t leave you alone in the desert without showing you the way. No, I don’t mean Google Maps. Google introduced Firebase Cloud Messaging which is a free tool/ platform that will help you send Web Push Notifications.

Let me tell you more.

What is Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM)?

Firebase Cloud Messaging Platform (formerly named GCM) is a free mobile notification service by Google that enables (third-party) app developers to send notifications from GCM (Google Cloud Messaging) servers to their users.

It will give you the luxury to inform your user in real-time about the new email or other data available for sync. It works on the principle of down streaming messages from FCM servers to the user’s app and upstream messages from the user’s apps to FCM servers. Firebase comes with a lot of new features along with the GCM infrastructure.

Set up Firebase and the FCM SDK

1. If you haven’t already, add Firebase to your Android project.
2. In your project-level build.gradle file, make sure to include Google’s Maven repository in both your buildscript and allprojects sections.
3. Add the dependency for the Cloud Messaging Android library to your module (app-level) Gradle file (usually app/build.gradle):

The Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) solution from Google gives you the ability to reliably send notifications and data messages to clients. In this course, discover how to get started with FCM, and learn how to integrate this powerful cross-platform solution into your Android apps. Instructor Joe Marini begins by going over basic FCM concepts, and demonstrating how to add Firebase to an Android client app. He then shows how to send your first message via the Firebase console, and how your app can handle these messages. Plus, learn about sending messages from your app server, topic messaging, and more.