Feature: Notifications & Push Notifications

[codewithtyler]

Are there any plans to add the GitHub notifications (and push notifications)? I'd love to be able to clear my notifications right from my phone.

[jonan]

Notifications are planned, in fact, it's the next big feature I want to add, but unfortunately, push notifications are not possible. I might try some kind of pull notification system.

[codewithtyler]

Would it be possible to get a status update on this? I'd love to get my notifications straight to my phone and be able to clear them without opening the browser.

[jonan]

Unfortunately there's no real status update, I could give you the exact same answer again.

It's still the next big feature to be added, but my time is limited, so I don't really know when it'll be ready.

[tajnymag]

+1

[NHellFire]

Push notifications are possible, but it'd require having a server to update everyone's notifications and push the new ones with GCM.

[digitalcraftsman]

Alternatively, would it be possible for a client to check Github API in a certain time interval (without beeing rate-limited)? The push notification might not appear instantly, but it's a way to enable this feature without an extra server.

[rugk]

IMHO push notifications ate not that important for now. For me it is much more important to have the notification area, so I can check and clear the notifications on my phone.

[0xf10e]

Especially clearing notifications would be a nice feature to have, +1

[jonan]

Notifications are working already and will be available in the next release, hopefully this weekend.

[eljulians]

Glad to see that it's already fixed; I was looking a minute ago for notification configuration in the app but I have not found it.

[codewithtyler]

@jonan At the moment its a bit hard to tell which are new notifications and which were already there. It'd be nice if each notification included a time for when it was received. (i.e. 1 hour ago, 15 hours ago, 2 days ago, etc.)

[jonan]

@RandomlyKnighted I've just made a few visual changes to the notifications to better distinguish read from unread. I'm still experimenting with the UI, but hope this helps :wink:

[codewithtyler]

@jonan thanks I'll check it out after the next update

[moriel5]

Can you please not use GCM? noGAPPS users, such myself won't get any notifications that way. XDA Labs utilizes MQTT, and there is a service called ownPush, one of these may help you instead.

[rugk]

At least make it optional, e.g. offer pull notifications (for users without GCM) and push notifications through GCM.

[jensck]

As someone who values his battery life, please do use GCM.

Making it optional would be a nice accommodation, but please don't prioritize a tiny but vocal percentage of users over the overwhelming majority who have have GCM available.

[moriel5]

Actually using GCM is a bad idea for battery life, not because of itself, but rather because of the Play Services which it utilizes.

XDA Labs uses MQTT, and the way it is set up, it uses much less battery than using GCM ever could.

Also, using GCM is frowned upon at F-Droid, where some people download ForkHub, so ForkHub's reputation will recieve a slight blow if it will go the GCM route.

If ForkHub will utilize GCM, I personally am in favor of it being optional, with something like MQTT used as a replacement on a noGAPPS setup.

Another option (if it does not put too much strain, or take too much time) is to make the F-Droid variant utilize a GCM replacement, while the Play Store variant will utilize GCM.

[jonan]

@moriel5 @jensck @rugk Actually, push notifications are not an option, as there is no way for me to send them. My intention is to implement configurable pull notifications, but I can't give you an ETA.

[rugk]

Okay, so in this case we do not even have to discuss about GCM… 😆

Only about battery usage, probably.

[moriel5]

Thanks for the information, don't worry, I can wait. In that case, battery life should not be an issue for me, as I strictly regulate my installed apps' usage.