mirror of https://github.com/zulip/zulip.git
102 lines
4.7 KiB
Markdown
102 lines
4.7 KiB
Markdown
# Mobile push notification service
|
|
|
|
Zulip's iOS and Android mobile apps support receiving push
|
|
notifications from Zulip servers to let users know when new messages
|
|
have arrived. This is an important feature to having a great
|
|
experience using the Zulip mobile apps.
|
|
|
|
For technical reasons (explained below), in order to deliver mobile
|
|
push notifications in the app store versions of our mobile apps, you
|
|
will need to register your Zulip server with the Zulip mobile push
|
|
notification service. This service will forward push notifications
|
|
generated by your server to the Zulip mobile app automatically.
|
|
|
|
## How to sign up
|
|
|
|
Starting with Zulip 1.6 for both Android and iOS, Zulip servers
|
|
support forwarding push notifications to a central push notification
|
|
forwarding service. You can enable this for your Zulip server as
|
|
follows:
|
|
|
|
1. First, contact support@zulipchat.com with the `zulip_org_id` and
|
|
`zulip_org_key` values from your `/etc/zulip/zulip-secrets.conf` file, as
|
|
well as a hostname and contact email address you'd like us to use in case
|
|
of any issues (we hope to have a nice web flow available for this soon).
|
|
|
|
2. We'll enable push notifications for your server on our end. Look for a
|
|
reply from Zulipchat support within 24 hours.
|
|
|
|
3. Uncomment the `PUSH_NOTIFICATION_BOUNCER_URL = "https://push.zulipchat.com"`
|
|
line in your `/etc/zulip/settings.py` file, and
|
|
[restart your Zulip server](../production/maintain-secure-upgrade.html#updating-settings).
|
|
Note that if you installed Zulip older than 1.6, you'll need to add
|
|
the line (it won't be there to uncomment).
|
|
|
|
That should be all you need to do!
|
|
|
|
If you'd like to verify the full pipeline, you can do the following.
|
|
Please follow the instructions carefully:
|
|
|
|
* [Configure mobile push notifications to always be sent][notification-settings]
|
|
(normally they're only sent if you're idle, which isn't ideal for
|
|
this sort of testing).
|
|
* On an Android device, download and login to the
|
|
[Zulip Android app](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zulipmobile).
|
|
If you were already logged in before configuring the server, you'll
|
|
need to logout first, since the app only registers for push
|
|
notifications on login.
|
|
* Hit the home button, so Zulip is running in the background, and then
|
|
have **another user** send you a **private message** (By default,
|
|
Zulip only sends push notifications for private messages sent by other
|
|
users and messages mentioning you). A push notification should appear
|
|
in the Android notification area.
|
|
|
|
[notification-settings]: https://zulipchat.com/help/configure-mobile-notifications
|
|
|
|
Note that use of the push notification bouncer is subject to the
|
|
[Zulipchat Terms of Service](https://zulipchat.com/terms/). By using push
|
|
notifications, you agree to those terms.
|
|
|
|
## Why this is necessary
|
|
|
|
Both Google's and Apple's push notification services have a security
|
|
model that does not support mutually untrusted self-hosted servers
|
|
sending push notifications to the same app. In particular, when an
|
|
app is published to their respective app stores, one must compile into
|
|
the app a secret corresponding to the server that will be able to
|
|
publish push notifications for the app. This means that it is
|
|
impossible for a single app in their stores to receive push
|
|
notifications from multiple, mutually untrusted, servers.
|
|
|
|
Zulip's solution to this problem is to provide a central push
|
|
notification forwarding service, which allows registered Zulip servers
|
|
to send push notifications to the Zulip app indirectly (through the
|
|
forwarding service).
|
|
|
|
## Security and privacy implications
|
|
|
|
We've designed this push notification bouncer service with security
|
|
and privacy in mind:
|
|
|
|
* All of the network requests (both from Zulip servers to the Push
|
|
Notification Service and from the Push Notification Service to the
|
|
relevant Google and Apple services) are encrypted over the wire with
|
|
SSL/TLS.
|
|
* The code for the push notification forwarding service is 100% open
|
|
source and available as part of the
|
|
[Zulip server project on GitHub](https://github.com/zulip/zulip).
|
|
The Push Notification Service is designed to avoid any message
|
|
content being stored or logged, even in error cases.
|
|
* The push notification forwarding servers are professionally managed
|
|
by a small team of security experts.
|
|
* There's a `PUSH_NOTIFICATION_REDACT_CONTENT` setting available to
|
|
disable any message content being sent via the push notification
|
|
bouncer (i.e. message content will be replaced with
|
|
`***REDACTED***`). Note that this setting makes push notifications
|
|
significantly less usable. We plan to
|
|
[replace this feature with end-to-end encryption](https://github.com/zulip/zulip/issues/6954)
|
|
which would eliminate that usability tradeoff.
|
|
|
|
If you have any questions about the security model, contact
|
|
support@zulipchat.com.
|