Apple VoIP push notifications combined with QuickBlox SDK provide developers with powerful tools for providing real-time communication to users. Push notifications are an effective way to alert users of new information or events even when they are not actively using your app. They can be used to notify users of new content, updates, promotions, or other important information or to prompt users to re-engage with your app by offering new content, deals, or other incentives.
We provide a step-by-step guide to show you how to use VoIP push notifications with the QuickBlox SDK to integrate seamless communication functionality into your iOS application. Our tutorial will show you how to send VoIP notifications, subscribe to receive VoIP notifications, and respond to VoIP push notifications in your App.
Why add push notifications to your iOS app?
By adding push notifications to your iOS app, you can improve user engagement and increase the visibility of your app by delivering timely, relevant, and personalized messages directly to users. This can lead to increased retention, higher user satisfaction, and better conversion rates for your app.
Prerequisites
Before we get started, you first need to understand some of the tools and technologies you'll need to add powerful push notification functionality to your iOS app. This includes:
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
QuickBlox iOS SDK
CallKit
PushKit
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. The service allows users to place and receive calls using their Internet connection instead of a traditional phone line. Apple Push notifications for VoIP were first introduced in iOS 8 as a means for developers to deliver real-time information to users.
This functionality enables you to deliver alerts to app users even when their app is not open. A VoIP push notification, for example, might be used to notify a user of an incoming call or a new message.
QuickBlox Push Notifications SDK
QuickBlox is a cloud communication platform that provides APIs and SDKs for real-time communication functionality. The QuickBlox iOS SDK is a set of tools and libraries that allow developers to add these communication features to their iOS apps. The SDK includes features such as real-time messaging, group chat, 1-to-1 video calls, file transfer, and push notifications. Using the QuickBlox SDK allows you to send branded reminders to users. Plus we provide detailed documentation to explain everything you need to know.
The iOS SDK is designed to simplify the process of integrating push notifications into an iOS app, allowing developers to focus on building their app instead of spending time and resources on creating a communication infrastructure from scratch.
To use the SDK, you first need to register for a free QuickBlox Admin Account
PushKit
To use VoIP and the QuickBlox SDK, we need PushKit to handle incoming calls on user devices.
PushKit is a framework in iOS that provides a way for apps to receive push notifications. It is built on top of the existing Apple Push Notification service. Unlike regular push notifications, which are delivered when the app is in the background or not running, PushKit notifications are intended for apps that provide VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services, such as audio or video calls.
PushKit notifications are more reliable and immediate than regular push notifications, as they bypass the push notification server and are delivered directly to the device. This ensures that VoIP apps receive push notifications quickly and without any delay, even when the device is in a low-power state.
PushKit also provides additional functionality, such as the ability to play a sound or vibrate the device when a push notification is received, and the ability to access the device's microphone and speaker even when the app is in the background.
PushKit will be used to handle incoming calls on user devices in our tutorial. To activate PushKit notifications, you must register your app’s supported Push types to send notifications to users.
CallKit
In addition to Pushkit, we'll use CallKit to create a calling interface for our application.
CallKit is a framework in iOS that provides a standard interface for making and receiving VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) calls. It is designed to integrate VoIP calls into the system’s native phone app and experience, giving users a familiar and seamless way to make and receive calls.
CallKit makes it easy for developers to integrate VoIP functionality into their iOS apps, allowing users to make and receive calls directly from their app, without having to switch to a different app or screen. This helps to improve the user experience and provides a more integrated and streamlined way to make and receive VoIP calls.
CallKit provides a great user experience and a more typical Apple interface that makes your application the look and feel of a native app. CallKit ensures seamless integration between apps that provide call-related services on a user's device, and respects features like Do Not Disturb.
Tutorial
Are you ready to add push notifications to your iOS app?
Check out our tutorial Using Apple VoIP Push Notifications with QuickBlox SDK.
The tutorial guides you through configuring the app’s CallKit provider object, which manages the display for incoming and outgoing calls.
You’ll learn how to create and configure VoIP call events, and create a PKPushRegistry and QBMSubscription object to subscribe to Quickblox's server for VoIP push notifications.
The last part of the tutorial shows how to respond to VoIP push notifications.
What’s next?
You can fully customize this implementation to add more calling functionality to your application to suit your specific use case. Visit these repositories: Obj-C VideoChat WebRTC Sample and Swift VideoChat WebRTC Sample to download the complete code base for handling VoIP notifications.
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