Notification Resource

We are no longer allowing customers to onboard to Notify. We intend to deprecate the Notify product on April 25, 2024. Learn more in our Notify API End of Life Notice. We prepared this Transition Guide to assist in supporting your push notification use cases.

The Notification resource sends a notification to existing Bindings or a list of addresses.

You can notify users over these channels:

APNS for iOS devices
FCM for Android devices
SMS and MMS

Make sure you have consent from users before storing their device's address.

It’s a good practice to obtain your end users’ consent before you send them messages and some jurisdictions might require it by law.

We recommend that you consult with your legal counsel to make sure that your communications comply with all applicable laws.

To make sure your messages reach the right people, you should make sure that they have given you their consent to send them messages and that their contact information is current.

Check out the Twilio Marketplace for Add-ons from our partners that can help you keep your database up to date.

Notification properties

Resource Properties in REST API format
`sid`	sid<NT> Not PII The unique string that we created to identify the Notification resource.
`account_sid`	sid<AC> Not PII The SID of the Account that created the Notification resource.
`service_sid`	sid<IS> Not PII The SID of the Service the resource is associated with.
`date_created`	date_time<iso8601> Not PII The date and time in GMT when the resource was created specified in RFC 2822 format.
`identities`	string[] PII MTL: 120 DAYS The list of `identity` values of the Users to notify. We will attempt to deliver notifications only to Bindings with an identity in this list.
`tags`	string[] PII MTL: 120 DAYS The tags that select the Bindings to notify. Notifications will be attempted only to Bindings that have all of the tags listed in this property.
`segments`	string[] Not PII The list of Segments to notify. The Segment resource is deprecated. Use the `tags` property, instead.
`priority`	enum:priority Not PII The priority of the notification. Can be: `low` or `high` and the default is `high`. A value of `low` optimizes the client app's battery consumption; however, notifications may be delivered with unspecified delay. For FCM and GCM, `low` priority is the same as `Normal` priority. For APNS `low` priority is the same as `5`. A value of `high` sends the notification immediately, and can wake up a sleeping device. For FCM and GCM, `high` is the same as `High` priority. For APNS, `high` is a priority `10`. SMS does not support this property.
`ttl`	integer Not PII How long, in seconds, the notification is valid. Can be an integer between 0 and 2,419,200, which is 4 weeks, the default and the maximum supported time to live (TTL). Delivery should be attempted if the device is offline until the TTL elapses. Zero means that the notification delivery is attempted immediately, only once, and is not stored for future delivery. SMS does not support this property.
`title`	string Not PII The notification title. For FCM and GCM, this translates to the `data.twi_title` value. For APNS, this translates to the `aps.alert.title` value. SMS does not support this property. This field is not visible on iOS phones and tablets but appears on Apple Watch and Android devices.
`body`	string PII MTL: 0 DAYS The notification text. For FCM and GCM, translates to `data.twi_body`. For APNS, translates to `aps.alert.body`. For SMS, translates to `body`. SMS requires either this `body` value, or `media_urls` attribute defined in the `sms` parameter of the notification.
`sound`	string Not PII The name of the sound to be played for the notification. For FCM and GCM, this Translates to `data.twi_sound`. For APNS, this translates to `aps.sound`. SMS does not support this property.
`action`	string Not PII The actions to display for the notification. For APNS, translates to the `aps.category` value. For GCM, translates to the `data.twi_action` value. For SMS, this parameter is not supported and is omitted from deliveries to those channels.
`data`	object Not PII The custom key-value pairs of the notification's payload. For FCM and GCM, this value translates to `data` in the FCM and GCM payloads. FCM and GCM reserve certain keys that cannot be used in those channels. For APNS, attributes of `data` are inserted into the APNS payload as custom properties outside of the `aps` dictionary. In all channels, we reserve keys that start with `twi_` for future use. Custom keys that start with `twi_` are not allowed and are rejected as 400 Bad request with no delivery attempted. For SMS, this parameter is not supported and is omitted from deliveries to those channels.
`apn`	object Not PII The APNS-specific payload that overrides corresponding attributes in the generic payload for APNS Bindings. This property maps to the APNS `Payload` item, therefore the `aps` key must be used to change standard attributes. Adds custom key-value pairs to the root of the dictionary. See the APNS documentation for more details. We reserve keys that start with `twi_` for future use. Custom keys that start with `twi_` are not allowed.
`gcm`	object Not PII The GCM-specific payload that overrides corresponding attributes in the generic payload for GCM Bindings. This property maps to the root JSON dictionary. Target parameters `to`, `registration_ids`, and `notification_key` are not allowed. We reserve keys that start with `twi_` for future use. Custom keys that start with `twi_` are not allowed.
`fcm`	object Not PII The FCM-specific payload that overrides corresponding attributes in the generic payload for FCM Bindings. This property maps to the root JSON dictionary. See the FCM documentation for more details. Target parameters `to`, `registration_ids`, `condition`, and `notification_key` are not allowed in this parameter. We reserve keys that start with `twi_` for future use. Custom keys that start with `twi_` are not allowed. FCM also reserves certain keys, which cannot be used in that channel.
`sms`	object Not PII The SMS-specific payload that overrides corresponding attributes in the generic payload for SMS Bindings. Each attribute in this value maps to the corresponding `form` parameter of the Twilio Message resource. These parameters of the Message resource are supported in snake case format: `body`, `media_urls`, `status_callback`, and `max_price`. The `status_callback` parameter overrides the corresponding parameter in the messaging service, if configured. The `media_urls` property expects a JSON array.
`facebook_messenger`	object Not PII Deprecated.
`alexa`	object Not PII Deprecated.

Create a Notification resource

post

https://notify.twilio.com/v1/Services/{ServiceSid}/Notifications

Creating a Notification resource sends a notification to existing Bindings or to addresses provided in the request.

Send a Notification to existing Bindings

Set Identity or Tag to specify the stored Bindings to notify. To notify all available stored Bindings, set Tag to all. If both Identity and Tag have values, only the Bindings that match both will be notified.

Example 1 shows how to send a notification to a Binding identified by its identity.
Example 2 shows how to send a notification to a Binding identified by its tags.
Example 3 shows how to send a notification to a Binding identified by its identity and its tags.

Send a Notification to Bindings in the request

Set ToBinding to the JSON object that defines the Bindings to notify.

Example 4 shows how to send a notification to Bindings defined in the request.

Send a Notification tailored to the specific channel

Define channel-specific features in the request to tailor the notification to the channel.

Example 5 below shows how to apply channel-specific features to customize the notification content to the channel.

Parameters

Parameters in REST API format
`service_sid` Path	post sid<IS> Not PII The SID of the Service to create the resource under.
`body` Optional	post string PII MTL: 0 DAYS The notification text. For FCM and GCM, translates to `data.twi_body`. For APNS, translates to `aps.alert.body`. For SMS, translates to `body`. SMS requires either this `body` value, or `media_urls` attribute defined in the `sms` parameter of the notification.
`priority` Optional	post enum:priority Not PII The priority of the notification. Can be: `low` or `high` and the default is `high`. A value of `low` optimizes the client app's battery consumption; however, notifications may be delivered with unspecified delay. For FCM and GCM, `low` priority is the same as `Normal` priority. For APNS `low` priority is the same as `5`. A value of `high` sends the notification immediately, and can wake up a sleeping device. For FCM and GCM, `high` is the same as `High` priority. For APNS, `high` is a priority `10`. SMS does not support this property.
`ttl` Optional	post integer Not PII How long, in seconds, the notification is valid. Can be an integer between 0 and 2,419,200, which is 4 weeks, the default and the maximum supported time to live (TTL). Delivery should be attempted if the device is offline until the TTL elapses. Zero means that the notification delivery is attempted immediately, only once, and is not stored for future delivery. SMS does not support this property.
`title` Optional	post string Not PII The notification title. For FCM and GCM, this translates to the `data.twi_title` value. For APNS, this translates to the `aps.alert.title` value. SMS does not support this property. This field is not visible on iOS phones and tablets but appears on Apple Watch and Android devices.
`sound` Optional	post string Not PII The name of the sound to be played for the notification. For FCM and GCM, this Translates to `data.twi_sound`. For APNS, this translates to `aps.sound`. SMS does not support this property.
`action` Optional	post string Not PII The actions to display for the notification. For APNS, translates to the `aps.category` value. For GCM, translates to the `data.twi_action` value. For SMS, this parameter is not supported and is omitted from deliveries to those channels.
`data` Optional	post object Not PII The custom key-value pairs of the notification's payload. For FCM and GCM, this value translates to `data` in the FCM and GCM payloads. FCM and GCM reserve certain keys that cannot be used in those channels. For APNS, attributes of `data` are inserted into the APNS payload as custom properties outside of the `aps` dictionary. In all channels, we reserve keys that start with `twi_` for future use. Custom keys that start with `twi_` are not allowed and are rejected as 400 Bad request with no delivery attempted. For SMS, this parameter is not supported and is omitted from deliveries to those channels.
`apn` Optional	post object Not PII The APNS-specific payload that overrides corresponding attributes in the generic payload for APNS Bindings. This property maps to the APNS `Payload` item, therefore the `aps` key must be used to change standard attributes. Adds custom key-value pairs to the root of the dictionary. See the APNS documentation for more details. We reserve keys that start with `twi_` for future use. Custom keys that start with `twi_` are not allowed.
`gcm` Optional	post object Not PII The GCM-specific payload that overrides corresponding attributes in the generic payload for GCM Bindings. This property maps to the root JSON dictionary. See the GCM documentation for more details. Target parameters `to`, `registration_ids`, and `notification_key` are not allowed. We reserve keys that start with `twi_` for future use. Custom keys that start with `twi_` are not allowed. GCM also reserves certain keys.
`sms` Optional	post object Not PII The SMS-specific payload that overrides corresponding attributes in the generic payload for SMS Bindings. Each attribute in this value maps to the corresponding `form` parameter of the Twilio Message resource. These parameters of the Message resource are supported in snake case format: `body`, `media_urls`, `status_callback`, and `max_price`. The `status_callback` parameter overrides the corresponding parameter in the messaging service, if configured. The `media_urls` property expects a JSON array.
`facebook_messenger` Optional	post object Not PII Deprecated.
`fcm` Optional	post object Not PII The FCM-specific payload that overrides corresponding attributes in the generic payload for FCM Bindings. This property maps to the root JSON dictionary. See the FCM documentation for more details. Target parameters `to`, `registration_ids`, `condition`, and `notification_key` are not allowed in this parameter. We reserve keys that start with `twi_` for future use. Custom keys that start with `twi_` are not allowed. FCM also reserves certain keys, which cannot be used in that channel.
`segment` Optional	post string[] Not PII The Segment resource is deprecated. Use the `tag` parameter, instead.
`alexa` Optional	post object Not PII Deprecated.
`to_binding` Optional	post string[] Not PII The destination address specified as a JSON string. Multiple `to_binding` parameters can be included but the total size of the request entity should not exceed 1MB. This is typically sufficient for 10,000 phone numbers.
`delivery_callback_url` Optional	post string Not PII URL to send webhooks.
`identity` Required if tag is not passed	post string[] Not PII The `identity` value that uniquely identifies the new resource's User within the Service. Delivery will be attempted only to Bindings with an Identity in this list. No more than 20 items are allowed in this list.
`tag` Required if identity is not passed	post string[] Not PII A tag that selects the Bindings to notify. Repeat this parameter to specify more than one tag, up to a total of 5 tags. The implicit tag `all` is available to notify all Bindings in a Service instance. Similarly, the implicit tags `apn`, `fcm`, `gcm`, `sms` and `facebook-messenger` are available to notify all Bindings in a specific channel.

Example 1

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Example JSON response

Send to an existing Binding identified by its Identity

Send a Notification to existing Bindings (Identity)

Send to an existing Binding identified by its Identity

Example 2

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Example JSON response

Send to an existing Binding identified by its Tag

Send a Notification to existing Bindings (Tag)

Send to an existing Binding identified by its Tag

Example 3

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Example JSON response

Send to existing Bindings identified by their Identity and Tags

Send a Notification to existing Bindings (Identity and Tag)

Send to existing Bindings identified by their Identity and Tags

You can send notifications to addresses without storing them by using the toBinding parameter. However, the total size of the request entity shouldn’t exceed 1MB. This is typically sufficient for 10,000 phone numbers.

Example 4

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Example JSON response

Create temporary Bindings in the request using the ToBinding attributes described below.

Send a Notification to Bindings in the request

Create temporary Bindings in the request using the ToBinding attributes described below.

There is a list of available keys for building notification messages for iOS and Android. You can pass any of the available keys for Apple or Google on the APNs or FCM parameters. You can also combine these (as well as the sms key) all in the same Notification API request, as shown in the Send custom notifications by channel code sample.

Example 5

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Example JSON response

Configure the notification by channel in the request

Send custom notifications by channel

Configure the notification by channel in the request

ToBinding attributes

Name Description

binding_type The channel to use. Possible values: sms, apn, fcm.

address

Name	Description
binding_type	The channel to use. Possible values: `sms`, `apn`, `fcm`.
address	The destination address. For SMS, it is the phone number in E.164 format. For APNS and FCM, it is the device or registration token.

The destination address.

For SMS, it is the phone number in E.164 format.

For APNS and FCM, it is the device or registration token.

Customize notification by channel

Notifications can be tailored to each notification channel to take advantage of channel-specific features or to customize the content to each channel.

The channel-specific payload of a notification can be provided by adding a parameter whose name is the BindingType and the value is the channel specific payload in a JSON object. Example 5 includes several such objects.

These channels support channel-specific payloads:

APNS
FCM
SMS

The channel-specific content specified in this parameter can add a new property for the channel or replace the value in an existing property, but it cannot remove a property.

Example 5 sends a notification to all Bindings with Identity 00000001. A generic Title is specified and will be used for sms binding and specifically for fcm and apn binding types a payload with title and body are also added, which will override the generic Title.

Unrecoverable channel errors

When the underlying notification channel indicates an unrecoverable error, it is usually because there's a problem with the Binding. To ensure your database contains only valid Bindings, we delete the Bindings that return unrecoverable errors.

The following errors are unrecoverable.

Channel	Error
APNS	APNS response status code 410 with error string "Unregistered"
APNS	Address in invalid format
FCM	Firebase response status code 200 + error:NotRegistered
FCM	Firebase response status code 200 + error:InvalidRegistration
FCM	Firebase response status code 200 + error:MismatchSenderId
SMS	21604 - 'To' phone number is blank

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Parameters

Example 1

Send a Notification to existing Bindings (Identity)

Example 2

Send a Notification to existing Bindings (Tag)

Example 3

Send a Notification to existing Bindings (Identity and Tag)

Example 4

Send a Notification to Bindings in the request

Example 5

Send custom notifications by channel

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