Help prepare for 2025 → Answer 8 simple questions on our Fall Survey
Open Survey

View on GitHub

@nativescript/local-notifications

Contents

Intro

NPM versionDownloads

A plugin that allows your app to show notifications when the app is not running. Just like remote push notifications, but a few orders of magnitude easier to set up.

Installation

Install the plugin by running the following command in the root directory of your project.

cli
npm install @nativescript/local-notifications

Use @nativescript/local-notifications

Note Advanced!

If on iOS 10+ notifications are not being received or the method addOnMessageReceivedCallback is not invoked, you can try wiring to the UNUserNotificationCenterDelegate

Import the plugin

To import the plugin, use either of the 2 ways below.

ts
// either
import { LocalNotifications } from '@nativescript/local-notifications'
// or (if that doesn't work for you)
import * as LocalNotifications from '@nativescript/local-notifications'

Request for permissions

By default, the schedule method prompts the user for permission for you. For a manual permission request, use the requestPermission method:

typescript
// then use it as:
LocalNotifications.requestPermission()

Schedule a notification

To schedule a notification, call the schedule method and pass it an array of notification objects. For a list of members of a notification object, see ScheduleOptions.

js
LocalNotifications.schedule([
  {
    id: 1, // generated id if not set
    title: 'The title',
    body: 'Recurs every minute until cancelled',
    ticker: 'The ticker',
    color: new Color('red'),
    badge: 1,
    groupedMessages: [
      'The first',
      'Second',
      'Keep going',
      'one more..',
      'OK Stop',
    ], //android only
    groupSummary: 'Summary of the grouped messages above', //android only
    ongoing: true, // makes the notification ongoing (Android only)
    icon: 'res://heart',
    image:
      'https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1200/1*c3cQvYJrVezv_Az0CoDcbA.jpeg',
    thumbnail: true,
    interval: { minute: 15 }, // repeat the notification every 15 minutes
    displayImmediately: true, // display the notification immediately when using a ScheduleIntervalObject
    channel: 'My Channel', // default: 'Channel'
    sound: isAndroid ? 'customsound' : 'customsound.wav',
    at: new Date(new Date().getTime() + 10 * 1000), // 10 seconds from now
  },
]).then(
  (scheduledIds) => {
    console.log('Notification id(s) scheduled: ' + JSON.stringify(scheduledIds))
  },
  (error) => {
    console.log('scheduling error: ' + error)
  }
)

Get the IDs of all the scheduled notifications

To get the IDs of all the scheduled notifications, call the getScheduledIds method:

ts
LocalNotifications.getScheduledIds().then((ids: number[]) => {
  console.log("ID's: " + ids)
})

Cancel a scheduled notification

To cancel a scheduled notification, use the cancel method.

ts
LocalNotifications.cancel(5).then((foundAndCanceled: boolean) => {
  if (foundAndCanceled) {
    console.log("OK, it's gone!")
  } else {
    console.log('No ID 5 was scheduled')
  }
})

Listen to a notification tap event

Tapping a notification in the notification center will launch your app.

On iOS it can even be triggered when your app is in the foreground and a notification is received.

To handle a notification tap, call the addMessageReceivedCallback method and pass it a callback function. The callback receives a notification object of type ReceivedNotification.

js
LocalNotifications.addOnMessageReceivedCallback((notification) => {
  console.log('ID: ' + notification.id)
  console.log('Title: ' + notification.title)
  console.log('Body: ' + notification.body)
}).then(() => {
  console.log('Listener added')
})

API

schedule()

ts
scheduledNotificationsIDs: Array<number> = await LocalNotifications.schedule(
  scheduleOptions
)

Schedules the specified scheduleOptions notification(s), if the user has granted the permission. If the user has not been prompted for permission, it prompts the user for permission and schedules the notification(s) if permission is granted. For a manual permission request, use the requestPermission method.


ScheduleOptions

| Property | Type | Description | | :-------------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | id | number | Optional: A unique notification identifier. Will be generated if not set. | | title | string | Optional: The title that is shown in the statusbar. | | subtitle | string | Optional: Shown below the title on iOS, and next to the App name on Android. Default not set. All android and iOS >= 10 only. | | body | string | Optional: The text below the title. If not provided, the subtitle or title (in this order or priority) will be swapped for it on iOS, as iOS won't display notifications without a body. Default not set on Android, ' ' on iOS, as otherwise the notification won't launch. | | color | string | Optional: (Android-only)Custom color for the notification icon and title that will be applied when the notification center is expanded. | | bigTextStyle | boolean | Optional: (Android-only)Allow more than 1 line of the body text to show in the notification centre. Mutually exclusive with image. Default false. | | groupedMessages | Array<string> | Optional: An array of at most 5 messages that would be displayed using android's notification inboxStyle. Note: The array would be trimmed from the top if the messages exceed five. Default not set . | | groupSummary | string | Optional: An inboxStyle notification summary. Default empty | | ticker | string | Optional: On Android you can show a different text in the statusbar, instead of the body. Default not set, so body is used. | | at | Date | Optional: A JavaScript Date object indicating when the notification should be shown. Default not set (the notification will be shown immediately). | | badge | boolean | Optional: On iOS (and some Android devices) you see a number on top of the app icon. On most Android devices you'll see this number in the notification center. Default not set (0). | | sound | string | Optional: Notification sound. For custom notification sound, copy the file to App_Resources/iOS and App_Resources/Android/src/main/res/raw. Set this to "default" (or do not set at all) in order to use default OS sound. Set this to null to suppress sound. | | interval | ScheduleInterval | ScheduleIntervalObject | Optional: Using ScheduleInterval sets to one of second, minute, hour, day, week, month, year, number (in days) if you want a recurring notification when using at.

Using ScheduleIntervalObject an object of { [ScheduleInterval]: number } to display a notifcation after the interval has elapsed and repeated indefinitely until cancelled.

Note: iOS 10+
The minimum interval required is 60 seconds. | | displayImmediately | boolean | Optional: Will display a scheduled notification immediately when defining an interval with ScheduleIntervalObject | | icon | string | Optional: On Android you can set a custom icon in the system tray. Pass in res://filename (without the extension) which lives in App_Resouces/Android/drawable folders. If not passed, we'll look there for a file named ic_stat_notify.png. By default the app icon is used. Android < Lollipop (21) only (see silhouetteIcon below). See icon and silhouetteIcon Options (Android-only) for more details | | silhouetteIcon | string | Optional: Same as icon, but should be an alpha-only image and will be used in Android >= Lollipop (21). Defaults to res://ic_stat_notify_silhouette, or the app icon if not present. See icon and silhouetteIcon Options (Android-only) for more details | | image | string | Optional: A url of the image to use as an expandable notification image. On Android this is mutually exclusive with bigTextStyle. | | thumbnail | boolean | string | Optional: (Android-only)Custom thumbnail/icon to show in the notification center (to the right) on Android, this can be either: true (if you want to use the image as the thumbnail), a resource URL (that lives in the App_Resouces/Android/drawable folders, e.g.: res://filename), or a http URL from anywhere on the web. Default not set. | | ongoing | boolean | Optional: (Android-only) Sets whether the notification is ongoing. Ongoing notifications cannot be dismissed by the user, so your application must take care of canceling them. | | channel | string | Optional: Sets the channel name for Android API >= 26, which is shown when the user longpresses a notification. Default is Channel. | | forceShowWhenInForeground | boolean | Optional: Indicates whether to always show the notification. On iOS < 10 this is ignored (the notification is not shown), and on newer Androids it's currently ignored as well (the notification always shows, per platform default). | | priority | number | Optional: Overrides forceShowWhenInForeground if set. This can be set to 2 for Android "heads-up" notifications. See #114 for details. Default is 0. | | actions | NotificationAction | Optional: An array of NotificationAction objects for adding buttons or text input to a notification with which the use can interact. | | notificationLed | boolean | Color | Optional: (Android Only) Indicates whether to enable the notification LED light on Android (if supported by the device), this can be either: true (if you want to use the default color), or a custom color for the notification LED light (if supported by the device).Default not set. |

NotificationAction

PropertyTypeDescription
idstringAn id so you can easily distinguish your actions.
type'button' | 'input'The type of the view.
titlestringOptional: The label for type = button.
launchbooleanOptional: Launch the app when the action completes. This will only work in apps targeting Android 11 or lower (target SDK < 31).
submitLabelstringOptional: The submit button label for type = input.
placeholderstringOptional: The placeholder text for type = input.
choicesArray<string>Optional: (Android-only) For type = 'input'
editablebooleanOptional: (Android-only) For type = 'input'. Defaults to true

icon and silhouetteIcon Options (Android-only)

These options default to res://ic_stat_notify and res://ic_stat_notify_silhouette respectively, or the app icon if not present.

These are the official icon size guidelines, and here's a great guide on how to easily create these icons on Android.

Density qualifierpxdpi
ldpi18 × 18120
mdpi24 × 24160
hdpi36 × 36240
xhdpi48 × 48320
xxhdpi72 × 72480
xxxhdpi96 × 96640 approx.

Source: Density Qualifier Docs

addOnMessageReceivedCallback()

js
LocalNotifications.addOnMessageReceivedCallback(
  (notification: ReceivedNotification) => {
    //Handle the received notification
  }
).then(() => {
  console.log('Listener added')
})

Responds to a notification tap event.

ReceivedNotification

PropertyTypeDescription
idnumberOptional: The notification id.
foregroundbooleanOptional: Whether the app was in foreground when the notification was received
titlestringOptional: The notification title.
bodystringOptional: The notification body.
eventstringOptional: Whether the response was through a button or an input
responsestringOptional: The user's response to the notification, either what they input in the text field or the option chosen from the button.
payloadanyOptional: The data sent to the user with the notification

addOnMessageClearedCallback()

js
LocalNotifications.addOnMessageClearedCallback(
  (notification: ReceivedNotification) => {
    //Handle the received notification
  }
).then(() => {
  console.log('Listener added')
})

Responds to a notification clear event. See ReceivedNotification for more info.


getScheduledIds()

js
LocalNotifications.getScheduledIds().then((ids: number[]) => {
  console.log("ID's: " + ids)
})

Returns the ids of all the scheduled notifications.


cancel()

js
LocalNotifications.cancel(id).then((foundAndCanceled: boolean) => {
  if (foundAndCanceled) {
    //
  } else {
    //
  }
})

Cancels the scheduled notification with the specified id.

ParameterTypeDescription
idnumberThe of the scheduled notification to be cancelled.

cancelAll()

js
LocalNotifications.cancelAll()

Cancels all the scheduled notifications.


requestPermission()

js
LocalNotifications.requestPermission().then((granted) => {
  console.log('Permission granted? ' + granted)
})

Requests for the user's permissions for the app to send her notifications. You only need to call this method on iOS. If the permission has already been granted, it returns true. Otherwise, it returns false.


hasPermission()

js
LocalNotifications.hasPermission().then((granted) => {
  console.log('Permission granted? ' + granted)
})

Checks if the application has permission to notify the user.