36: Enabling Push Notifications to your Chrome Browser or iPhone (Progressive Web App)

mclemore

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These forums support an interactive bookmark system called Progressive Web Apps (PWA), with push notifications on iOS (iPhone,iPad) as well as via the Chrome web browser: (Windows, MacOS). We have supported these for quite some time, though effective May 17, 2023, we now support push notifications thanks to the the new iOS 16.4 (released April 7, 2023).

Chrome Browser (Windows 10+, MacOS):

Log onto the forums. Click on your username near the top right of the screen. Select 'Preferences'. Scroll down and find 'Push notifications' which may be the last option in the first section. Click 'Enable push notifications'. [If you want to turn it off in the future, click 'Disable push notifications'.

Desktop-Enable-Push.jpg

On Windows 10, if you want to see all your recent notifications, click on the box at the very bottom right hand corner of the screen. If you hover over the box with a mouse cursor, it will show how many new notifications you have:

Windows 10 Notifications.jpg

iOS (iPhone, iPad):

In Action - close up - 300.png

Full iOS PWA compatibility with push notification support is here!

iOS 16.4, released on April 7, 2023, finally introduced push notifications for iOS devices. If you want to try this functionality out, you will need to install this site as a PWA (by utilizing the Add to Home Screen feature in Safari). The PWA (progressive web app) has now been enhanced with additional gesture based or UI controls, including pull down to refresh and a floating back button.

Now as of today, this site now satisfies all of the prerequisites for this to support push notifications which can be enabled by our members once they log in through the PWA and enable push notifications in their Preferences.


1. On an iPhone, go to Settings -> Notifications. Confirm you have notifications turned on.

2. Load Safari on your iOS device. Visit the forums. Then at the bottom center of the screen (for an iPhone), click the square box with the up arrow pointing out of it. That is the button you would use to 'share' a page with a friend. Scroll down, and select 'Add to Home Screen'.

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3. Exit. Click on the site icon added to your device, bring up the site, and login as you normally would. Then near the bottom of the screen, it should ask you for permission to allow the site to provide push notifications.

KLOV Click to Enable-350.png 1684444817291.png 1684444923315.png

IS IT WORKING?

You should see a notification count on the forum icon on your phone. On your desktop, at the top right of the page, you may see a count for unread personal messages as well as a count for alerts. On mobile, both these numbers likely get combined. If it shows just a blue box, notifications aren't set up (or you don't have any). If you do see a number, it is likely working.

When your phone is locked, if you have notifications activated on your home page, you will see something the following. You can often single click to expand:

Notifications - Phone Locked - Compact - crop.png 1684443154340.png


Troubleshooting:

1. If you don't see this, confirm notifications are turned on. On an iPhone go to: Settings -> Notifications -> scroll down and find "KLOV/VAPS Forums". If you don't see it, you may have an issue. If you do, you can click on it to confirm 'Allow Notifications' is on (or in the future, to turn it off if you change your mind.)

2. Click on the forum button on your phone desktop, then click the 3 lines at the top left, click 'Preferences' and then make sure that push notifications are enabled.

Check Notifications - 430.png

We hope you like this new functionality

For further information on installing a PWA on iOS, Android, or on Windows or Mac (Edge or Chrome), the CDC has a simple explanation page. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/content/hearingloss/installPWA.html
 
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