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# Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
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## Isn't this like ...?
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Who knows. I didn't do a lot of research before making this. It was fun making it.
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## Can I use this in my app? Will it stay free?
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Yes. As long as you don't abuse it, it'll be available and free of charge. I do not plan on monetizing
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the service.
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## What are the uptime guarantees?
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Best effort.
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## What happens if there are multiple subscribers to the same topic?
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As per usual with pub-sub, all subscribers receive notifications if they are subscribed to a topic.
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## Will you know what topics exist, can you spy on me?
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If you don't trust me or your messages are sensitive, run your own server. It's open source.
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That said, the logs do contain topic names and IP addresses, but I don't use them for anything other than
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troubleshooting and rate limiting. Messages are cached for the duration configured in `server.yml` (12h by default)
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to facilitate service restarts, message polling and to overcome client network disruptions.
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## Can I self-host it?
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Yes. The server (including this Web UI) can be self-hosted, and the Android/iOS app supports adding topics from
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your own server as well. Check out the [install instructions](install.md).
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## Why is Firebase used?
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In addition to caching messages locally and delivering them to long-polling subscribers, all messages are also
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published to Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) (if `FirebaseKeyFile` is set, which it is on ntfy.sh). This
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is to facilitate notifications on Android.
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If you do not care for Firebase, I suggest you install the [F-Droid version](https://f-droid.org/en/packages/io.heckel.ntfy/)
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of the app and [self-host your own ntfy server](install.md).
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## How much battery does the Android app use?
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If you use the ntfy.sh server, and you don't use the [instant delivery](subscribe/phone.md#instant-delivery) feature,
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the Android/iOS app uses no additional battery, since Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) is used. If you use your own server,
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or you use *instant delivery* (Android only), the app has to maintain a constant connection to the server, which consumes
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about 0-1% of battery in 17h of use (on my phone). There has been a ton of testing and improvement around this. I think it's pretty
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decent now.
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## What is instant delivery?
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[Instant delivery](subscribe/phone.md#instant-delivery) is a feature in the Android app. If turned on, the app maintains a constant connection to the
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server and listens for incoming notifications. This consumes additional battery (see above),
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but delivers notifications instantly.
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