212 lines
17 KiB
Markdown
212 lines
17 KiB
Markdown
# Subscribe from your phone
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You can use the [ntfy Android App](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.heckel.ntfy) to receive
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notifications directly on your phone. Just like the server, this app is also [open source](https://github.com/binwiederhier/ntfy-android).
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Since I don't have an iPhone or a Mac, I didn't make an iOS app yet. I'd be awesome if [someone else could help out](https://github.com/binwiederhier/ntfy/issues/4).
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<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.heckel.ntfy"><img src="../../static/img/badge-googleplay.png"></a>
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<a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/io.heckel.ntfy/"><img src="../../static/img/badge-fdroid.png"></a>
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You can get the Android app from both [Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.heckel.ntfy) and
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from [F-Droid](https://f-droid.org/en/packages/io.heckel.ntfy/). Both are largely identical, with the one exception that
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the F-Droid flavor does not use Firebase.
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## Overview
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A picture is worth a thousand words. Here are a few screenshots showing what the app looks like. It's all pretty
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straight forward. You can add topics and as soon as you add them, you can [publish messages](../publish.md) to them.
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<div id="android-screenshots" class="screenshots">
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<a href="../../static/img/android-screenshot-main.png"><img src="../../static/img/android-screenshot-main.png"/></a>
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<a href="../../static/img/android-screenshot-detail.png"><img src="../../static/img/android-screenshot-detail.png"/></a>
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<a href="../../static/img/android-screenshot-pause.png"><img src="../../static/img/android-screenshot-pause.png"/></a>
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<a href="../../static/img/android-screenshot-add.png"><img src="../../static/img/android-screenshot-add.png"/></a>
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<a href="../../static/img/android-screenshot-add-instant.png"><img src="../../static/img/android-screenshot-add-instant.png"/></a>
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<a href="../../static/img/android-screenshot-add-other.png"><img src="../../static/img/android-screenshot-add-other.png"/></a>
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</div>
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If those screenshots are still not enough, here's a video:
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<figure>
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<video controls muted autoplay loop width="650" src="../../static/img/android-video-overview.mp4"></video>
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<figcaption>Sending push notifications to your Android phone</figcaption>
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</figure>
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## Message priority
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When you [publish messages](../publish.md#message-priority) to a topic, you can define a priority. This priority defines
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how urgently Android will notify you about the notification, and whether they make a sound and/or vibrate.
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By default, messages with default priority or higher (>= 3) will vibrate and make a sound. Messages with high or urgent
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priority (>= 4) will also show as pop-over, like so:
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<figure markdown>
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{ width=500 }
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<figcaption>High and urgent notifications show as pop-over</figcaption>
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</figure>
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You can change these settings in Android by long-pressing on the app, and tapping "Notifications". You can then configure
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the settings (and custom sounds or vibration) for each of the priorities:
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<figure markdown>
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{ width=500 }
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<figcaption>Per-priority sound/vibration settings</figcaption>
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</figure>
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## Instant delivery
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Instant delivery allows you to receive messages on your phone instantly, **even when your phone is in doze mode**, i.e.
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when the screen turns off, and you leave it on the desk for a while. This is achieved with a foreground service, which
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you'll see as a permanent notification that looks like this:
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<figure markdown>
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{ width=500 }
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<figcaption>Instant delivery foreground notification</figcaption>
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</figure>
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Android does not allow you to dismiss this notification, unless you turn off the notification channel in the settings.
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To do so, long-press on the foreground notification (screenshot above) and navigate to the settings. Then toggle the
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"Subscription Service" off:
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<figure markdown>
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{ width=500 }
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<figcaption>Turning off the persistent instant delivery notification</figcaption>
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</figure>
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**Limitations without instant delivery**: Without instant delivery, **messages may arrive with a significant delay**
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(sometimes many minutes, or even hours later). If you've ever picked up your phone and
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suddenly had 10 messages that were sent long before you know what I'm talking about.
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The reason for this is [Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM)](https://firebase.google.com/docs/cloud-messaging). FCM is the
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*only* Google approved way to send push messages to Android devices, and it's what pretty much all apps use to deliver push
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notifications. Firebase is overall pretty bad at delivering messages in time, but on Android, most apps are stuck with it.
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The ntfy Android app uses Firebase only for the main host `ntfy.sh`, and only in the Google Play flavor of the app.
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It won't use Firebase for any self-hosted servers, and not at all in the the F-Droid flavor.
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## Share to topic
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You can share files to a topic using Android's "Share" feature. This works in almost any app that supports sharing files
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or text, and it's useful for sending yourself links, files or other things. The feature remembers a few of the last topics
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you shared content to and lists them at the bottom.
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The feature is pretty self-explanatory, and one picture says more than a thousand words. So here are two pictures:
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<div id="share-to-topic-screenshots" class="screenshots">
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<a href="../../static/img/android-screenshot-share-1.jpg"><img src="../../static/img/android-screenshot-share-1.jpg"/></a>
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<a href="../../static/img/android-screenshot-share-2.jpg"><img src="../../static/img/android-screenshot-share-2.jpg"/></a>
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</div>
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## ntfy:// links
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The ntfy Android app supports deep linking directly to topics. This is useful when integrating with [automation apps](#automation-apps)
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such as [MacroDroid](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.arlosoft.macrodroid) or [Tasker](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.dinglisch.android.taskerm),
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or to simply directly link to a topic from a mobile website.
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!!! info
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Android deep linking of http/https links is very brittle and limited, which is why something like `https://<host>/<topic>/subscribe` is
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**not possible**, and instead `ntfy://` links have to be used. More details in [issue #20](https://github.com/binwiederhier/ntfy/issues/20).
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**Supported link formats:**
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| Link format | Example | Description |
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|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
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| <span style="white-space: nowrap">`ntfy://<host>/<topic>`</span> | `ntfy://ntfy.sh/mytopic` | Directly opens the Android app detail view for the given topic and server. Subscribes to the topic if not already subscribed. This is equivalent to the web view `https://ntfy.sh/mytopic` (HTTPS!) |
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| <span style="white-space: nowrap">`ntfy://<host>/<topic>?secure=false`</span> | `ntfy://example.com/mytopic?secure=false` | Same as above, except that this will use HTTP instead of HTTPS as topic URL. This is equivalent to the web view `http://example.com/mytopic` (HTTP!) |
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## Integrations
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### UnifiedPush
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[UnifiedPush](https://unifiedpush.org) is a standard for receiving push notifications without using the Google-owned
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[Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM)](https://firebase.google.com/docs/cloud-messaging) service. It puts push notifications
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in the control of the user. ntfy can act as a **UnifiedPush distributor**, forwarding messages to apps that support it.
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To use ntfy as a distributor, simply select it in one of the [supported apps](https://unifiedpush.org/users/apps/).
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That's it. It's a one-step installation 😀. If desired, you can select your own [selfhosted ntfy server](../install.md)
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to handle messages. Here's an example with [FluffyChat](https://fluffychat.im/):
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<div id="unifiedpush-screenshots" class="screenshots">
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<a href="../../static/img/android-screenshot-unifiedpush-fluffychat.jpg"><img src="../../static/img/android-screenshot-unifiedpush-fluffychat.jpg"/></a>
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<a href="../../static/img/android-screenshot-unifiedpush-subscription.jpg"><img src="../../static/img/android-screenshot-unifiedpush-subscription.jpg"/></a>
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<a href="../../static/img/android-screenshot-unifiedpush-settings.jpg"><img src="../../static/img/android-screenshot-unifiedpush-settings.jpg"/></a>
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</div>
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### Automation apps
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The ntfy Android app integrates nicely with automation apps such as [MacroDroid](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.arlosoft.macrodroid)
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or [Tasker](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.dinglisch.android.taskerm). Using Android intents, you can
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**react to incoming messages**, as well as **send messages**.
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#### React to incoming messages
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To react on incoming notifications, you have to register to intents with the `io.heckel.ntfy.MESSAGE_RECEIVED` action (see
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[code for details](https://github.com/binwiederhier/ntfy-android/blob/main/app/src/main/java/io/heckel/ntfy/msg/BroadcastService.kt)).
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Here's an example using [MacroDroid](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.arlosoft.macrodroid)
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and [Tasker](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.dinglisch.android.taskerm), but any app that can catch
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broadcasts is supported:
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<div id="integration-screenshots-receive" class="screenshots">
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<a href="../../static/img/android-screenshot-macrodroid-overview.png"><img src="../../static/img/android-screenshot-macrodroid-overview.png"/></a>
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<a href="../../static/img/android-screenshot-macrodroid-trigger.png"><img src="../../static/img/android-screenshot-macrodroid-trigger.png"/></a>
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<a href="../../static/img/android-screenshot-macrodroid-action.png"><img src="../../static/img/android-screenshot-macrodroid-action.png"/></a>
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<a href="../../static/img/android-screenshot-tasker-profiles.png"><img src="../../static/img/android-screenshot-tasker-profiles.png"/></a>
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<a href="../../static/img/android-screenshot-tasker-event-edit.png"><img src="../../static/img/android-screenshot-tasker-event-edit.png"/></a>
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<a href="../../static/img/android-screenshot-tasker-task-edit.png"><img src="../../static/img/android-screenshot-tasker-task-edit.png"/></a>
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<a href="../../static/img/android-screenshot-tasker-action-edit.png"><img src="../../static/img/android-screenshot-tasker-action-edit.png"/></a>
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</div>
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For MacroDroid, be sure to type in the package name `io.heckel.ntfy`, otherwise intents may be silently swallowed.
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If you're using topics to drive automation, you'll likely want to mute the topic in the ntfy app. This will prevent
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notification popups:
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<figure markdown>
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{ width=500 }
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<figcaption>Muting notifications to prevent popups</figcaption>
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</figure>
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Here's a list of extras you can access. Most likely, you'll want to filter for `topic` and react on `message`:
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| Extra name | Type | Example | Description |
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|-----------------|------------------------------|--------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
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| `id` | *String* | `bP8dMjO8ig` | Randomly chosen message identifier (likely not very useful for task automation) |
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| `base_url` | *String* | `https://ntfy.sh` | Root URL of the ntfy server this message came from |
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| `topic` ❤️ | *String* | `mytopic` | Topic name; **you'll likely want to filter for a specific topic** |
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| `muted` | *Boolean* | `true` | Indicates whether the subscription was muted in the app |
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| `muted_str` | *String (`true` or `false`)* | `true` | Same as `muted`, but as string `true` or `false` |
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| `time` | *Int* | `1635528741` | Message date time, as Unix time stamp |
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| `title` | *String* | `Some title` | Message [title](../publish.md#message-title); may be empty if not set |
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| `message` ❤️ | *String* | `Some message` | Message body; **this is likely what you're interested in** |
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| `message_bytes` | *ByteArray* | `(binary data)` | Message body as binary data |
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| `encoding`️ | *String* | - | Message encoding (empty or "base64") |
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| `tags` | *String* | `tag1,tag2,..` | Comma-separated list of [tags](../publish.md#tags-emojis) |
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| `tags_map` | *String* | `0=tag1,1=tag2,..` | Map of tags to make it easier to map first, second, ... tag |
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| `priority` | *Int (between 1-5)* | `4` | Message [priority](../publish.md#message-priority) with 1=min, 3=default and 5=max |
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#### Send messages using intents
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To send messages from other apps (such as [MacroDroid](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.arlosoft.macrodroid)
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and [Tasker](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.dinglisch.android.taskerm)), you can
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broadcast an intent with the `io.heckel.ntfy.SEND_MESSAGE` action. The ntfy Android app will forward the intent as a HTTP
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POST request to [publish a message](../publish.md). This is primarily useful for apps that do not support HTTP POST/PUT
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(like MacroDroid). In Tasker, you can simply use the "HTTP Request" action, which is a little easier and also works if
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ntfy is not installed.
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Here's what that looks like:
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<div id="integration-screenshots-send" class="screenshots">
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<a href="../../static/img/android-screenshot-macrodroid-send-macro.png"><img src="../../static/img/android-screenshot-macrodroid-send-macro.png"/></a>
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<a href="../../static/img/android-screenshot-macrodroid-send-action.png"><img src="../../static/img/android-screenshot-macrodroid-send-action.png"/></a>
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<a href="../../static/img/android-screenshot-tasker-profile-send.png"><img src="../../static/img/android-screenshot-tasker-profile-send.png"/></a>
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<a href="../../static/img/android-screenshot-tasker-task-edit-post.png"><img src="../../static/img/android-screenshot-tasker-task-edit-post.png"/></a>
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<a href="../../static/img/android-screenshot-tasker-action-http-post.png"><img src="../../static/img/android-screenshot-tasker-action-http-post.png"/></a>
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</div>
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The following intent extras are supported when for the intent with the `io.heckel.ntfy.SEND_MESSAGE` action:
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| Extra name | Required | Type | Example | Description |
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|--------------|----------|-------------------------------|-------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
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| `base_url` | - | *String* | `https://ntfy.sh` | Root URL of the ntfy server this message came from, defaults to `https://ntfy.sh` |
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| `topic` ❤️ | ✔ | *String* | `mytopic` | Topic name; **you must set this** |
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| `title` | - | *String* | `Some title` | Message [title](../publish.md#message-title); may be empty if not set |
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| `message` ❤️ | ✔ | *String* | `Some message` | Message body; **you must set this** |
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| `tags` | - | *String* | `tag1,tag2,..` | Comma-separated list of [tags](../publish.md#tags-emojis) |
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| `priority` | - | *String or Int (between 1-5)* | `4` | Message [priority](../publish.md#message-priority) with 1=min, 3=default and 5=max |
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## iPhone/iOS
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I almost feel devious for putting the *Download on the App Store* button on this page. Currently, there is no iOS app
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for ntfy, but it's in the works. You can track the status on GitHub.
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<a href="https://github.com/binwiederhier/ntfy/issues/4"><img src="../../static/img/badge-appstore.png"></a>
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