New Huawei Push Service control regulations and how to adapt

Background

Starting September 15, 2023, Huawei will implement new regulations. All notifications, regardless of whether the app is online or offline, will be controlled by the Huawei phone system. This control includes limits on the number of notifications sent and how they are displayed.

Summary of the rules

Classification by delivery channel

• Cloud notifications: Delivered through the Huawei channel. On the client, these notifications depend on the AndroidPopupActivity dialog box, and data is passed through this class.

• Local notifications: Delivered through the Alibaba channel. On the client, these notifications can be received by MessageReceiver or IntentService, and the dialog box can be customized.

Classification by message content

• Service and communication: No limit on the number of messages. Features such as lock screen display, ringtones, and vibration are available depending on the category.

• Information and marketing: Standard apps are limited to 2 messages per day, and certified news agency apps are limited to 5 messages per day. These are silent notifications. Important: Local notifications delivered through the Alibaba channel also count toward this quota.

EMAS Push adaptation rules

Which channel does the client use for delivery?

• Note: Upgrade the client software development kit (SDK) to version 3.8.7 as soon as possible.

Which parameter should the server send?

• AndroidNotificationHuaweiChannel (corresponds to Huawei importance): Do not set this parameter.

• AndroidMessageHuaweiCategory (corresponds to Huawei category)

  • If empty: Online messages use the Alibaba channel, and offline messages use the Huawei channel. The limit is 2 messages per day for standard apps and 5 messages per day for certified news agency apps.

  • If not empty: The push effect is determined by the specific value. For more information, see the Recommended values for EMAS section below.

• Note: If the server-side already has the AndroidMessageHuaweiCategory parameter, you do not need to upgrade.

Examples of notification types

1. Both cloud and local categories have values: Request the cloud value "IM". Push result: When the app is online, messages are delivered through the Alibaba channel. When the app is offline, messages are delivered through the Huawei channel.

2. The cloud category has a value, and the local category is "Unsupported": Request the cloud value "HEALTH". Push result: Messages are delivered only through the Huawei channel.

3. The cloud category is "Not applicable", and the local category has a value: Set the value to "CATEGORY_ALARM". Push result: Messages are delivered only through the Alibaba channel.

Recommended values for AndroidMessageHuaweiCategory (ignore for marketing notifications)

If your message type is listed in the table below, request the recommended value and pass it to the AndroidMessageHuaweiCategory parameter.

This lets you send an unlimited number of pushes, but the push effect depends on the message type.

Push effects and data retrieval

• Delivered through the Alibaba channel

  • Data is retrieved on the client in a class that inherits from MessageReceiver.

  • The dialog box style can be customized and is displayed by MessageReceiver.

• Delivered through the Huawei channel

  • Data is retrieved on the client in the onSysNoticeOpened method of a class that inherits from AndroidPopupActivity.

  • The dialog box style cannot be customized. It depends on the AndroidPopupActivity dialog box.