How to refresh push notification subscription for azure chat when app is Terminated

Question

How to refresh push notification subscription for azure chat when app is Terminated

yrmal 20

Hello,

I’ve implemented chat push notifications for Azure Communication Services Chat following this documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/communication-services/tutorials/add-chat-push-notifications#download-code

As noted, the push notification subscription must be refreshed every 45 minutes. The documentation provides guidance on how to handle this while the app is running in the background.

However, I’d like clarification on how to handle subscription renewal when the app is terminated (either by the system or the user force quitting the app). In this state, background tasks are not running, so what is the recommended approach to ensure the push notification subscription remains valid?

yrmal 20 Reputation points

2025-05-23T08:34:47.2+00:00

Thanks, is there way to schedule silent push notification from azure notification hub?
Alex Burlachenko 9,780 Reputation points

2025-05-23T08:58:06.1033333+00:00
Hey tyrmal

Thanks a lot for posting your question on the Q&A portal it's a really good one, and I'm happy to help clarify things ))

So, when your app is terminated (either by the system or the user force-closing it), background tasks won’t run, which means the push notification subscription can’t auto-renew. The key here is to handle the subscription refresh when the app is launched again. Basically, you’ll need to re-register for push notifications as part of your app’s startup process.

Here’s how it works in simple terms: when the user opens the app again, your code should check if there’s an existing push notification subscription and refresh it if needed. The Azure Communication Services SDK doesn’t automatically do this for you after termination, so you’ll need to manually trigger it.

For the technical side, you can use the registerPushNotification method again when the app starts. The documentation explains how to set this up initially, and the same logic applies here—just make sure it runs every time the app launches.

Also, keep in mind that push tokens can change (like when a user reinstalls the app or updates their device settings), so it’s good practice to always re-register during startup, not just after termination.

Hope that clears things up!

Best regards, Alex P.S. If my answer help to you, please Accept my answer PPS That is my Answer and not a Comment https://ctrlaltdel.blog/
Bhargavi Naragani 5,270 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-05-23T09:15:33.32+00:00
Hi @yrmal,

By default, Azure Notification Hubs does not provide built-in scheduling for push notifications (silent or otherwise). However, you can absolutely implement this functionality by combining silent push payloads with Azure Functions, Logic Apps, or any backend job scheduler to send notifications at specific times.

Here’s how to do it:
For Android (via FCM): Use a data-only message without the notification field. Example:

{ "data": { "silent": "true", "action": "refreshSubscription" } }

For iOS (via APNs): Use "content-available": 1 in the aps payload without an alert. Example:

{ "aps": { "content-available": 1 }, "action": "refreshSubscription" }

Important: On iOS, silent pushes are only delivered if the app is in the background or foreground, not if it’s terminated. Android tends to be more flexible here.

Silent push notifications are not guaranteed to wake the app if it's terminated, especially on iOS.

The OS may throttle or ignore silent notifications to preserve battery life.

For mission-critical updates like renewing ACS push subscriptions, you should always recheck and renew the subscription as soon as the app is launched.

Reference:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/notification-hubs/notification-hubs-android-push-notification-google-fcm-get-started
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/notification-hubs/configure-apple-push-notification-service
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/notification-hubs/notification-hubs-push-notification-faq

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any further concerns or queries.
Sampath 3,750 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-05-26T12:45:56.18+00:00

Hi @yrmal Just checking in to see if information in comment was helpful. If you have any further updates on this issue, please feel free to post/comment back.
Sampath 3,750 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-05-27T16:31:27.2433333+00:00

Hi @yrmal , if are still facing the issue please check private message and reply there. Thank you

1 answer

Your answer

yrmal 20 Reputation points

2025-05-23T08:34:47.2+00:00

Thanks, is there way to schedule silent push notification from azure notification hub?
Alex Burlachenko 9,780 Reputation points

2025-05-23T08:58:06.1033333+00:00

Hey tyrmal

Thanks a lot for posting your question on the Q&A portal it's a really good one, and I'm happy to help clarify things ))

So, when your app is terminated (either by the system or the user force-closing it), background tasks won’t run, which means the push notification subscription can’t auto-renew. The key here is to handle the subscription refresh when the app is launched again. Basically, you’ll need to re-register for push notifications as part of your app’s startup process.

Here’s how it works in simple terms: when the user opens the app again, your code should check if there’s an existing push notification subscription and refresh it if needed. The Azure Communication Services SDK doesn’t automatically do this for you after termination, so you’ll need to manually trigger it.

For the technical side, you can use the registerPushNotification method again when the app starts. The documentation explains how to set this up initially, and the same logic applies here—just make sure it runs every time the app launches.

Also, keep in mind that push tokens can change (like when a user reinstalls the app or updates their device settings), so it’s good practice to always re-register during startup, not just after termination.

Hope that clears things up!

Best regards, Alex P.S. If my answer help to you, please Accept my answer PPS That is my Answer and not a Comment https://ctrlaltdel.blog/
Bhargavi Naragani 5,270 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-05-23T09:15:33.32+00:00

Hi @yrmal,

By default, Azure Notification Hubs does not provide built-in scheduling for push notifications (silent or otherwise). However, you can absolutely implement this functionality by combining silent push payloads with Azure Functions, Logic Apps, or any backend job scheduler to send notifications at specific times.

Here’s how to do it:
For Android (via FCM): Use a data-only message without the notification field. Example:

{ "data": { "silent": "true", "action": "refreshSubscription" } }

For iOS (via APNs): Use "content-available": 1 in the aps payload without an alert. Example:

{ "aps": { "content-available": 1 }, "action": "refreshSubscription" }

Important: On iOS, silent pushes are only delivered if the app is in the background or foreground, not if it’s terminated. Android tends to be more flexible here.

Silent push notifications are not guaranteed to wake the app if it's terminated, especially on iOS.

The OS may throttle or ignore silent notifications to preserve battery life.

For mission-critical updates like renewing ACS push subscriptions, you should always recheck and renew the subscription as soon as the app is launched.

Reference:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/notification-hubs/notification-hubs-android-push-notification-google-fcm-get-started
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/notification-hubs/configure-apple-push-notification-service
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/notification-hubs/notification-hubs-push-notification-faq

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any further concerns or queries.
Sampath 3,750 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-05-26T12:45:56.18+00:00

Hi @yrmal Just checking in to see if information in comment was helpful. If you have any further updates on this issue, please feel free to post/comment back.
Sampath 3,750 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-05-27T16:31:27.2433333+00:00

Hi @yrmal , if are still facing the issue please check private message and reply there. Thank you

Answer 1

Hi @yrmal,

When the app is terminated:

The OS (iOS/Android) does not allow background code execution.
Timers and background services are stopped, so you cannot automatically refresh the push notification subscription.
This means your app will stop receiving ACS chat push notifications once the 45-minute subscription window expires, unless the user manually reopens the app.

To ensure the push notification subscription remains valid after the app is terminated, consider the following approach:

When you create or renew the subscription, save the timestamp of the renewal in local storage (like SharedPreferences on Android or UserDefaults on iOS). Also, store the token or registration state if needed for comparison later.
When the app starts up (after being terminated), immediately check if the subscription is expired or close to expiring (e.g., more than 40 minutes old). If it is, renew the push notification subscription right away to resume receiving messages.
Unfortunately, messages sent during the window when the app was terminated, and the subscription expired will not be delivered. However, once the user opens the app again, you can resubscribe and start receiving new notifications as normal.
Unfortunately, there is no way to automatically renew the subscription while the app is terminated, because push subscription management requires the app to execute code, and iOS/Android do not allow this from a terminated state.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/communication-services/concepts/notifications
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/communication-services/concepts/chat/concepts
https://developer.android.com/guide/components/activities/activity-lifecycle
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/managing-your-app-s-life-cycle

Hope the above provided information was helpful, if you have any further concerns or queries, please feel free to reach out to us.

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How to refresh push notification subscription for azure chat when app is Terminated

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