Web push notifications in Microsoft Edge on Android not working

2
votes

I am developing a site which is sending web push notifications and have so far tested this successfully with Chrome. I am currently testing in other browsers including Microsoft Edge but I have run into some problems. Any push notification I try to send only gets displayed with the text "This site was updated in the background". To isolate the problem I have managed to reproduce it using one of Googles own examples:

https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/codelabs/push-notifications

Step-by-step:

  1. Setup the example as described in the text (including using the correct public key from the companion site)
  2. Make the resulting site available to your Android phone, e.g. by using ngrok
  3. Visit the site on using Edge on your phone, enable notifications and copy the subscription info.
  4. Use the subscription info to send a message from the companion site.

Expected Result: A notification should appear with the data sent in the companion site.

Actual result: If site is in foreground, no notification appears If site is in background, a notification appears with the text "This site was updated in the background"

Does anyone know if this is supposed to work on the mobile Edge browser and what could be the problem?

2
androidpush-notificationmicrosoft-edge
I can't reproduce the issue in Edge on Android. Which version of Edge are you using on Android? The Push Codelab website can work well but clicking "send push message" in companion site didn't show any notification or errors in mobile browsers. You could try to clear browser cache and try again or provide a minimal sample which can reproduce the issue. - Yu Zhou
I am using Edge 45.03.4.4955. I updated the question slightly with expected and actual results. I get different behaviors depending on if the site is in foreground or background. Perhaps that's what you're experiencing. Either way, it doesn't work as expected. Also, the Google example is pretty minimal and all the code is ready and available and well documented. I don't really see how I could make it easier than that myself. - Tobias Harle
Now I can reproduce the issue in Edge for Android. I also find a similar thread on github. I think this might be a issue with Edge for Android. You could provide your feedback to Edge for Android in the app's "Send feedback" channel. I'll also discuss with senior engineers and inform you if there's any update. - Yu Zhou
any update in the meantime about this issue? I experience the same, event.data happens to be null, in chrome and firefox for android it works for me - Riesling
Hi does anybody have an update on this? I have exactly the same issue where the mobile edge browser (desktop edge works) does receive the PushEvent but the data object inside that event is null. I tried sending it directly via the firebase test interface so I know for sure that the message send is good. It does work on chrome (mobile and desktop) and on the desktop version of Edge but mobile edge is not working. :-( - Peter

2 Answers

0
votes

I am working on a solution since some weeks/months. But without any result.

I wrote a webpage to test webpush and get some debug result, using this library:
https://github.com/web-push-libs/web-push-php

Step by step:

  • From Javascript:
    • You have to create a service worker
    • You need to subscribe to an endpoint
    • You need to send the endpoint data to your server

And now the first anomaly:
Edge should give you a link like this (created on Edge for Windows):

https://par02p.notify.windows.com/w/?token=BQYAAADYEvwVC+0moKngTpL9/XDZEynRAIYReS0el5m9zff+SBQKeHiQBNEh7rK7RJqyHkNUMw58nEfK6oUpkHTPXZhy1G3z9DS33SKtCM0WUzlCEE/AM0bbysCnmbUzwvlskhobPJSUF63tjsePeDvTmyA+Oi88akIGdrCr+102eR2BbWAZNeW+o86nIfM0zoVYS5pHnw0MwHg/k06tQBLPfxQNEKLYZpD8Qtv+dLnFY5BNzLIw3rEus/eeoKczDNsDetRNlF251GvJoFr1MFwtH8E+s5JAMWNL9oC71KIYqQoRmKSh4D10YneyJjiQDQGwDxCKCB7pBS40RErdkfN3Edeb

But instead you will receive a link like this:

https://fcm.googleapis.com/fcm/send/cGi0NgjCSa4:APA91bG9nWfn6UKevtmQjMdzSnleKGLnz4XPx-pfISfCT8ypWwUsfsiSiOwpd91-S-u3D_u3c2M1VVxZapS8StQHhH_asqDwseiTLKusw-5ARQ2siFwVlHnz6txZvJRtMoCVSk1U0_3U

So, even if it is a Microsoft product, you get a Google link.

Step by step:

  • From PHP Server
    • Create valid VAPID codes
    • Send the message to the endpoint server
    • Check if the server has accepted the message
  • From the webpage
    • Wait for push notification

And now the second anomaly:
The Google server is accepting the message sent and will forward it to the webpage. Unfortunately the message is empty! Console Log You can play around with different settings (without paddings, aesgcm encryption, different payloads), the result is always the same.

So, why does it not work?
1- Edge for Android is still (december 2020) using chromium 77.0.3865.116 from summer 2019
2- Microsoft is redirecting requests to Google servers, instead of Microsoft servers
3- Google FCM is sending an empty message (even if the payload was accepted successfully).

Many issues at the same time.
Maybe Chromium 77 was still not able to subscribe correctly for web push notifications.
Maybe Google is blocking all Edge requests or removes all payloads as they don't want promote Edge as browser.

Hope Microsoft will give some more info about this (Tech-Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/discussions/web-push-notification-bug-edge-for-android/m-p/1774677)

Also because PWA doesn't work like expected if Edge is the default browser on Android:
https://github.com/pwa-builder/PWABuilder/issues/1274

0
votes

With the update of today (Sept. 2021), it works also on Edge for Android. It use the chromium 93.