Overview of Push Technologies for Android

The push notification feature of the Kii Cloud SDK for Android is built on FCM and JPush. FCM is an implementation of a push notification feature by Google and JPush is that by JIGUANG in China.

This topic explains the basic information required for using these technologies.

GCM and FCM

FCM is the succeeding service of Google Cloud Messaging (GCM).

Choose FCM if you are developing a new mobile app, though Kii Cloud supports both GCM and FCM. GCM users are recommended to upgrade to FCM.

When you add the FCM-based push into your mobile app, Kii Cloud uses the API symbol names for GCM and you configure FCM in the GCM section of the developer portal. The Kii Cloud SDK and server process interaction with GCM and FCM in the same way while the mobile app uses APIs of different libraries for GCM and FCM.

This guide basically covers FCM only. Information for GCM is kept for maintaining legacy apps.

Selecting FCM or JPush

Generally, Android devices can receive push notifications through FCM. However in China, it is not available because FCM cannot cross the barrier of the great firewall.

Use JPush if your service is to be provided in China. That is, select JPush if end-users are located in China.

The following table summarizes the push service availability in location-wise.

* APNs and MQTT are available worldwide.

If you install an Android app that can be configured with FCM and JPush and initialize the app for each network on your device, the device will receive two push notifications for a single push request, one through FCM and the other through JPush. Kii recommends that you set up either of them on the device depending on the target environment while technically it is possible to use FCM and JPush on the same device.