Rocket.Chat offers mobile apps for iOS and Android devices so you can stay connected on the go. To ensure secure mobile communication, you can configure the mobile settings and push notifications according to your needs.
Configure mobile settings
Administrators can access this setting from Administration > Workspace > Settings > Mobile. Modify the following settings as required:
Allow Save Media to Gallery: When enabled, users can save files shared in chats to their device gallery.
Force screen lock: When enabled, your users must set a PIN, BIOMETRIC, or FACE ID to unlock the app.
Force screen lock after: The time (in seconds) to request the password again after the expiry of the latest session.
Mobile app push notifications
There are two ways to set up push notifications with Rocket.Chat:
Push gateway: Select this option if you and your users intend to use the official Rocket.Chat mobile applications. We set up a push gateway holding our keys to enable push alerts to be received on our official mobile application by any server. Doing this safeguards the secret keys required to transmit notifications to you and your users via Apple (APN) and Google (FCM) systems. This document describes the push gateway settings.
Self-configured: If you don't want to use our push gateway, you'll have to white-label your app. See the Mobile App White Labeling guide to set up push notifications.
Note that if you are using a firewall, you need to whitelist the gateway.rocket.chat URL. For a complete list of URLs, see Firewall Configuration.
Configure push notifications
To use push notifications, you must accept the Cloud Service Privacy Terms Agreement in the Administration > Workspace > Settings > Setup Wizard > Cloud Info settings.
Next, to enable push notifications, go to Administration > Workspace > Settings > Push and update these settings:
Enable: Enable push notifications on your Rocket.Chat workspace.
Enable Gateway: Setting this to true allows you to use a custom push notification gateway. When disabled, it utilizes certificates and keys, allowing direct communication with Apple/Google instead of going through a gateway.
Gateway: Specify the gateway to use. Multiple lines can be used to specify multiple gateways.
Production: Enable this for workspaces in production.
With the configuration all done, click the Send a test push to my user button to send a test push to yourself. To successfully send a test push to your user, you need to be logged in to the workspace on your mobile device and then close or minimize the application.
Rocket.Chat SaaS workspaces use the Rocket.Chat gateway by default and cannot be changed.
On self-managed workspaces, you can either use the default Rocket.Chat gateway or set up a custom notification gateway.
Community workspaces allow up to 10,000 free monthly push notifications. Get unlimited push notifications by subscribing to any of Rocket.Chat's premium plans.
Certificate and keys
If gateways are not enabled, the workspace relies on certificates and keys to configure push notifications. To configure push notification certifications and keys on Android and iOS, refer to the following guide:
Configuring Push Notifications
Privacy
In the Privacy section, you can configure secured push notifications with the following settings:
Show Channel/Group/Username in Notification: Enable this option to make the channel name, group name, and username visible in notifications.
Show Message in Notification: Enabling this makes messages visible in notifications.
Hide message content from Apple and Google (and the Gateway, if enabled):
Enable this option to hide the content of a message from Google/Apple or any other push gateway. This adds only the message ID to the notification data. The mobile client dynamically fetches the content from the server and updates the notification before displaying it. Failure to fetch a message using the provided message ID in the push data triggers a "You have a new message" notification. When this option is disabled, the message content is sent via push notification payload so the mobile app can immediately display the notification.
If these privacy settings are disabled, the user receives a push notification without contextual information, as no such contextual information is sent to the push notification gateway in the first place. Then, the user can access the contextual information by opening the Rocket.Chat application. It is helpful in compliance-sensitive requirements like HIPAA to prevent sensitive information from being disclosed via push notification.
After completing the push configuration, follow the Default User Preferences guide to set the default user preferences for notifications. Then, use the Channel Notifications guide to manage channel-based notifications.
On some channels, notifications can stop if the number of users exceeds the set limit. You can set the limit in Administration > General > Notifications. See Notifications for more information.
Cloud sync
When you purchase a package for push notifications as a self-managed customer, go to Subscription and click Sync license updates to sync your workspace to Rocket.Chat Cloud and fetch any required updates.
Check the count of notifications used per month
To check the count of notifications used per month:
Go to cloud.rocket.chat.
Go to the Workspaces tab.
Select the workspace for which you want to check the count.
The push notifications block shows the number of used notifications per your current limit per month.
Setting notification preferences
Once the push configuration is complete, users have the following options to update the notification settings according to their preferences:
Account notification preferences: Users can go to their profiles and manage the notification preferences from there.
Room notification preferences: Users can also manage notification preferences for rooms that they are members of.
These settings do not affect other workspace users.
Workspace administrators can set certain default notification settings for the entire workspace from Administration > Workspace > Settings > Accounts > Default user preferences.
Additional information
The following details will help you to understand and configure the push notifications for your workspaces.
Push notifications workflow
The push notification workflow for Rocket.Chat is designed to be fast, reliable, and flexible, allowing users to stay informed and engaged with their chat messages and channels even when they're not actively using the app.
The following flowchart describes Rocket.Chat's workflow for chat notifications, from sending a message to receiving its notification.
Here are some potential causes to watch out for if you notice that notifications are not being delivered. The notification will not be sent if:
The room notifications are disabled.
The user ignores the sender.
@hereand@allnotifications are disabled, and the message is@hereor@all.The user is not active or their status is set to Busy.
The user notification is not connected to Desktop or Mobile.
The user setting to always display mobile notifications is not ON.
The user room preference is set to Nothing, or use a default preference set to Nothing.
The room members count is bigger than the limit for disabling notifications.
Push notifications rules
Notifications are determined based on server settings, user preferences, and subscriptions. User status (online, away, offline) is no longer considered for email and mobile push notifications. Instead, these notifications go to a new queue following these rules:
When the user is online, the notification is scheduled to be sent in 120 seconds.
When the user is away, the notification is scheduled to be sent in 120 seconds minus the amount of time he is away.
When the user is offline, the notification is sent immediately.
When the user reads a channel, all the notifications for that user are removed (clears the queue).
When a notification is processed to be sent to a user, and there are other scheduled notifications:
All scheduled notifications for the user are now rescheduled to the current time.
The current notification goes back to the queue to be processed and ordered by the creation date.
FAQ
Q: I am getting the message "Server notifications are misconfigured!"
A: If you are getting this message and are using our push gateway, make sure:
Your server version is greater or equal to 0.74.3.
Your server is registered. (you can check this by going to
http://yourserver/admin/cloud)