Azure Notification Hubs: Push Notifications at Scale

Azure Notification Hubs send push notifications to any platform at scale. iOS, Android, Windows, and more—millions of notifications in minutes.

Supported Platforms

Platform	Service
iOS	APNs
Android	FCM
Windows	WNS
Amazon	ADM
Baidu	Baidu Cloud Push
Web	Web Push

Creating Notification Hub

# Create namespace
az notification-hub namespace create \
    --name my-hub-namespace \
    --resource-group myRG \
    --location eastus \
    --sku Standard

# Create hub
az notification-hub create \
    --name my-notification-hub \
    --namespace-name my-hub-namespace \
    --resource-group myRG

Configure Platform Credentials

# iOS (APNs)
az notification-hub credential apns update \
    --namespace-name my-hub-namespace \
    --notification-hub-name my-notification-hub \
    --resource-group myRG \
    --apns-certificate /path/to/cert.p12 \
    --certificate-key "certificate-password"

# Android (FCM)
az notification-hub credential gcm update \
    --namespace-name my-hub-namespace \
    --notification-hub-name my-notification-hub \
    --resource-group myRG \
    --google-api-key "your-fcm-server-key"

Register Device

// .NET backend
using Microsoft.Azure.NotificationHubs;

var hub = NotificationHubClient.CreateClientFromConnectionString(
    connectionString,
    hubName
);

// Register iOS device
var registration = await hub.CreateAppleNativeRegistrationAsync(
    deviceToken,
    new[] { "user:123", "topic:sports" }  // Tags
);

// Register Android device
var registration = await hub.CreateFcmNativeRegistrationAsync(
    deviceToken,
    new[] { "user:123", "topic:news" }
);

Send Notifications

// Send to all iOS devices
await hub.SendAppleNativeNotificationAsync(
    @"{""aps"":{""alert"":""Hello from Azure!"",""badge"":1}}"
);

// Send to all Android devices
await hub.SendFcmNativeNotificationAsync(
    @"{""notification"":{""title"":""Hello"",""body"":""Message from Azure""}}"
);

// Send to specific tags
await hub.SendAppleNativeNotificationAsync(
    @"{""aps"":{""alert"":""Sports update!""}}",
    "topic:sports"
);

// Send with tag expression
await hub.SendAppleNativeNotificationAsync(
    @"{""aps"":{""alert"":""Personal notification""}}",
    "user:123 && (topic:sports || topic:news)"
);

Template Notifications

// Register with template (iOS)
var template = @"{""aps"":{""alert"":""$(message)""}}";
await hub.CreateAppleTemplateRegistrationAsync(
    deviceToken,
    template,
    new[] { "user:123" }
);

// Register with template (Android)
var template = @"{""notification"":{""title"":""$(title)"",""body"":""$(message)""}}";
await hub.CreateFcmTemplateRegistrationAsync(
    deviceToken,
    template,
    new[] { "user:123" }
);

// Send template notification (works for all platforms)
var notification = new Dictionary<string, string>
{
    { "message", "Hello from template!" },
    { "title", "Notification" }
};
await hub.SendTemplateNotificationAsync(notification, "user:123");

Scheduled Notifications

// Schedule for later
var scheduledTime = DateTimeOffset.UtcNow.AddHours(1);
await hub.ScheduleNotificationAsync(
    new AppleNotification(@"{""aps"":{""alert"":""Reminder!""}}"),
    scheduledTime,
    "user:123"
);

Mobile App Integration

// iOS - Register for notifications
func application(_ application: UIApplication, didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken deviceToken: Data) {
    let hub = SBNotificationHub(connectionString: connectionString, notificationHubPath: hubName)

    hub?.registerNative(withDeviceToken: deviceToken, tags: ["user:123"]) { error in
        if let error = error {
            print("Registration failed: \(error)")
        } else {
            print("Registration successful")
        }
    }
}

// Android - Register with FCM token
FirebaseMessaging.getInstance().token.addOnSuccessListener { token ->
    val hub = NotificationHub(hubName, connectionString, context)
    hub.register(token, "user:123", "topic:news")
}

Telemetry

# View hub metrics
az monitor metrics list \
    --resource /subscriptions/.../notificationHubs/my-notification-hub \
    --metric "incoming" "outgoing.allpns.success" "outgoing.allpns.pnserror"

Notification Hubs: push to millions in seconds.