Why Expo Push is good enough

Expo Push sits on top of APNs and FCM. You hand it an expo push token, Expo fans it out to the right store. In return you lose almost nothing compared to hitting APNs and FCM yourself.

For everything except ultra-high-volume marketing blasts, Expo Push is what I ship.

What you actually need to wire

• expo-notifications for permission, token, and receipt handling.
• Server endpoint that stores the token per user and platform.
• Send endpoint that posts to https://exp.host/--/api/v2/push/send from your backend.
• Receipt handling so expired tokens get cleaned up.

Permission timing is the whole game

Do not ask for push permission on first launch. Opt-in rate for fitness and productivity apps I shipped:

• First launch prompt: ~28% opt-in.
• After the first meaningful action (first workout logged, first booking confirmed): ~56% opt-in.

Wait for the user to do the thing. Then ask.

iOS gotchas I hit

• Development builds use a different APNs cert than production. Tokens from TestFlight and dev builds are not interchangeable.
• Silent pushes are throttled. Do not rely on them for realtime updates.
• Critical alerts require a special entitlement you cannot get for a launch app.

Android gotchas I hit

• FCM v1 is the default now. If you copy old tutorials you will hit legacy endpoint errors.
• Notification channels are required on Android 8+. Expo sets up a default, but you must create one per purpose (alerts, updates, chat).
• Battery optimization silently kills delayed pushes on some OEMs. Nothing you can fix in the app — document it.

See pricing