Mobile Web Push for iOS

Mobile Web Push for iOS lets you send web push notifications to users who add your website to their Home Screen and grant permission from that home screen app.

This flow is available on iOS and iPadOS 16.4+.

Key requirement

iOS web push works only for websites opened as Home Screen web apps.

Users must:

1. add your website to the Home Screen,

2. open it from the Home Screen,

3. and grant notification permission there.

Quick workflow

1

1) Complete the technical setup

Configure Mobile Web Push for iOS in your web project.

2

2) Drive users to add the site to Home Screen

iOS push works only after the site is saved as a Home Screen web app.

3

3) Ask for permission from the Home Screen app

Use your web push opt-in flow, such as Fancy Box, to request permission.

4

4) Send and target the right audience

Create a web push campaign and target mobile Safari subscribers.

Before you start

Before using Mobile Web Push for iOS, make sure:

• your web push integration is complete,

• your site supports the iOS mobile web push setup,

• and your opt-in flow is ready.

For the technical setup, follow the Developer Guide.

If you use a pre-permission prompt, see Fancy Box.

Step 1: Complete application configuration

Set up your web project for iOS mobile web push first.

This setup happens outside the panel and is required before any user can subscribe.

Use the Developer Guide for the full implementation steps.

Step 2: Users add your site to the Home Screen

For users to receive iOS web push notifications, they must first add your site to the Home Screen.

This step is required because iOS web push works only for Home Screen web apps.

User flow

1. Open the website on an iOS/iPadOS 16.4+ device.

2. Tap Share.

3. Select Add to Home Screen.

4. Save the web app to the device Home Screen.

5. Open the site from the Home Screen icon.

6. Start the subscription flow, for example with Fancy Box.

7. Let the native permission prompt open from that flow.

Step 3: Grant push permission

After the site is opened from the Home Screen, users must allow notifications.

Typical flow:

1. The user opens the Home Screen web app.

2. Your site shows a pre-permission step such as Fancy Box.

3. The user taps the subscribe action.

4. iOS shows the native notification permission prompt.

5. The user grants permission.

Permission must be requested from the Home Screen web app, not from a normal browser tab.

Step 4: Send a campaign

After users subscribe, you can send a normal Web Push campaign from Netmera.

Use the standard campaign flow to create content, choose an audience, schedule the send, and launch the campaign.

For the full campaign flow, see Create Web Push.

Target iOS mobile web push users

To reach users who subscribed on iOS, filter your audience by browser and device type.

1. Go to Targeting → People.

2. Under Platform, select Safari.

3. Under Device Type, select Mobile.

4. Review the matching audience.

5. Save the result as a segment if you want to reuse it later.

This helps you isolate mobile Safari subscribers for future web push campaigns.

Best practices

• Tell users why they should subscribe before showing the permission prompt.

• Make the Home Screen step clear in your onboarding or site messaging.

• Test the full flow on an actual iPhone or iPad.

• Save iOS Safari audiences as reusable segments.