Deliver critical transactional push notifications with Pusher Beams
Tags: android, ios, showdev, news
Published: 2018-09-06 12:51:44

---
title: Deliver critical transactional push notifications with Pusher Beams
published: true
description: Pusher Beams, the hosted push notifications API for developers who need critical transactional information delivered is available for your iOS and Android apps.
tags: android, ios, showdev, news 
---
![Pusher Beams](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/gw2y2h6n6kp30jedehyl.png)

We’re excited to announce that [Pusher Beams](https://pusher.com/beams) is out of beta and generally available for your production apps!

We’re proud that over 10,000 developers are using Beams to send critical transactional notifications.

Here’s what’s included with Beams:

- Unified [API](https://docs.pusher.com/push-notifications/reference/publish-api) to deliver push notifications to iOS, Android, and MacOS devices
- Hosted service to manage the device token lifecycle for iOS and Android apps
- [Android](https://docs.pusher.com/push-notifications/reference/android) and [iOS](https://docs.pusher.com/push-notifications/reference/ios) SDKs crafted to include the latest FCM and APNs updates
- [Interests](https://docs.pusher.com/push-notifications/concepts/interests) to deliver notifications using a flexible pub/sub model
- [Insights](https://docs.pusher.com/push-notifications/concepts/insights) reporting acknowledgement and open events directly from the client
- Debug Console featuring a realtime notification lifecycle event log

You can [try it out](https://dash.pusher.com/authenticate/register?ref=pn-blog) today, read the [docs](https://docs.pusher.com/push-notifications), or get started with an [iOS](https://pusher.com/tutorials/push-notifications-ios) or [Android](https://pusher.com/tutorials/push-notifications-android) tutorial.


# Gain visibility once notifications are sent

When we released a beta push notifications API, we learned that developers lack visibility after they send notifications. Neither of Apple and Google’s notifications gateways — APNs and FCM — provide delivery guarantees.

Notifications are the lifeline of applications — alerting users when deliveries are on their way, when news breaks, when a favourite player scores, or when a conference call begins — but developers are often left wondering whether notifications were delivered or opened.

When a notification is sent to a device with Beams, the client SDKs will report back an **acknowledgement event** once the notification is received. If the user taps the notification to open the app, the client SDKs will report back an **open event**.

Half of all opened Beams notifications are opened within a minute and half, demonstrating the powerful utility to reach a user wherever they are. 

You can see your app’s aggregated acknowledgement and open events with [Insights](https://docs.pusher.com/beams/concepts/insights) or as a realtime event log in **Debug Console**. 


# Stop wasting time with gateway scaffolding

APNs and FCM are free to use, but we heard from developers that building infrastructure around these gateways is headache-inducing. In fact, over 80% of Beams developers told us they tried integrating notifications directly through APNs/FCM before they started using Beams. 

Here’s why you’ll save time with Beams:

- 3 out 4 of developers were able to get a test notification service set up with Beams in 30 minutes or less.
- This summer, APNs/FCM refreshed 1 in 10 device tokens managed by Beams. Developers don’t need to worry because our SDKs keep device tokens updated behind the scenes. 
- The API is ready for scale. You can deliver notifications to 1 million iOS devices per minute and 1 million Android devices per 17 seconds. 

At Pusher, we take pride in providing infrastructure that developers rely upon to build great apps, and we can’t wait to see what you build with Beams.

# What’s next for Beams?

We plan to give developers more flexibility to target notifications to users, increase transparency for the health of their service, and improve deliverability across all your devices.

Beams has an active community of developers — special shoutout to the community supported [React Native SDK](https://github.com/b8ne/react-native-pusher-push-notifications) — and we’re excited to hear your ideas for what we should build next! 

Join the [Pusher community on Slack](https://feedback-beta.pusher.com/) or reach out using our Intercom chat on [docs](https://docs.pusher.com/beams) or [dashboard](https://dash.pusher.com/). 

If you like what you see and you’re feeling generous, help spread the word with a [tweet](https://ctt.ac/j3b65) or star our Beams [iOS](https://github.com/pusher/push-notifications-swift) and [Android](https://github.com/pusher/push-notifications-android) SDKs on Github.