
Safari Push Notifications - superchink
https://developer.apple.com/notifications/safari-push-notifications/
======
songzme
Safari is my #1 browser to download chrome. It seems to always fall behind the
HTML5 features that matters most. For example, WebRTC lets developers
integrate real time audio/video/data awesomeness into websites and its readily
available in firefox and chrome, but not safari.

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coldtea
> _For example, WebRTC lets developers integrate real time audio /video/data
> awesomeness into websites and its readily available in firefox and chrome,
> but not safari._

And how does WebRTC matters for everyday use at the moment?

I haven't seen anything that is not a tech-demo or similar relying on it.

It would be nice to have it in Safari too (and I use Chrome myself), but it's
hardly a deal breaker (or even relevant).

~~~
kartoffelmos
Arguably, it is because the lack of browser support that makes WebRTC "not
matter for everyday use". We would see a lot more use if IE and Safari would
implement it. And not only for video conferencing (such as
[https://appear.in](https://appear.in)), but also for multiplayer gaming,
filesharing, audio recording+++

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wiradikusuma
Now we just need a standard for this, as not many people use Safari in Mac
(compared to others as a whole).

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aroman
That's really really not possible if you understand the basics of how this
works. This is NOT a browser API, this is an API for Apple's own cloud push
notification infrastructure.

This technology can ONLY work with a giant third-party server doing the
legwork.

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alecsmart1
This is truly a good step forward. I am not sure why it's called Safari Push
Notification. As per their docs, it is primarily an OS function. So
technically it should be possible to do this using Chrome on Mac as well.
However, it is possible they bundle it with Safari. Then they can have push
notifications in Windows as well.

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saurik
How do you anticipate getting the push token from Chrome if not via the
Safari-specific JavaScript APIs?

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alecsmart1
That's a good point. Then why do they need OS support? Why not run a simple
background service when Safari is installed and make it cross-platform.

~~~
saurik
Apple does not consider cross-platform features to be in their interest: they
make money on hardware, and consider quality software to be a feature of that
hardware. Safari itself is not cross-platform: it was temporarily distributed
for Windows, but it has not been updated in a year and a half; you can't add a
cross-platform background service to a web browser that is only distributed
bundled with an operating system ;P. (As far as I understand, Safari for
Windows mostly existed just to get web developers to support Safari better,
but as they've now gained so much marketshare they discontinued that project.)

~~~
Samuel_Michon
> [Safari] was temporarily distributed for Windows

Meaning from June of 2007 to this day. 6 years is temporary for a browser as
much as living on earth feels temporary for a human.

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saurik
No. I specifically stated it has not been updated for a year and a half. I
guess if you only care about "can I download a version from the web page" you
are technically correct as you quote me using the word "distributed", but it
is the kind of technically correct that isn't very constructive ;P.

~~~
Samuel_Michon
> the kind of technically correct that isn't very constructive

Fair enough.

That’s not to say Apple won’t ever update Safari for Windows, but I too won’t
hold my breath. Apple’s software offerings for Windows haven’t been great for
a long time (QuickTime and FileMaker used to be great on Windows, but that was
back in the 90s). Recently, instead of offering a native version of iWork for
Windows, Apple has opted to build it as a web app. That might be appreciated
by Linux desktop users, but it isn’t a hopeful sign of Apple creating quality
native apps for Windows.

I would love for Apple to build good versions of QuickTime X, iTunes, and
Safari for Windows >7\. As it stands now, the software Apple has for Windows
feel outdated and are way too sluggish.

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jws
If you think you want to do this in the future, then get your corporate D-U-
N-S number and corporate Apple developer account. Things can go wrong in this
process, there are horror stories of it taking many weeks.

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denzil_correa
Will and won't this encourage spam from websites in the form of advertisements
etc.? I hope this has some form of authentication barrier. Presently, I prefer
desktop notifications from Chrome via Chime on websites I have signed in. -
[http://chimeapp.com/](http://chimeapp.com/)

~~~
bradleyland
I up-voted because I've noticed a dramatic increase in the number of auth
requests as I browse websites. In most cases the website authors are just
trying to be helpful, but the bar is pretty high for me to sign up for push
notifications. For most websites, I prefer to get email, if anything at all.
Push notifications are the kind of thing I'm only going to use for
transactional matters.

The problem (for me) is that no one seems to be able to run a push service
without abusing it. I can't sign up for weather alerts without being bombarded
with useless information, much less a Mac news-site.

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clintboxe
If you want to see an example, check out Redfin:

[http://blog.redfin.com/blog/2013/10/redfin-introduces-new-
in...](http://blog.redfin.com/blog/2013/10/redfin-introduces-new-instant-
notifications-in-apple-safari-os-x-mavericks.html)

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CSDude
Considering all the time we spent trying to defeat pop-ups, this is just a
step back for many more advertisements. The push notifications on the mobile
is already bad, especially on Android, it can get much more worse on a web
browser.

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bdash
From the "Notification Programming Guide for Websites"[1]:

    
    
        > Opting In to Notifications
        > 
        > Users must opt in to receive notifications. The opt-in process only occurs
        > once per domain. The presentation of asking for permission is identical
        > for all website notifications. In fact, the permission policy that
        > a user chooses for push notifications applies to local notifications.
    

It goes on to say that "users can adjust their notification preferences in
Safari preferences and System Preferences".

[1]:
[https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Networ...](https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/NetworkingInternet/Conceptual/NotificationProgrammingGuideForWebsites/UserExperience/UserExperience.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40013225-CH10-SW7)

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cwilson
So correct me if I'm wrong, but this ONLY works if you have Mavericks,
correct? If so, why is it called Safari Push Notifications? Safari doesn't
have to be running for them to work.

Unless you don't have to be using Mavericks, and it works with the latest
version of Safari (assuming you have it launched) regardless of OS (Windows,
OSX v*, etc), and Mavericks is only required when you don't have Safari
running.

~~~
bdash
Yes, this only works if you have Mavericks. It is called Safari Push
Notifications because it's a push notification feature provided by Safari, to
distinguish it from OS X's more general support for push notifications.

Safari also supports the "Web Notifications" specification[1], which allows a
website to post a notification while it is open in Safari. This has been
supported for a few releases now and is also available in some other browsers.
I believe Gmail can make use of this to call attention to new emails while
open in a background tab.

[1]: <[https://dvcs.w3.org/hg/notifications/raw-
file/tip/Overview.h...](https://dvcs.w3.org/hg/notifications/raw-
file/tip/Overview.html>)

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techscruggs
Its interesting that Safari doesn't need to be on for these to work. I wonder
if it will launch my browser of choice (Chrome) when I click on one of these.

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whyenot
It doesn't. FF is my default browser. If I click on a notification from the NY
Times, it opens in Safari.

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dave1010uk
Apple must need to know who you are as soon as you log in for this to work.
Presumably this only works if you have some kind of Apple account. Do Macs
call home each time a user logs into a Mac? If so, are Mac users generally
aware and OK with this?

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crystaln
Yes. It's optional, but most users use an iCloud account that sync their
address book, calendar, etc.

Just like Microsoft and Google.

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bdash
As far as I'm aware, iCloud accounts aren't required for push notifications.
The push notification system identifies devices by an opaque token that isn't
tied to any user-identifiable information.

Edit: The Apple Push Notification Service documentation at
[https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/Networ...](https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/NetworkingInternet/Conceptual/RemoteNotificationsPG/Chapters/ApplePushService.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40008194-CH100-SW9)
talks about the architecture and seems to match my recollection.

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srinivasanv
Why not just make it a Mac feature as opposed to a Safari feature? This feels
a little like Microsoft trying to integrate IE into Windows.

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valleyer
I think even most of Microsoft's critics agree that the criticism over
integrating IE and Windows was pointless. Basically every major desktop and
mobile OS does the same thing these days.

Also, Safari is only released on OS X. So I'm not sure what your first
sentence really means either.

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grigio
fuck you apple! To see this video you need safari browser, a registered
account and then it is also buggy the video seek is broken

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cfontes
What a weird feeling I get when seeing this.

It looks so cool but pisses me off at the same time.

I hope I get a way to turn this off easily of at least filter it's content.

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caiob
Why does it piss you off? It's only there because you've chosen to.

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axman6
Look at the domain name, clearly it's an evil ploy from the devil incorporate.

