this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2023
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I'm curious why "push notifications" really act like "pull notifications." Your phone has to request updates from Google/Apple's server. You're still just polling a server frequently. Why is it not the other way around? Why is your phone not the server, and Google/Apple make the "request" to your phone?
Phones are very dynamic devices constantly migrating between unknown networks, they suck as a server.
Plus the whole point is to control device wakeups. The opposite is true for a server.
The term “push notification” comes from how it enables developers to “push” users, even when they’re not active.
An app developer can (potentially) vibrate a device, make it emit noise, flash a light, appear on the screen, and exist in a set of notifications pinned to the tops of the screens.
Check out Three Minute Games’ mobile game series Lifeline. I think that it beautifully illustrates “pushing”. How the game pushes you to help someone survive in real time, through messages that appear alongside your real notifications.
The game tells you when you’re playing, not the other way round. Buzz buzz, come and play with me.