What are push notifications?

Messages apps and websites send directly to a device's lock screen — permission-gated, high-attention, easily revoked.

When did push notifications start?

Apple launched the Apple Push Notification service in June 2009 with iPhone OS 3; Android's C2DM followed in 2010.

What makes push effective?

Triggered relevance (the user's own events), transactional trust, frequency discipline, and a well-timed permission ask.

Growth Marketing Glossary

Push Notifications

push no·ti·fi·ca·tions/pʊʃ ˌnoʊtəfəˈkeɪʃənz/noun

A direct line to the pocket — revoked the moment you abuse it.

Schematic — a lock-screen banner above the phone

Term: Push Notifications
Born: Apple Push Notification service, 2009
Gate: User permission (opt-in)
Twin jobs: Re-engagement + transactional utility

Forms & parts of speech

push · noun (clipped form)

The notification channel.

"Don't burn push on promos — it's the channel that wakes the phone, and the user remembers."

Definition in plain terms

Push notifications are messages delivered straight to a device's lock screen or notification tray by an app (mobile push, born with Apple's APNs in 2009) or a website (web push, 2015 era). They arrive without the user opening anything — which makes push simultaneously the highest-attention owned channel and the easiest to get fired from: permission is granted once and revoked forever.

The mechanics

The economics run on the permission gate: iOS asks explicitly (opt-in rates hinge on WHEN and WHY you ask — priming screens before the system prompt roughly double acceptance), Android historically defaulted on (then tightened). The craft splits by job: transactional push (order shipped, seat assigned) builds the trust that promotional push spends; re-engagement push works when triggered by user-relevant events (your order, your team, your streak) and churns users when batch-blasted. Deep links, rich media, and quiet-hours discipline separate professionals from spam; notification-fatigue research keeps finding the cost of over-sending is app DELETION, not just opt-out.

When it matters

Push matters where timing IS the value — commerce status, breaking relevance, streak mechanics, marketplace activity — and as the retention channel for apps whose habit loop needs an external trigger (the Hooked model's first step). It's the wrong channel for what email does better (long-form, browsing-time content). The strategic frame: push is rented intimacy; every send is a withdrawal, and only genuinely useful sends are deposits.

Worked example. A food-delivery app blasts identical lunch promos daily; opt-outs climb and deletions follow. The push rebuild treats permission as a balance sheet: transactional messages stay sacred (and excellent), promos become triggered and personal (your usual restaurant has a 20-minute window; the storm's coming — order early), frequency caps and quiet hours go system-wide, and the permission ask moves to right after a successful first delivery, with a priming screen stating exactly what push will be used for. Opt-in rises 2x, opens triple, and deletion-rate per send finally bends down — the channel started earning its place on the lock screen.

Failure modes to watch. Batch-blasting promos to the whole base; asking for permission at first launch before any value exists; skipping deep links so taps land on the home screen; and ignoring quiet hours until the 3 a.m. promo writes the one-star review.

Synonyms & antonyms

Synonyms

push notificationspushapp notifications

Antonyms

pull channels (email, feeds)in-app messages (the gentler sibling)

Origin & history

Born as the Apple Push Notification service (APNs), announced 2008 and launched June 2009 with iPhone OS 3.0 — Apple's answer to background-process battery drain: a single system channel through which servers could 'push' messages to apps. Android's equivalents (C2DM 2010, then GCM/FCM) and the W3C's web push (2015-16) generalized the channel.

Etymology: source.

Usage trends

Search interest for this term over the last five years:

View interest-over-time on Google Trends →

Common questions

What are push notifications?: Messages apps and websites send directly to a device's lock screen — permission-gated, high-attention, easily revoked.
When did push notifications start?: Apple launched the Apple Push Notification service in June 2009 with iPhone OS 3; Android's C2DM followed in 2010.
What makes push effective?: Triggered relevance (the user's own events), transactional trust, frequency discipline, and a well-timed permission ask.

Related tools & calculators

toolFunnel drop-off analyzer

Resources & people to follow

referenceApple — APNs documentation (the origin)
bookHooked — Eyal (push as external trigger)
referenceBraze/OneSignal — opt-in and fatigue benchmarks

Curated, non-competitor resources verified per term.

Related training

moduleGrowth marketing foundations

Disciplines

Areas of marketing where push notifications is a core concern:

ChannelsBrand strategy

Sources

trendsGoogle Trends — "push notifications"