Push notification glossary

You will learn

The glossary below defines common terms and acronyms for push notification marketing.

A

Android: operating system designed by Google for use in mobile devices. Used by a variety of companies, such as Samsung, Nokia, LG, and others. 

Apple Push Notification Service: abbreviated to APNs. This is the platform Apple uses to send push notifications to apps on iOS mobile devices. 

C

Collapsed view: how a push notification appears on a mobile device when a user hasn’t expanded it.

D

Deep linking: including a link in a push notification that takes recipients to a specific screen in your app. In order to deep link, you need to have a custom URI.  

E

Expanded view: how a push notification appears on a mobile device when a user long presses on the message on iOS or taps the down arrow in the message on Android. The expanded view shows more of the message’s content, displays a larger version of the image, or plays the attached GIF (iOS only).

F

Firebase Cloud Messaging: abbreviated to FCM. This is the platform Google uses to send push notifications to apps on Android mobile devices.

I

iOS: stands for “iPhone operating system” and is used by Apple for their mobile devices. 

M

Mobile device: a portable electronic gadget that connects to the internet, such as a tablet or smartphone.

Mobile push notification: a message sent by an app to a mobile app user to provide the user with reminders or other timely information. Typically, push notifications appear on the lock screen of the mobile device. Mobile push notifications are currently available with Klaviyo. 

P

Package manager: a package manager is a system of tools used to manage, install, and initialize software within an app. The package manager is like a toolbox that includes all the tools you need, and is also called “software manager,” “application manager,” or “app manager.”

Push notification: can refer to either a mobile push notification or web push notification. Mobile push notifications are sent via mobile apps and appear only on mobile devices, while web push notifications are sent via web browsers and can appear on desktops, laptops, or mobile devices. Klaviyo only offers mobile push notifications. 

Push token: a unique anonymous ID generated by the Apple Push Notification Service (iOS) or Firebase Cloud Messaging (Android) to identify a certain app on a certain device. Similar to email addresses and phone numbers, Klaviyo uses push tokens to know where to send push notifications for a recipient. The token for an app on a given device should be the same on all platforms (i.e., it will be the same token in Klaviyo and any other platform you’re using). A push token can be associated with only 1 profile in Klaviyo, so if multiple people use an app on the same device, Klaviyo will move the token to the most recently logged-in profile. 

R

Rich push notification: a push notification that includes a piece of multimedia, such as an image or GIF. 

S

SDK: a software development kit (SDK) is a set of tools, libraries, and programs used to develop apps for a specific platform or service. SDKs are usually installed in packages. You can access the codes and scripts in this package via the package manager. 

U

URI: stands for uniform resource identifier (URI). Similar to a URL (which is the address for a website), a URI can be used to identify a specific screen in a mobile app. In Klaviyo, use custom URIs to deep link from a push notification to a screen in your app.

W

Web push notification: also called “browser notifications.” Web push notifications are notifications that are sent by a website and appear within a browser window, even when the website is not open. They can appear on both desktop and mobile devices. Web push notifications are not currently offered in Klaviyo.

Additional resources

• Basics: push notification best practices
• Understanding push notification consent
• How to use email, SMS, and push together
• Frequently asked questions about push profiles and tokens