Website data to iOS and Android?

[pctechtv]

I am looking for a helpful start (key words or even phrases) to begin understanding what it takes for a web site to give auto notification to an app on iOS and Android. I hope that wording is understandable, but in short how can things that happen on my website be automated to send the data as information to phones apps. Is this handled via web services? Thanks

[justsomeguy]

One option would be for the app to periodically check for updates, you could use a web service for that. If the app supports push notifications then you could also have some software running on your server that will send out notifications as events happen.

[pctechtv]

That is a helpful start. I was reading about push notification on iOS is this something that can be achieved via Android as well? Could you name a software that sends notifications, would that be something like Node.js. Thanks

[justsomeguy]

I don't think the server software matters much, as long as it can send messages to Google's services.https://developer.android.com/google/gcm/index.html

[davej]

It is trivial to have an app periodically download a small file from a website. Such a file could could contain updates or initiate an update process.

[justsomeguy]

It's trivial, but constant polling means that the app needs to be running in the background and that it's going to send network traffic periodically. All of that will decrease the battery life. I believe the Google Cloud Messaging platform will bundle all messages for a phone so that other apps don't need to run in the background.

[davej]

Oh, by "periodically" I meant perhaps several times a day and a trivial amount of traffic.

[pctechtv]

 

It is trivial to have an app periodically download a small file from a website. Such a file could could contain updates or initiate an update process

The way I was imagining it was like a site that a user (contributor) interacts with to let you know some feedback from another contributor is needed. The user (contributor) would then interact with the site and a phone application would instantly notify the other contributor. I was thinking this could be instant (as fast as servers can work). Simply from something like a click.

 

but constant polling means that the app needs to be running in the background and that it's going to send network traffic periodically.

Would polling be necessary if you have interaction? No correct? Thanks

Edited May 27, 2015 by pctechtv

[justsomeguy]

Polling means the app is constantly checking the server for updates, as opposed to the server pushing updates to the app only when necessary.