Starting March 22, 2020, the versions 81 and 82 of chrome disallow the creation of any new subscriptions using FCM sender IDs. However, the versions 78,79 and 80 of chrome will still allow the FCM Sender IDs that were used before September 2019. All the other FCM Sender IDs will be rejected.
VWO Engage started using Firebase’s Cloud Messaging(FCM) a couple of years ago. It’s a free service that facilitates messaging between apps and server applications.
What is FCM Sender ID?
The FCM Sender ID is a unique numerical value generated in the Google Developers Console / Google Cloud Console when configuring your projects. The project number is typically the FCM sender ID and is used during the registration process to identify an app server that can send messages to the client app. For instance, the below image shows the Sender and thus, VWO Engage has permission to send push notifications.
To look for the Sender ID in your Firebase account, follow these:
- From the Firebase dashboard, select a project.
- From the panel on the left, click on the settings icon.
- From the project settings that appear on the page, go to the CLOUD MESSAGING tab to find the Sender ID.
What is the use of Sender ID?
The FCM sender ID is typically used to identify the sender of a push notification. For example, here VWO Engage or you can be the sender of push notifications.
If you have used the default push configuration settings and have not registered your own FCM sender ID, all of your FCM subscriptions belong to the Engage Sender ID. Alternatively, If you did not use the default push configuration settings, and have registered your own FCM sender ID via the developer console, your subscriptions belong to your own FCM sender ID.
Why is FCM sender ID being deprecated?
VAPID(Voluntary Application Server Identification) is the latest sending method that is being widely used across the Web Push Notification Services. Compared to FCM, VAPID not only improves the delivery rate but also enhances the overall performance of Push Notification Services. This is typically based on our recent observations, analysis, and reports.
Additionally, VAPID supports more browsers than FCM(for example, Microsoft Edge and Mozilla Firefox). This means an increase in the subscriber base.
What VWO Engage Has Done To Tackle The Impact of FCM Sender IDs Deprecation?
When Google announced it will deprecate FCM sender ids and as such suggest updating developers to VAPID as soon as possible, VWO Engage changed its default subscription mechanism to VAPID as it was better than FCM sender ids.
NOTE: Your existing subscriptions will continue to work on FCM, but your future subscriptions will be latched to VAPID only. This has no direct effect on your account.