Android Push Notification Channels

Set up Android notification channels introduced in Oreo (API 26) to give users granular control over push notification preferences per channel.

Use Android notification channels (introduced in Android Oreo, API Level 26) to give users granular control over their push notification preferences. Instead of toggling notifications for an entire app, users can adjust preferences, such as opt-outs, sounds, and vibration, for each individual channel.

Prerequisites Before using notification channels, confirm you meet these requirements:

• Target SDK: Your app must target Android Oreo (Android 8.0 / API level 26) or later. If your app targets an older version but runs on an Android Oreo device, it behaves as it does on Android 7.1 / API level 25.
• MoEngage SDK: Update the MoEngage Android SDK to v8.0.00 or higher.

Configuration Workflow

Follow these steps to configure notification channels for your campaigns.

Step 1: Manage Notification Channels

Map the notification channels your developers configured in the app to the MoEngage dashboard.

1. Navigate to the step-2 define content of the campaign creation flow.
2. Expand the Basic details section.
3. Locate the Notification channel drop-down menu.
4. Click + Manage notification channel to open the configuration modal.

The modal lists all channels your development team has configured in the app. Each row shows:

• Channel name
• Channel ID (as defined in the app code)
• Importance level, the priority that controls how intrusively the notification appears on the device.

The Channel ID and Importance values must match what your developers configured in the app. Check with your development team if you are unsure which values to use. Each channel name and ID must be unique. If you enter a duplicate value, the modal blocks saving and highlights the conflicting field with an error. Correct the value before saving.

About Importance

Importance is a label you declare to mirror what your developers configured for that channel in the app code. It determines how intrusive notifications on this channel are, whether they play a sound, pop up as a banner, or stay silent. MoEngage does not read importance from the device or the SDK. You set it manually so marketers can identify a channel’s behavior when selecting one for a campaign.

For a new channel, Importance is required. You cannot save the channel until you select a value.

Changing Importance on the dashboard does not affect devices where the app is already installed. Android locks a channel’s importance once the channel is created. The value you set here applies only to new installs.

The General channel (MoEngage’s fallback channel) has a fixed importance and appears greyed out in the modal. You cannot edit it.

The importance you set should match what your developers configured for that channel in the app code. If they do not match, end users experience the behavior defined in the app, not the label shown on the dashboard.

Step 2: Set a Default Channel (Optional)

To streamline future campaign creation, you can designate a specific channel as your default.

1. After you add and save a channel, select the Default radio button next to it.
2. Click Save. MoEngage pre-selects this channel for all future campaigns.

Step 3: Select a Channel for Campaign Delivery

Select the channel that best fits your campaign. All notifications sent through a channel share its configured behavior.

Fallback Behavior: If you provide an invalid Channel ID or skip the channel selection, MoEngage automatically uses the General channel to deliver notifications to users on Android 8.0 (API level 26) and later.

Channel Importance Levels Reference

When you select a channel, the dashboard shows a summary of its behavior based on its importance level.

Importance	Description
Urgent	Pops up as a banner and plays a sound. Stays visible on the lock screen and status bar. Best for time-sensitive notifications.
High	Plays a sound and shows on the lock screen, but does not pop up a banner. Good for important updates that do not need to interrupt the user.
Medium	Silent. Appears in the status bar and lock screen with no sound or vibration. Good for general activity feeds.
Low	Silent and discreet. No status-bar icon and no sound. Users only see it when they pull down the notification shade.
None	Completely hidden. No sound, no status-bar icon, no alert in the notification shade.

Exception Handling: Unknown or Missing Importance

Channels added before the Importance feature was introduced show their importance as Unknown, flagged with an amber indicator in the channel picker. Unknown is not an error. It means importance has not been declared yet, not that the channel is broken. You can still send campaigns on a channel with Unknown importance. The amber flag is a prompt to set a level.

To resolve it, open Manage notification channel, select an importance level for each Unknown channel, and click Save.

What the dashboard shows when a channel has Unknown importance:

1. Channel picker: The channel shows Unknown with an amber indicator next to its name.
2. Inline warning: Below the Notification Channel field, the message reads: “Channel importance: Unknown. Ask channel implementer to define the required further behavior for the device.”
3. Error banner: A broader warning may appear: “Missing importance breakdown. The behaviour of notification cannot be determined. Explore channel importance for expected behaviour.”

MoEngage does not create, read, update, or delete notification channels in your app. Your developers manage the full channel lifecycle in the app code.

End-User Experience and Controls

Once developers create and register a channel with the Android Notification Manager, they cannot change its behavior in code. Users have full control over these settings from that point on.

Regardless of the importance declared on the dashboard, users can modify or block the channel from their device Settings. User-level preferences always override the app’s configuration.

Users can go to their device Settings or long-press a notification to adjust or block a channel. When users change any of the following settings, their preferences override the app’s defaults for that channel:

• Importance
• Sound
• Lights
• Vibration
• Show on lock-screen
• Override “Do Not Disturb”