ForumMobile/ios/App/NotificationService/COMMUNICATION_NOTIFICATIONS.md

Communication Notifications (avatar + app-icon badge)

The Notification Service Extension (NotificationService.swift) turns incoming pushes into communication notifications on iOS 15+: a large circular avatar (the sending network's photo) with the app icon badged in the corner.

How it works

1. The server (frm.so, notifications.js) sets mutableContent: 1 and adds to the push payload:
   • imageUrl — a PNG of the network's logo (the server rasterizes SVG logos to PNG via sharp, since iOS can't render SVG avatars).
   • senderName — the network name (used as the conversation title; falls back to the notification's own title).
   • isGroup — true, so iOS uses the group-avatar style.
2. The extension downloads imageUrl, builds an INSendMessageIntent with the image as the sender/group avatar, donates it, and returns content.updating(from: intent).
3. On iOS 14 the extension falls back to attaching the image as a plain thumbnail.

Required setup (both pieces are mandatory)

Two things must be in place or the avatar silently won't render:

1. NSUserActivityTypes declares the intent (already in this repo)

INSendMessageIntent is declared under NSUserActivityTypes in both App/Info.plist and NotificationService/Info.plist. Without this the donation fails with "Donating intent 'INSendMessageIntent' is not supported by this extension" and the communication styling never applies.

2. Communication Notifications capability (one-time, in Xcode — cannot be scripted)

The capability must be registered on the provisioning profile, not just present in the entitlements file:

1. Open ios/App/App.xcworkspace in Xcode.
2. Select the App target → Signing & Capabilities → + Capability → add Communication Notifications.
   • This adds com.apple.developer.usernotifications.communication to App.entitlements (already in this repo) and, crucially, enables the capability on the App ID / provisioning profile. Requires a paid Apple Developer account.
3. If the avatar still doesn't appear, add the same capability to the NotificationService target as well.
4. Rebuild and reinstall on a device (communication notifications don't reliably render on the Simulator).

Notes

• Requires iOS 15.0+ for the communication style; older versions get the plain attachment fallback automatically.
• The app's deployment target is currently 14.0, so no bump is required.