With the announced expansion of Firebase at Google I/O recently, we also introduced Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) and Firebase Notifications (FN). As a developer, there are lots of updates that you might be able to take advantage of.
Despite the switch to FCM, we’ll continue to support Google Cloud Messaging on Android, iOS and the Web because we know that you have applications using the previous SDKs to handle notifications. However, all new client side features will be added to FCM SDKs moving forward. As such, we strongly recommend that you upgrade to the FCM SDKs. You can learn more about them here.
FCM supports everything that you’ve come to know with Google Cloud Messaging including addressing single devices, groups of devices or topics.
The FCM SDK simplifies client development. For example, you no longer need to write your own registration or subscription retry logic. When it comes to your server (if you still want to use one), updates to the endpoints and protocol don’t incur breaking changes, so as to maintain backwards compatibility. The updated details are available in the FCM Server documentation.
We’re investing heavily in making Firebase our unified mobile platform. We’re also continuing to expand our messaging platform beyond Android, including iOS and the Web. Firebase is well known for it’s cross-platform capabilities, so FCM is a natural fit for the ongoing Firebase releases. If you want to learn how to migrate your current app from Google Cloud Messaging to FCM, we’ve provided guides here for Android and iOS.
We think that Google Cloud Messaging will be even more useful to you when integrated into Firebase, including the new Firebase Notifications console. With that you’ll be able to send messages to apps directly from the console -- without you needing to build a messaging server.
To upgrade from Google Cloud Messaging to FCM or to learn more, see our guides for Android and iOS apps.