MOCA Platform allows the configuration of Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) for Android and Apple Push Notification Service (APNs). But what are the differences between them? Let's take a look!

The notifications are divided in two components:

• The device token (APNs) and the Device ID (FCM).
• Payload

Within these two components we find various differences:

• FCM is sent as JSON payloads and APNS sends either string or dict.
• FCM has a payload of 2KB while APNS has a payload of 4KB.
• APNS saves 1 notification per App while FCM saves 100 notifications per device.
• FCM supports multiple platforms while APNS requires of their proprietary platform.
• Acknowledgement can be sent in FCM if using XMPP, but it's not possible on APNS.

Do I need both?

Short answer depends on what platforms you've published your App. They each cater to specific operating systems (Android and iOS) so depending on your target platforms you'll need to configure one or more of these notification protocols.