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Modify behavior of Firebase In-App Messaging messages

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This page is archived and might not reflect the latest version of the FlutterFire plugins. You can find the latest information on firebase.google.com:

https://firebase.google.com/docs/in-app-messaging/modify-message-behavior?platform=flutter

With little to no coding effort, Firebase In-App Messaging allows you to create, configure and target rich user interactions, leveraging the capabilities of Google Analytics out of the box to tie messaging events to actual user characteristics, activities, and choices. With some additional Firebase In-App Messaging SDK integration, you can tailor the behavior of in-app messages even further, responding when users interact with messages, triggering message events outside the Analytics framework, and allowing users to control sharing of their personal data related to messaging interactions.

Respond when users interact with in-app messages#

With actions you can use your in-app messages to direct users to a website or a specific screen in your app.

Your code can respond to basic interactions (clicks and dismissals), to impressions (verified views of your messages), and to display errors logged and confirmed by the SDK. For example, when your message is composed as a Card modal, you might want to track and follow-up on which of two URLs the user clicked on the Card.

To do so, you will have to use the platform-native APIs. See the documentation for iOS and Android.

Trigger in-app messages programmatically#

Firebase In-App Messaging by default allows you to trigger in-app messages with Google Analytics for Firebase events, with no additional integration. You can also manually trigger events programmatically with the Firebase In-App Messaging SDK's programmatic triggers.

In the In-App Messaging campaign composer, create a new campaign or select an existing campaign, and in the Scheduling step of the composer workflow, note the event ID of a newly-created or existing messaging event. Once noted, instrument your app to trigger the event by its ID.

FirebaseInAppMessaging.instance.triggerEvent("eventName");

Use campaign custom metadata#

In your campaigns, you can specify custom data in a series of key/value pairs. When users interact with messages, this data is available for you to, for example, display a promo code.

To do so, you will have to use the platform-native APIs. See the documentation for iOS and Android.

Temporarily disable in-app messages#

By default, Firebase In-App Messaging renders messages whenever a triggering condition is satisfied, regardless of an app's current state. If you'd like to suppress message displays for any reason, for example to avoid interrupting a sequence of payment processing screens, you can do that with the SDK's setMessagesSuppressed() method:

FirebaseInAppMessaging.instance.setMessagesSuppressed(true);

Passing true to the method prevents Firebase In-App Messaging from displaying messages, while false reenables message display. The SDK turns off message suppression on app restart. Suppressed messages are ignored by the SDK. Their trigger conditions must be met again while suppression is off before Firebase In-App Messaging can display them.

Enable opt-out message delivery#

By default, Firebase In-App Messaging automatically delivers messages to all app users you target in messaging campaigns. To deliver those messages, the Firebase In-App Messaging SDK uses installation IDs to identify each user's app. This means that In-App Messaging has to send client data, linked to the installation ID, to Firebase servers. If you'd like to give users more control over the data they send, disable automatic data collection and give them a chance to approve data sharing.

To do that, you have to disable automatic initialization for Firebase In-App Messaging, and initialize the service manually for opt-in users:

  1. Turn off automatic initialization.

    Apple platforms: Add a new key to your Info.plist file:

    • Key: FirebaseInAppMessagingAutomaticDataCollectionEnabled
    • Value: NO

    Android: Add a meta-data tag to your AndroidManifest.xml file:

    <meta-data
    android:name="firebase_inapp_messaging_auto_data_collection_enabled"
    android:value="false" />

  2. Initialize Firebase In-App Messaging for selected users manually:

    FirebaseInAppMessaging.instance.setAutomaticDataCollectionEnabled(true);

    Once you set a data collection preference manually, the value persists through app restarts, overriding the value in your Info.plist or AndroidManifest.xml. If you'd like to disable initialization again, for example if a user opts out of collection later, pass false to the setAutomaticDataCollectionEnabled() method.

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