Introduction

In the realm of push notifications, the initial objective is to capture the user's attention. Android's Notification Channels enable app developers to categorize their notifications, allowing users to tailor the notifications to their preferences. Creating a notification channel permits the setting of specific visual and auditory features.You can achieve this with the use of custom sounds and other Android methods.

In this article, we will learn how to incorporate a custom notification tone for your Android app.

Create a Notification Channel with Custom Auditory and Visual Settings

Perform the following steps:

1. Get a reference to the NotificationManager.
   Before you can create a notification channel, you will need a reference to the NotificationManager:
   
   Code

   NotificationManager notificationManager = getSystemService(NotificationManager.class);

2. Create a notification channel.
   
   Code

   String channelId = "my_channel_id";
   
   CharSequence channelName = "My Channel";
   
   int importance = NotificationManager.IMPORTANCE_HIGH; // Set the importance level
   
   NotificationChannel notificationChannel = new NotificationChannel(channelId, channelName, importance);

3. Set auditory properties.
   You can set custom sounds and vibration patterns for:
   • Sound:
     
     Code

     // Define an audio attribute
     
     AudioAttributes audioAttributes = new AudioAttributes.Builder()
     
     .setContentType(AudioAttributes.CONTENT_TYPE_SONIFICATION)
     
     .setUsage(AudioAttributes.USAGE_NOTIFICATION)
     
     .build();
     
     // Set the custom sound and audio attributes to the notification channel
     
     notificationChannel.setSound(Uri.parse(ContentResolver.SCHEME_ANDROID_RESOURCE + "//"
     
     + getApplicationContext().getPackageName() + "/" + R.raw.your_sound_file), audioAttributes)

   • Vibration:
     
     Codex

     long[] vibrationPattern = {100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 400, 300, 200, 400}; // Define your custom pattern
     
     notificationChannel.setVibrationPattern(vibrationPattern);
     
     notificationChannel.enableVibration(true);

4. Set visual properties such as light color, lock screen visibility, and badges:
   
   Code

   notificationChannel.setLightColor(Color.RED); // Set the light color
   
   notificationChannel.enableLights(true); // Enable lights
   
   notificationChannel.setLockscreenVisibility(Notification.VISIBILITY_PRIVATE); // Set lock screen visibility
   
   notificationChannel.setShowBadge(true); // Enable badges

5. Register the Notification Channel with the system.
   Create the notification channel through the createNotificationChannel() method:
   
   Code

   assert notificationManager != null;
   
   notificationManager.createNotificationChannel(notificationChannel);

6. Send a notification that shows up in the notification center.
   Set the channel ID you specified earlier when building the notification:
   
   Code

   NotificationCompat.Builder builder = new NotificationCompat.Builder(this, channelId)
   
   .setSmallIcon(R.drawable.notification_icon)
   
   .setContentTitle("My notification")
   
   .setContentText("Hello World!")
   
   .setPriority(NotificationCompat.PRIORITY_HIGH); // Set the priority
   
   notificationManager.notify(1, builder.build());

   
   

   info

   Information The assert notificationManager != null; prevents a NullPointerException if the NotificationManager reference is null. Also, ensure that the entire notifying process runs in a background thread to not block the user interface. Replace my_channel_id with a unique ID for your channel and My Channel must be the human-readable name of the channel. These settings will take effect when the channel is first created. After you create a notification channel, you cannot change its behavior and the user has the final control over their notification preferences.

Use the Notification Channel in MoEngage

1. Navigate to step 2 "Content" of the Push notification.
2. In the Basic details section, add the notification channel:
   1. Expand the Notification channel drop-down list and click + Manage notification channel.
      
      The Manage android notification channel pop-up window is displayed.
      
3. Select the appropriate notification channel for your notification in the same section. After adding the channels, select any one of the channels for your campaign based on your requirement. All notifications posted to the same notification channel have the same behavior.
   

   info	Information If an invalid channel ID is added or you miss adding one, MoEngage will use General Channel (a MoEngage Fallback Channel) to target your users on Android 8.0 (API level 26) and above.

Conclusion

In this use case, we learnt how to incorporate a custom notification tone for your Android app. You can test the behavior using the Test Campaign option before you publish the campaign. For more information, refer here.