During the implementation of push notifications for iOS devices you may have noticed that you can configure the type of notification sent to Apple devices. Available values include alert, background, voip, complication, fileprovider, or mdm. The value you set for push_type key should always align with the values inside your aps payload.
What a given push type is used for?
alert push type is meant for notifications that trigger a user interaction- an alert, badge, or sound.
background delivers content in the background, and doesn’t trigger any user interactions.
location is used for notifications that request a user’s location.
voip notifications provide information about an incoming Voice-over-IP (VoIP) call.
complication push type is used for notifications that contain update information for a watchOS app’s complications.
fileprovider signals changes to a File Provider extension.
mdm push type notifies managed devices to contact the Mobile Device Management server.
Check this page to see how to construct iOS push payload and set its type.
For more details about the push types and their implementation, please visit Apple's developer site.
If you have any questions, please contact support@pubnub.com.