Laravel - Setup Expo Push Notifications

Hey there, fellow developers! Today, I'll guide you through each step on how to make your Laravel app send Expo push notifications. I'll break it down into simple, easy-to-understand explanations. Let's make your app shout out with Expo push notifications!

In this example I will use the following package:
https://github.com/Alymosul/laravel-exponent-push-notifications

Before we begin, make sure you've got Laravel installed and know a bit about notifications in Laravel. Also, have a working React or React Native app ready to roll.

• Install package:

composer require alymosul/laravel-exponent-push-notifications

• In your .env file add this variables:

EXPONENT_PUSH_NOTIFICATION_INTERESTS_STORAGE_DRIVER=database
EXPONENT_PUSH_NOTIFICATION_DEBUG=true

• Next, step is to publish the migration files:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="NotificationChannels\ExpoPushNotifications\ExpoPushNotificationsServiceProvider" --tag="migrations"

• Run the migrations:

php artisan migrate

• This step is optional, you may use it if you want to customize the configuration

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="NotificationChannels\ExpoPushNotifications\ExpoPushNotificationsServiceProvider" --tag="config"

• Add following lines in your routes/api.php file:

Route::group(['prefix' => 'api/exponent/devices', 'middleware' => 'expo.middleware'], function () {
    Route::post('subscribe', [
        'as'    =>  'register-interest',
        'uses'  =>  'NotificationChannels\ExpoPushNotifications\Http\ExpoController@subscribe',
    ]);

    Route::post('unsubscribe', [
        'as'    =>  'remove-interest',
        'uses'  =>  'NotificationChannels\ExpoPushNotifications\Http\ExpoController@unsubscribe',
    ]);
});

Feel free to change things up as per your requirements

• Create notification class:

php artisan make:notification ExpoNotification

• In your notification class you will need to add following lines of code:

 public function via($notifiable)
    {
        return [ExpoChannel::class];
    }

    public function toExpoPush($notifiable)
    {
        return ExpoMessage::create()
            ->badge(1)
            ->enableSound()
            ->title("Congratulations!")
            ->body("Your {$notifiable->service} account was approved!");
    }

• In order to send notification:

$user->notify(new ExpoNotification());

Just a heads up – feel free to change any initial files as you see fit. The migration files set up a new table with two columns: key and value. When a user logs into the app, you'll need to use the subscribe API with the expo_token in the body. And when a user logs out, just use the unsubscribe API. Keep it simple and make it work for you!

{
    "expo_token" : "the value of your token"
}

This article shows you how to integrate Expo push notifications into your Laravel app. I hope you find this guide helpful! 🚀📲