[Android] Badges: Challenges and Limitations

Android badges, or notification badges, are small indicators that appear on app icons to signify unread messages, alerts, or other updates. While iOS provides a standardized way to handle badges, Android does not have a native, universal API for badge management. Instead, badges on Android are implemented differently depending on the device manufacturer, launcher, and Android version, making their behavior inconsistent across devices.

Challenges with Android Badges

Android badges face several limitations due to the platform's architecture and the diversity of manufacturers. Below are the key challenges developers encounter when working with badges on Android:

1. Background Execution Restrictions (Doze Mode, App Standby)

Android includes aggressive battery optimization mechanisms such as Doze mode and App Standby Buckets. These features limit background processing for apps that are not actively used, impacting how push notifications and badges function.

• A silent push notification (data-only message in Firebase Cloud Messaging, FCM) may attempt to wake the app, but execution is not guaranteed.

• The app’s ability to update a badge depends on its standby bucket and the device's power management settings.

2. Launcher-Specific Implementations

Unlike iOS, where badges work uniformly across devices, Android badges depend heavily on the launcher being used. There is no single, officially supported API for setting badge counts. Instead, different launchers implement badges in different ways:

• Samsung One UI (formerly TouchWiz) may use broadcast intents or content providers. Additionally, badges depends on push notification in the notification center: the badge will display the number of pushes in the notification center.

• Xiaomi MIUI often relies on proprietary services to handle badges.

• Google's Pixel Launcher does not support badges in the same way as Samsung or Xiaomi.

• Some third-party launchers do not support badges at all.

Even if a background process successfully runs, updating the badge might not work reliably across all devices due to these variations.

3. No Standard Badge API

Android does not provide a native badge API. Instead, developers have to use workarounds such as:

• Sending broadcast intents to specific launchers.

• Using a Content Provider that the launcher may or may not support.

For example, the com.pushwoosh:pushwoosh-badge library attempts to support several launchers but cannot guarantee compatibility across all devices. Since there is no universal API, handling badges consistently requires additional development effort.

What This Means for Pushwoosh Users

Given these limitations, Pushwoosh cannot guarantee that badge updates will work on all Android devices. While the Pushwoosh Badge library (com.pushwoosh:pushwoosh-badge) provides certain handling to support badges for some launchers, additional development may be required on the client side to ensure badges function as expected in different launchers.

Conclusion

Android badges are inherently unreliable due to the lack of a standardized implementation across devices. Developers need to consider:

• The impact of Doze mode and App Standby on background processing.

• The differences between various launchers and manufacturers.

• The need for additional coding to support badges on specific devices.

While Pushwoosh offers some support for badges, users should be prepared for inconsistencies and, if necessary, implement custom solutions tailored to their target audience's devices and launchers.