First, check whether automatic cleanup is already on. Pushwoosh has an automatic inactivity cleanup that removes push tokens from devices whose app has not been opened for 90 days (based on the Last Application Open tag). It is enabled by default for all accounts created on or after 1 January 2024. If your account is older, contact support to have it enabled — that is usually easier than cleaning up by hand. For longer windows (180 or 365 days) you can request a one-off bulk cleanup from support.
Removing inactive devices yourself:
- Segment inactive devices. Build a segment on the Last Application Open tag (for example, older than 90 days) and export the Hardware IDs (HWIDs).
-
Unregister them. Use
/bulkUnregisterDeviceto remove many devices in a single request (the single-device/unregisterDevicealso exists, but looping it over a large list is slow).
What unregistering actually does
-
/unregisterDeviceremoves the device's push token. The device is still counted in Total Devices and can still be reached with In-App messages. To remove the device record entirely, use/deleteDevice. - If the user reopens the app afterwards, the SDK registers a fresh token and the device becomes reachable again.
Impact on your metrics and your bill
- Total Devices counts all devices registered with Pushwoosh that were active within the last 90 days — not every device that ever registered.
- Push Enabled devices are those with a push token attached; Push Alerts Enabled devices are those that can also display alerts. Unregistering tokens lowers these counts. See Device types explained.
- Billing is based on Monthly Active Users (MAU) and email sends, shown in the Usage section of the Billing page — not on a "Total Subscribers"/TPED device count. Deleting devices that were already inactive therefore usually does not reduce your MAU-based charge, because inactive devices do not count as monthly active users in the first place. Cleaning up still helps list hygiene, delivery reporting, and segment accuracy.
More on keeping the base clean: Managing your push subscriber base.
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