Why are my Android push notifications arriving without any text or content?

This issue typically occurs on Android when your application uses another Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) service in addition to the Pushwoosh SDK. If another service intercepts a Pushwoosh notification first, it may not know how to parse the content, resulting in a blank push being displayed.

When multiple FirebaseMessagingService implementations are present in an app, you must ensure Pushwoosh notifications are processed by the Pushwoosh SDK. You can resolve this in one of two ways.

1. Set service priority

Ensure that the Pushwoosh service has the highest priority in your AndroidManifest.xml, so the Pushwoosh SDK processes its notifications before any other service. Add the tools:node="replace" attribute and set a high priority for the com.pushwoosh.firebase.PushFcmIntentService intent-filter, for example 100:

<service android:name="com.pushwoosh.firebase.PushFcmIntentService" android:exported="false">
    <intent-filter android:priority="100" tools:node="replace">
        <action android:name="com.google.firebase.MESSAGING_EVENT" />
    </intent-filter>
</service>

2. Implement a routing service

A more robust method is to create a single “router” service that receives all FCM messages and forwards them to the appropriate SDK. This prevents conflicts and ensures each push provider processes its own payloads.

Your router service should:

1. Extend FirebaseMessagingService.
2. In onMessageReceived, check whether the RemoteMessage came from Pushwoosh with PushwooshFcmHelper.isPushwooshMessage(remoteMessage), and if so hand it to the SDK with PushwooshFcmHelper.onMessageReceived(getApplicationContext(), remoteMessage). Otherwise pass it to your other push provider's logic.
3. In onNewToken, forward the token to Pushwoosh with PushwooshFcmHelper.onTokenRefresh(token) in addition to your other provider.

public class MyFirebaseMessagingService extends FirebaseMessagingService {
    @Override
    public void onMessageReceived(RemoteMessage remoteMessage) {
        if (PushwooshFcmHelper.isPushwooshMessage(remoteMessage)) {
            PushwooshFcmHelper.onMessageReceived(getApplicationContext(), remoteMessage);
        } else {
            // handle messages from your other push provider
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void onNewToken(String token) {
        PushwooshFcmHelper.onTokenRefresh(token);
    }
}

For detailed instructions and code examples, see our documentation: Using Pushwoosh SDK with other FCM services.