Why are my push notifications being sent with a significant delay?

If push notifications are being delivered with a significant delay, especially to a large audience, the most likely cause is a send rate limit (throttling) configured for your project.

How the limit works

A send rate limit caps how many messages Pushwoosh dispatches in a given time window. It is stored per channel — separate limits exist for push, email, SMS and in-app — and each limit is a pair of values: a message count per a number of seconds (for example 500 messages per 1 second).

The limit applies to the whole project on that channel, not to a single campaign. If a large push campaign is being throttled, other pushes running at the same time (including small test sends) queue behind it and are delayed too. A limit on another channel — say email — does not affect push.

How to check and change it

1. Open your project and go to the Settings section.
2. Open Message delivery settings (the same page holds frequency capping and send rate limits).
3. Review the send rate limit for the Push channel. Either raise it to a value that fits your campaign volume, or remove the limit entirely.

The limits can also be read and written programmatically via the Pushwoosh API if you need to change them as part of a release process.

If there is no rate limit set

Delays can also come from the downstream gateway (APNs/FCM) or from per-user scheduling features. Check Frequency capping and the silence period on the same settings page, and confirm the campaign is not using a timezone-based or Best Time to Send schedule.