Why are new web push subscribers not receiving a push token?

If you notice that new subscribers are being created in your Pushwoosh account but do not have a push token (making them unreachable), the most common cause is an outdated Web SDK. Browsers and messaging services periodically change their Web Push requirements, and older SDK versions may lose compatibility, preventing the successful registration of new subscribers.

To resolve this, follow these steps:

1. Update Your Web SDK: Make sure you are running the latest Pushwoosh Web SDK. The npm package is web-push-notifications, so update it with npm install web-push-notifications@latest. If you load the SDK from our CDN, check that you are pointing at the current script, and confirm that your service-worker.js comes from the SDK version you just installed.
2. Verify VAPID Key Configuration: Web Push registration requires valid VAPID keys. If your project uses keys generated in Firebase:
   • Log in to the Firebase Console and open Project settings.
   • On the Cloud Messaging tab, find Web Push certificates and copy the key pair (the public key, and the private key via the three-dot menu > Show private key).
   • In your Pushwoosh Control Panel, open your web application's Configure page, put the public key in the Web Push Certificate field and the private key in the Web Push Private Key field.
   • For step-by-step instructions, see our guide on Web Push Configuration.
3. Check how the permission request is triggered: a subscriber record with no token usually means the browser permission flow never completed. The quickest way to rule this out is to enable one of the built-in subscription widgets (subscribe popup, subscription button or prompt) and see whether tokens start arriving. If you drive the flow from your own UI, make sure your custom control calls the SDK's subscribe API after the SDK has initialised. See our npm integration guide.

After completing these steps, new users should be able to subscribe correctly and receive a valid push token.