Browser Push Notifications
Opt-in browser push notifications that ping voters when their feedback ships — no per-notification fee, no email address collected.
FeedIndex can notify voters directly in their browser when a post they care about is marked complete. It's a frictionless alternative to email — no address collection, no per-send fee, and it works even on the free plan.
How it works
- A voter visits any public post page on your portal.
- They click Notify me when this ships below the post description.
- Their browser prompts for notification permission.
- When they allow it, a subscription is stored, scoped to that specific post.
- The moment an admin moves the post to a status mapped to the Complete roadmap column, every subscriber gets a browser notification.
- Clicking the notification opens the post on your portal.
What gets collected
- A push subscription endpoint URL (assigned by the browser's push service — FCM for Chrome, APNs for Safari, Mozilla Push Service for Firefox).
- Two public encryption keys so we can encrypt the payload for delivery.
- No user ID, no email, no IP address. The endpoint is the pseudonymous identifier.
Subscriptions are per-post. Revoking in browser settings or clicking "Notifications on → Unsubscribe" on the post removes the subscription immediately. Dead endpoints (users who clear browser data or disable notifications) are automatically pruned when delivery fails.
Plan availability
Browser push is free on every plan. Free-tier boards can send push notifications even though email status notifications require Starter+.
Supported browsers
| Browser | Supported |
|---|---|
| Chrome / Edge / Brave (desktop) | Yes |
| Firefox (desktop) | Yes |
| Safari 16+ (macOS) | Yes |
| Safari iOS/iPadOS 16.4+ (PWA) | Yes, but only when your portal is installed to the home screen |
| Safari iOS (normal browser tab) | No |
The Notify me when this ships button is hidden on browsers that don't support the Web Push API, so users never see a non-functional button.
When does it fire?
The same rule as completion emails: push fires only when the new status's roadmap column is Complete. Intermediate transitions (Planned, In Progress) are silent. The default Done status is Complete; any custom status you've placed in the Complete column fires too.
Closed posts (marked as won't-do) do not fire push.
How it pairs with email
| Audience | Channel |
|---|---|
| Post submitter | Email when the post is marked complete (Starter+ feature) |
| Voters (opt-in) | Browser push when the post is marked complete (free on every plan) |
| Everyone else | Status badge update on the portal + a changelog entry if you publish one |
Setup
For board owners: nothing to configure. The button appears automatically on public post pages for portals that ship with a valid VAPID public key. FeedIndex's hosted product has this set up for you.
For self-hosters: generate a VAPID key pair (pnpm dlx web-push generate-vapid-keys) and set NEXT_PUBLIC_VAPID_PUBLIC_KEY, VAPID_PRIVATE_KEY, and optionally VAPID_SUBJECT. When these are unset, the subscribe button is hidden and the send path silently no-ops.
Privacy
Push subscriptions are pseudonymous — the browser issues the endpoint URL; we never learn the user's identity or device details. No subscription data is shared with third parties. See the privacy policy for the full disclosure.