Firebase Cloud Messaging Notifications Not Received

How to fix it

Try these in order — the most common fix is first.

1. 1. Read the error code

   1. Check the FCM v1 response status and the details array
   Did this fix it? Yes No

2. 2. Remove dead tokens

   1. On UNREGISTERED, delete the token from your server and re-fetch tokens on app start
   Did this fix it? Yes No

3. 3. Fix iOS credentials

   Copy steps
   1. Upload a valid APNs authentication key in Project settings > Cloud Messaging
   2. Check development vs production keys
   Did this fix it? Yes No

4. 4. Handle foreground messages

   1. Add onMessage / onMessageReceived handling; background notification messages go to the system tray
   Did this fix it? Yes No

5. 5. Network and throttling

   Copy steps
   1. Allow ports 5228, 5229 and 5230 and Google ASN 15169
   2. Spread sends over about 5 minutes and retry 429 with backoff
   Did this fix it? Yes No

6. 6. Exclude installation file from Android backups

   1. Add an exclude rule for the Firebase PersistedInstallation file to stop duplicate tokens after restore
   Did this fix it? Yes No

Symptoms

Messages sent from console or API but nothing appears, or 404/403/401/429 responses from FCM.

Why it happens

• Token is stale or unregistered (HTTP 404 UNREGISTERED)
• Sender ID mismatch (403)
• APNs key or certificate missing or invalid (401 THIRD_PARTY_AUTH_ERROR)
• App in foreground and no handler for notification messages
• Firewall blocking ports 5228-5230
• Throttling (429 QUOTA_EXCEEDED)
• Android backup restore duplicating installation IDs

This guide also covers

• fcm notifications not received
• firebase push notification not working
• firebase messaging unregistered
• sender_id_mismatch

The same problem in other apps

All notifications, reminders & messages not sending guides →

• Supabase Confirmation Email Not Sending (Supabase)

Other Firebase errors

• Firestore Missing or Insufficient Permissions (permission-denied)
• Firebase auth/invalid-api-key Error
• Firebase auth/network-request-failed Error
• Firebase auth/too-many-requests Error
• Firebase auth/operation-not-allowed Error
• Firestore Quota Exceeded (resource-exhausted)
• Firebase Unexpected Bill on Blaze Plan
• Firebase Deploy Failed (Functions and Hosting)