Push Notifications Not Working on Android 36

[max-mcgee-valtech]

Summary

Push notifications are not being delivered to devices running Android 36 (Android 16), while they work correctly on older versions (e.g., Android 33 and 35). This issue is observed in a bare React Native project using the Urban Airship React Native plugin. Given Android 36’s recent release, this may indicate a compatibility issue with the current SDK version.

Environment

• Device: [e.g., Google Pixel 8]
• Android Version: 36 (Android 16)
• React Native Version: [e.g., 0.79.5]
• Urban Airship React Native Plugin Version: [e.g., @ua/react-native-airship ^24.3.0]
• Build Configuration (from android/build.gradle):

  android {
      compileSdkVersion 36
      defaultConfig {
          targetSdkVersion 36
          minSdkVersion [e.g., 23]
      }
  }

• Firebase Setup: [e.g., google-services.json included and up-to-date]

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install the app on an Android 36 device.
2. Grant notification permissions through the app’s permission flow.
3. Confirm the device registers with Urban Airship (e.g., a channel ID is generated).
4. Send a test push notification via the Urban Airship dashboard or backend API.
5. Observe that the notification is not received on the Android 36 device.

Expected Behavior

The Android 36 device should receive push notifications, consistent with behavior on Android 33 and 35 devices.

Actual Behavior

No push notifications are delivered to the Android 36 device. The device successfully registers with Urban Airship (channel ID is created), but the PushReceived event is not triggered.

Additional Context

• App State: Issue observed in both foreground and background states.
• Network: Tested on Wi-Fi and mobile data with no difference.
• Urban Airship Dashboard: The device’s channel ID is listed, but test notifications are not delivered.
• Permissions: Notification permissions are granted, verified via Airship.push.isUserNotificationsEnabled().

Possible Cause

Android 36 (Android 16), released around July 2025, may introduce new notification APIs, security restrictions, or Intent handling changes not yet supported by the current Urban Airship React Native plugin version. Older Android versions (33, 35) are unaffected, suggesting a version-specific compatibility issue.

Request for Assistance

• Is Android 36 (Android 16) supported by the current version of the Urban Airship React Native plugin?

[rlepinski]

I just doubled checked that an API 36 emulator is working fine:

A few things to check first:

• Take your channel ID and look up here https://go.urbanairship.com/apps/<YOUR_APP_KEY>/contact_management/, see if its opted in and if not, if its missing a token.
• If its missing a token its probably an FCM issue. Enable verbose logs on the SDK https://docs.airship.com/platform/mobile/logging/ and you can look for FCM issues. If you are unable to find anything feel free to send me the logs at ryan.lepinski@airship.com and i can look
• If its an emulator, make sure you have Google apis installed. I am using the Google Play ARM 64 v8a System Image. If its a real device look for updates for play services

[max-mcgee-valtech]

Thank you for the quick reply.

So, I follow your guidance and looked up the test user's Channel ID. I could not find it in our Live production project, but I switched projects to the Test project and it keeps showing up there.

We had been using Firebase App distribution for Test builds and recently started testing the Production project in Google Play Internal Testing. So it seems that this issue is more related to his device continuing to send push notifications to the Test project and for some reason not updating to our production project.

I appreciate your help on this! Seems not related to the Android 36 API.

[rlepinski]

The channel is created per project so the credentials are wrong or we are not picking up dev vs prod mode if you are setting both. Dev vs Prod uses the manifest debuggable flag (BuildConfig.DEBUG) to determine it. When Airship takes off it logs the app key its pointing at