Apple and Google Reshape Push Notifications with AI Intervention
Original: What Apple and Google are doing to push notifications
Why This Matters
Fundamental shift in mobile notification delivery affects how brands communicate with users
Apple and Google have evolved from passive notification delivery pipes to active intermediaries that summarize, reorder and rewrite push notifications using on-device AI models, fundamentally changing how brands reach users over the past five years.
Push notifications began as a battery optimization solution when Apple launched Push Notification Service in 2009, with Google following in 2010. Initially, both platforms served as passive delivery channels with minimal filtering. This changed significantly starting in 2017 with Android 8's notification channels, which shifted priority control from senders to users. Apple introduced Focus and interruption taxonomies in iOS 15 (2021), restricting marketing use of time-sensitive notifications. The most significant shift occurred over the past five years as both platforms deployed on-device AI models that now sit between delivery and the lock screen, actively summarizing, reordering, and rewriting notifications before users see them. This mirrors similar changes in email where major providers became active intermediaries rather than transport layers.