Push Notifications

Grindr delivers background notifications through Firebase Cloud Messaging as data-only messages: the payload is a flat map of strings, and the client decides what to render. Nothing arrives pre-rendered, so every field below is the client's responsibility.

While the app is in the foreground the same events also arrive over the WebSocket as notification events; push is the out-of-process path for when it is not.

Register a token with Register push token and stop delivery with Unregister push token.

Envelope

version selects the payload shape. Anything that is not exactly "2" — including a missing key — is the legacy V1 shape.

Version 2

Every value is a string.

• version — "2"
• notificationId — UUIDv4, the dedupe key
• title — display text, or a text key when translateTitle is "true"
• titleArgs — JSON array of format arguments for a translated title
• translateTitle — title is a key when this parses as true; Boolean.parseBoolean ignores case, so "TRUE" counts and every other value is false
• body — display text, or a text key when translateBody is "true"
• bodyArgs — JSON array of format arguments for a translated body
• translateBody — as translateTitle
• action — deeplink; must start with grindr://
• channel — channel the notification belongs to
• imageUrl — absolute CDN URL for the sender's avatar, or absent
• senderId — profile ID of the sender, as a string
• timestamp — unix timestamp in milliseconds
• quickReply — "true" when the notification may offer an inline reply

A payload with no body, an unknown channel, or an action outside the grindr:// scheme is dropped by the official client rather than rendered.

Text keys

When the matching translate* flag is "true", the field holds a key rather than text. Keys relevant to chats and taps:

• SOMEONE_TITLE — Someone
• TAP_NOTIFICATION_BODY — Tapped you
• CHAT_IMAGE_NOTIFICATION_BODY — Sent you a picture
• CHAT_VIDEO_NOTIFICATION_BODY — Sent you a video
• CHAT_AUDIO_NOTIFICATION_BODY — Sent you an audio message
• CHAT_GIF_NOTIFICATION_BODY — Sent you a GIF
• CHAT_GAYMOJI_NOTIFICATION_BODY — Sent you a Gaymoji
• CHAT_LOCATION_NOTIFICATION_BODY — Sent you their location
• CHAT_EXPIRING_IMAGE_NOTIFICATION_BODY — Sent you an expiring image
• CHAT_ALBUM_NOTIFICATION_BODY — Shared their album
• CHAT_ALBUM_CONTENT_REACTION_NOTIFICATION_BODY — Liked your album content
• CHAT_MESSAGE_REACTION_NOTIFICATION_BODY — <name> tapped your message, with the name as the first bodyArgs item

Other key families exist for A-List updates, Boost, album updates, Right Now, Discover, subscription offers, and online and activity alerts (*_ONLINE_NOTIFICATION_*, UNREAD_CHATS_NOTIFICATION_*, VIEWED_PROFILE_NOTIFICATION_*).

A direct text message carries its text in plaintext with translateBody set to "false"; only media and system messages use a key.

Actions

• grindr://conversation?id=<conversationId>&senderId=<profileId> — open a conversation; both parameters are required
• grindr://taps-inbox — taps
• grindr://viewed-me — viewed me
• grindr://right-now-inbox — Right Now inbox
• grindr://fresh-albums?albumIds=<id,…>&albumProfileId=<profileId> — album updates
• grindr://boost?action=<action>&source=<source> — Boost results
• grindr://favorite-profile?profileID=<profileId> — a favorite came online; the parameter is also spelled profileId
• grindr://growth-notification?type=<type>&profileID=<profileId> — online and activity alerts; type is favorite_online, tapped_online, recommended_online, multiple_favorites_online, unread_chats, viewed_profile or media_recipient_online; profileID (also profileId) names the profile for the profile types

Two actions are cancel-only and must never be rendered:

• grindr://clear?profileIds=<id,…> — withdraw every notification whose senderId is listed
• grindr://unsend?notificationId=<id> — withdraw one notification

Channels

channel names an Android notification channel. A payload naming any other channel is dropped.

• id_grindr_notifications_channel_individual_v2 — chats
• id_grindr_notifications_channel_tap_v2 — taps
• id_grindr_notifications_channel_alist — A-List
• id_grindr_notifications_channel_boost — Boost
• id_grindr_notifications_channel_fresh_albums — album updates
• id_grindr_notifications_channel_promotions — promotions
• id_grindr_notifications_channel_subscriptions — subscriptions
• id_grindr_notifications_channel_video_chat — video calls
• id_grindr_notifications_channel_ads — ads
• event_calendar_channel_id — event calendar

Dedupe and grouping

• Two payloads sharing a notificationId replace each other; the official client posts with the channel as the tag and notificationId.hashCode() as the id
• Conversation notifications are grouped by the id of the conversation deeplink
• There is no server-side dedupe: the same message can be delivered more than once, so dedupe on notificationId

Campaign markers

• pinpoint.campaign.campaign_id is present on ordinary messages too, carrying the sentinel _DIRECT. Only a value other than _DIRECT marks a campaign — treating the key's presence as "marketing" discards every real message (observed 2026-09-17)
• campaignId behaves the same way
• _ab marks a Braze push, which the official client hands to the Braze SDK and never renders itself
• af-uinstall-tracking marks an AppsFlyer uninstall probe, which is discarded

Version 1

The legacy shape dispatches on notificationType instead of an action:

• chat-platform — direct message; message holds the full Message JSON, senderDisplayName and senderProfileImageMediaHash sit alongside it
• offline-tap-sent-event-v1, offline-tap-sent-event-v2 — tap holds the tap JSON
• fresh-albums — payload holds an album-update object shaped like a V2 payload
• PUSH_EVENT — pushEvent holds {type, title, body, silent, data}, used for Boost session ends, banned-profile cleanup and trial reminders
• chat — legacy, no longer rendered

Acknowledging

Acknowledge notifications reports a notification as seen with source PUSH, or WEBSOCKET when the same notification arrived over the socket instead.

Polling instead of push

A client without FCM can rebuild chat and tap notifications over REST:

• Get conversations, POST /v4/inbox?page=<n> — the next page exists while the response carries nextPage. Each entries[].data carries conversationId, name, lastActivityTimestamp, unreadCount, muted, participants[].profileId and a preview of the last message with messageId, senderId, type and text
• Get received taps, GET /v2/taps/received — each profiles[] entry carries profileId, displayName and timestamp

profileId and senderId can arrive as a number or a numeric string. The peer of a conversation is the first participant that isn't the signed-in profile.

preview holds only the last message, so several messages sent between two calls show up as one. When preview.senderId is the signed-in profile, the last message is the user's own and the unread messages are older than the preview; their content isn't in the response.

unreadCount 0 is the only sign that a conversation was read elsewhere. The inbox has no unsend signal. Once a profile blocks another, the blocked profile gets 403 urn:gr:err:unauthorized_action for that conversation's messages and the conversation is cleared.

Each case maps to a V2 payload:

• An unread conversation — action grindr://conversation?id=<conversationId>&senderId=<peer>, title name, body preview.text. A preview without text maps to the CHAT_*_NOTIFICATION_BODY text key for its preview.type, e.g. Image to CHAT_IMAGE_NOTIFICATION_BODY and Giphy to CHAT_GIF_NOTIFICATION_BODY
• A message from Get messages in a conversation — the same payload with the message's timestamp, and body from body.text, body.albumContentReply or body.photoContentReply, else the text key for its type
• A conversation read elsewhere — Grindr has no chat-scoped withdrawal: grindr://clear?profileIds=<peer> also withdraws that profile's tap notifications. Open Grind's poll emits its own grindr://clear?conversationId=<conversationId> instead, which the official client does not understand
• A received tap — action grindr://taps-inbox, title displayName, body TAP_NOTIFICATION_BODY
• A shown message that Refresh messages returns with unsent: true or no longer returns — action grindr://unsend?notificationId=<id>
• A shown conversation after a block — the same request answers 403 urn:gr:err:unauthorized_action, and the poll emits grindr://clear?conversationId=<conversationId>. For notifications without a resolved message, checked with Get messages in a conversation.