Mobile Notifications

This feature is not yet implemented.

The problem with Web Push on iOS

The standard Web Push stack (VAPID + Service Worker) works well on Android and desktop. On iOS it has two hard constraints:

Home Screen install required. Push subscriptions are only available to PWAs added to the Home Screen. A regular Safari tab cannot subscribe, and neither can Chrome, Firefox, or any other iOS browser (all run WebKit under the hood). (WebKit blog)
Tapping a notification on a killed app opens Safari, not the PWA. clients.openWindow() in the service worker fails silently when the app is fully closed, dropping the user into a Safari tab instead. This is a known WebKit bug, unfixed as of 2025. (Firebase SDK issue #7698)

Apple introduced Declarative Web Push in Safari 18.4 (May 2025), which removes the Service Worker requirement — but not the Home Screen requirement, and it doesn’t fix the killed-app tap behavior.

Planned approach: thin native iOS wrapper

A minimal WKWebView app wrapping the existing web UI. The web UI and daemon need no changes — the native layer is purely a shell for APNs access and correct notification tap routing.

iOS app (~150 lines of Swift)

WKWebView loading gmuxd’s URL (Tailscale address or local network)
APNs registration on launch; device token sent to gmuxd
UNUserNotificationCenterDelegate — notification tap brings the app to foreground
Safe area / keyboard inset passthrough

gmuxd additions

Endpoint to store APNs device tokens per device
APNs HTTP/2 client (sideshow/apns2) + APNs auth key (.p8, generated once in the Apple Developer portal)
Push triggers: session has unread output, session finishes

Distribution: TestFlight — one-time install, no App Store review needed for personal use.

Prerequisites

Apple Developer Program ($99/year) — required for APNs and signing
Mac with Xcode for initial build and signing; subsequent builds can use xcodebuild from the command line

Why not Web Push?

	Web Push	Native wrapper
Cost	Free	$99/year + Mac
Notification when app is killed	Broken on iOS	Works correctly
Tap opens	Safari (broken)	The app
Maintenance after setup	Low	Low — web UI changes don’t touch Swift

Web Push is fine on Android and desktop and could be added independently for those platforms at low cost. The native wrapper is the iOS-specific solution.