Increment App Icon Badge Count

Guide to implementing app icon badge count updates using Notification Service Extension in iOS.

AI Integration Quick Reference

• Requires: UNNotificationServiceExtension target in your app
• Purpose: Update badge count when push notification received
• Implementation: Override didReceive(_:withContentHandler:) in extension
• Related: Push Notifications · Prepare for Background

This guide helps you set up an incremented badge for the app icon using Notification Service Extension.

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UNNotificationServiceExtension

This service grabs the data from the push notification payload, the user can modify its content and display the customized data on to the push notification.

In our case, we are modifying the data of the push notification and incrementing the badge count when a new push notification is received.

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Step 1: Add UNNotificationServiceExtension inside the app.

1. Click on File —> New —> Targets —> Application Extension —> Notification Service Extension.

2. Add Product Name and click on Finish.

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Step 2: Setup App Groups.

1. Click on Project —> Targets —> Your app Target —> Signing & Capabilities —> [+] —> App Groups.

2. In App Groups, click on [+] —> Add a new container —> Enter group name —> OK.

Kindly, create a group name using the combination of ‘group’ and ‘App’s bundle identifier’ i.e group.com.yourApp.bundleId.

3. Make sure you’ve selected the app group which you’ve created earlier.

4. Click on Project —> Targets —> Notification Service Extension Target —> Signing & Capabilities —> [+] —> App Groups.

5. Select the same App Group which you’ve created in Your app Target.

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Step 3: Setup user suit for storing badge count.

1. Open AppDelegate.swift and add below code in applicationWillEnterForeground(_ application: UIApplication).

Swift

func applicationWillEnterForeground(_ application: UIApplication) {

    UserDefaults(suiteName: "group.com.yourApp.bundleId")?.set(1, forKey: "count")
    UIApplication.shared.applicationIconBadgeNumber = 0

}

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Step 4: Setup Notification service extension to increment badge count.

1. Open NotificationService.swift and replace the below code in it.

Swift

import UserNotifications

class NotificationService: UNNotificationServiceExtension {

    var contentHandler: ((UNNotificationContent) -> Void)?
    var bestAttemptContent: UNMutableNotificationContent?
    let defaults = UserDefaults(suiteName: "group.com.yourApp.bundleId")

    override func didReceive(_ request: UNNotificationRequest, withContentHandler contentHandler: @escaping (UNNotificationContent) -> Void) {
        self.contentHandler = contentHandler
        bestAttemptContent = (request.content.mutableCopy() as? UNMutableNotificationContent)
        var count: Int = defaults?.value(forKey: "count") as! Int
        if let bestAttemptContent = bestAttemptContent {
            bestAttemptContent.title = "\(bestAttemptContent.title) "
            bestAttemptContent.body = "\(bestAttemptContent.body) "
            bestAttemptContent.badge = count as? NSNumber
            count = count + 1
            defaults?.set(count, forKey: "count")
            contentHandler(bestAttemptContent)
        }
    }

    override func serviceExtensionTimeWillExpire() {

        if let contentHandler = contentHandler, let bestAttemptContent =  bestAttemptContent {
            contentHandler(bestAttemptContent)
        }
    }
}

Refer Sample App

We have implemented it in our push notification sample app. You can download the sample app.

Download Push Notification Sample App

Or else view it on Githhub.

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Next Steps

Push Notifications

Set up push notifications for your iOS app

Mark Delivered from Push

Mark messages as delivered via push notification

Remove Delivered Notifications

Programmatically remove delivered notifications

Background Updates

Keep real-time connection alive in background