Firebase doesn't show notifications when app not running

Question

Quick question:

Am I able to receive notification to default android's Notifications menu (that appears when you swipe status bar down) when my app is not running at all (but installed). If yes - what do I do?

Detailed description:

I have implemented Firebase notification into my android app. Here's how:

Manifest.xml:

<service
    android:name=".utils.FireBase">
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="com.google.firebase.INSTANCE_ID_EVENT"/>
    </intent-filter>
</service>
<service
    android:name=".utils.FireBaseService">
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="com.google.firebase.MESSAGING_EVENT"/>
    </intent-filter>
</service>

<meta-data
    android:name="com.google.firebase.messaging.default_notification_icon"
    android:resource="@mipmap/ic_launcher" />
<meta-data
    android:name="com.google.firebase.messaging.default_notification_color"
    android:resource="@color/colorAccent" />

FireBaseService.java:

public class FireBaseService extends FirebaseMessagingService {
    private static final String TAG = FireBaseService.class.getSimpleName();

    @Override
    public void onMessageReceived(RemoteMessage remoteMessage) {
        Log.d(TAG, "onMessageReceived: " + remoteMessage.getData().get("message")); 
    }
}

FireBase.java

public class FireBase extends FirebaseInstanceIdService {

    @Override
    public void onTokenRefresh() {
        // I used this token in rest.
        Log.e("FirebaseToken", FirebaseInstanceId.getInstance().getToken());
    }
}

Fine, now I want to send notification:

curl -X POST --data "$DATA" https://fcm.googleapis.com/fcm/send --header "Content-Type:application/json" --header "Authorization:key=$KEY"

$DATA:

{
  "notification":{ 
      "body": "My notification!"
  },
  "to": "KEY_FROM:FirebaseInstanceId.getInstance().getToken()"
}

Response:

{
  "multicast_id": 7830342176959972827,
  "success": 1,
  "failure": 0,
  "canonical_ids": 0,
  "results": [
    {
      "message_id": "0:1485706467606270%8a47512d8a475125"
    }
  ]
}

Now, when my app is Running I'm able to receive notifications. When my app goes background - notifications goes to Android notifications. Now I close my application (it's neither in foreground nor in background) (By closing I mean - press SQUARE hardware button -> swipe app left, so my app not in task manager anymore). And I want to receive a notification from firebase into Android notifications menu. But nothing happens when I call rest service. I don't care about layout or so I just want the user to be notified.

I tried notifications with different devices:

1. Real android device: Xiaomi mi4c based on android 5.1.
2. Genymotion emulator based on android 7.0 + playmarket installed.
3. Genymotion emulator based on andoriod 4.4 + playmarket installed.

Notifications just don't show at all. I observed console, I didn't even find logs about them. I read a lot of stackoverflow posts and as I understand right I should be able to do so.

How do I archive this goal? If I'm not able to receive notification with firebase - maybe I should use GCM instead?

Best regards,

Answer 1

Actually there is an active discussion on this topic, because seems that this behaviour changes based on Android OS customizations performed by manufacturers.

Here one of the answers by a Firebase member on GitHub comment, proves a general solution for Firebase Notifications has not been found yet.

So should not be your fault if it's not working correctly (supposing you have not made mistakes somewhere);

More useful comments in that thread: Comment 1, Comment 2