Updated February 14, 2024

Firebase recently announced its plan to terminate the usage of legacy Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) APIs, effective June 20, 2024. As a result, specific APIs will be deprecated to make way for new, more secure, and higher-performing alternatives.

The major consequence of these API decommissions is that FCM users will no longer have the ability to send messages using the Legacy HTTP Protocol API, which will be discontinued in June. In order to continue to send batch messages with FCM, Firebase has outlined a migration process for users to switch from the legacy FCM APIs to HTTP v1.

Which FCM APIs/SDKs will be deprecated?

Server APIs

  • Legacy HTTP Protocol
  • Legacy XMPP Protocol
  • Instance ID Server APIs
  • Device Management API
  • Upstream Messaging via XMPP
  • Batch Send API

Firebase Admin SDK APIs

  • sendToDevice()
  • sendToDeviceGroup()
  • sendAll()/sendAllAsync()/send_all()/sendMulticast()/SendMulticastAsync()/send_multicast()

Client SDKs

  • GCM SDK
  • JS SDKs (v<7.0.0.0)

Alternatives to Firebase Cloud Messaging

If you’re using FCM to handle your user messaging, then migrating and rebuilding your messaging infrastructure is likely to be a heavy lift — one that you may not be too keen to take on and maintain as you grow. As the deprecation date approaches, now is an ideal time to make the switch to a messaging provider like OneSignal that will manage the backend migration and maintenance for you so you can invest your time and resources into your core product.

OneSignal leverages FCM but is designed to provide even more flexibility and functionality than Firebase’s notification console and API. We support a range of batching mechanisms in addition to features such as Idempotent notifications, Confirmed Delivery, advanced notification personalization and targeting based on real-time user behavior, and unparalleled speed and reliability. All of these features are available on our robust free plan, which has no limits on API calls, push tokens, or push messages. You can check out our API documentation for more details.

In addition to supporting mobile and web push notifications and in-app messaging, our platform has an intuitive UI that empowers even non-technical users to oversee notification strategy and manage multiple messaging channels, including email and SMS, from a single dashboard. For clients that are looking to uplevel their messaging strategy, we also offer a variety of advanced optimization, automation, and analytics features on different plan types to help you scale in an agile and sustainable way.

How OneSignal is Handling the FCM Deprecation

We’ve worked hard to handle the heavy lifting of the FCM migration so that our existing users are able to get up to speed in a couple of simple, quick steps. To make sure you're set up for success when the depreciation occurs, follow Step 2: Ensure Firebase Cloud Messaging API (V1) is Enabled in our Android: Firebase Credentials documentation. Questions? Check out our FCM Deprecation FAQs.

New to OneSignal? Our vast documentation library, SDKs, and APIs make setup a breeze, so you can start seeing value immediately. Let us keep your engagement solution running flawlessly so you never have to worry about handling another messaging depreciation or update. Simply create a free account or reach out to us to discuss what plan type is best suited to your needs.

Create a Free Account