Push Notifications

varghesesa · Post by **varghesesa** » Tue Dec 21, 2021 3:02 am

Introduction

This article discusses how to trouble shoot Push notifications.

If you are interested in learning how to create Push notifications or other alerts go to Camera settings -> Alerts tab -> On Alert and click on the Help button in the Action set dialog. This will immediately take you to the Alerts and Actions section of Help.

Furthermore, the Triggers and Alerts section of the online Checklist provides references to articles and webinars for deeper understanding.

Troubleshooting

Update to the latest version or the latest stable version of the BI server. Update to the latest version of the mobile app. Features/functionality on the mobile app are not guaranteed to run with older versions of the server.

Divide the problem into server vs mobile app.
Did the BI Server send the Push alert?

Log files
The log files will state whether push alerts are being sent from the server.

Understanding the logs is key to understanding what is going on.

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3 	12/16/2021 8:30:48.325 AM	Cam4                	MOTION_AB
0 	12/16/2021 8:30:56.132 AM	Cam4                	DeepStack: Alert cancelled [nothing found] 30ms

In the above log snippet, Cam4 detected motion at 8:30:48.325. DeepStack cancelled the alert. Thus there is no following Push event.

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3 	12/16/2021 8:32:38.420 AM	Cam4                	MOTION_AB
0 	12/16/2021 8:32:40.975 AM	Cam4                	DeepStack: car:81% [147,273 359,432] 28ms
10	12/16/2021 8:32:41.238 AM	Server              	[::]: Connected
0 	12/16/2021 8:32:41.631 AM	Cam4                	Push: OK to varghesesa’s iPhone
10	12/16/2021 8:32:41.632 AM	Server              	[::]: Connected
0 	12/16/2021 8:32:41.770 AM	Cam4                	Push: OK to Galaxy S10

In the above log snippet, Cam4 detected motion at 8:32:38.420. DeepStack identified a car and confirmed the alert. Thus two Push events fired, one to an iPhone and a second to an Android device.

Notice with confirmed Alerts, the Push notifications are sent seconds after BI senses Motion. The gap between the MOTION event and the Alert should not be more than 1-2s.

If the logs state the Push notification was sent, the server settings are fine. The Mobile app or the Phone has issues. Skip below section and jump to Push alerts section further below.

No Push alert

If you are here, the logs show no Push events. First confirm the camera is triggering, i.e. Motion events are recorded in the logs. If not, visit the Triggers and Alerts content in the Checklist. Some obvious areas to investigate:

Cameras
Are the cameras working?
See Camera Stream Gotchas article.

Trigger settings
Are you still receiving motion triggers? The Alerts list will tell you! Also check the Cancelled alerts folder. If not, there is a problem with the Trigger tab.

: clip list_alert.PNG (20.62 KiB) Viewed 29860 times

If the camera does trigger, the BI server settings (global settings, alerts tab) are causing BI to NOT send the Push notification. This section helps troubleshoot issues associated with the BI server NOT sending Push alerts.

Permissions

Walk through permissions article.

Alerts tab - Action Map

If the motion trigger is present, there is a problem with the Alerts tab.

I would look closely at my Push notification settings. One common mistake is the Profiles for the alert are NOT active for the Profile you are testing.
Camera settings -> Alerts tab -> On Alert.

: mobile gotchas action map profiles.png (115.03 KiB) Viewed 29860 times

If you do not know how to debug alerts, watch the Triggers and Alerts webinar. The information is also available in the Alerts and Actions section of Help (Testing the Action Set).

Alerts tab

Alerts are turned off (accidentally) on the camera.

Revisit the Camera settings -> Alerts tab.
A common mistake is you accidentally turned off Alerts.

: mobile devices gotchas_recent alerts.png (50.67 KiB) Viewed 29860 times

One user accidentally switched Any to All. With all the Zones checked you are effectively telling BI the Motion had to cross ALL zones for an alert to trigger.
I have yet to see a use case where a user had all zones set. Basically, he cancelled alerts for all motion triggers coming from the motion sensor.

Push alert

Log states alerts are sent

Send alternative alerts

Leverage BI functionality to test further.
If all of the above permissions are set correctly and Push notifications are still NOT working, then create/test an Email / SMS alert.
If those alerts work, then you know the issue probably does NOT reside with your Server permissions or motion trigger settings.
This is a strong hint that something is wrong with mobile phone settings or the mobile app.

Apple / Android Push servers

It's very possible, the issue could reside with Apple/Android Notification Servers, your mobile device or maybe even your cellular provider.
If you created an SMS alert as stated above and the SMS alert is responsive, you can assume BI sent the Push correctly as well.

Firewall settings
Maybe your firewall is blocking ports for Push notifications?
Highly unlikely. Most firewalls do not prevent outbound traffic.

: mobile push ports.png (18.41 KiB) Viewed 29824 times

If issue is still not resolved, include mobile app info to the ticket for BI engineering to review.
See Next steps / Submitting a ticket section in Mobile devices article.