Basic concepts
OS:
Stands for Operating System. It designated the main systems developed by Apple (iOS), Google (Android) and Microsoft (Windows Phone).
SDK:
Stands for Software Development Kit. This is the library you need to integrate into your app to get Batch up and running. Batch SDK takes care of collecting data on the installs (e.g. push token collection, custom data, etc), sending analytics (e.g. push open, etc) and displaying In-App messages.
SDK API key:
The SDK API key identifies your app on Batch dashboard. It's included in the code of your app and used when the SDK starts. You can find it in Settings > General.
REST API key:
It identifies your account and gives you access to our APIs. You can find it in Settings > General.
Push certificate:
This is the file Batch needs in order to send a push notification to the tokens collected for your iOS app. You can use a P12 certificate or a P8 file.
Seat:
The number of access to the dashboard. They depend on the plan you picked.
User IDs
Installation ID:
Anonymous ID generated by the SDK when users open the app for the first time.
Custom user ID:
Batch allows you to set a Custom User ID for every install. This custom user identifier can be:
The unique ID you are using in your login system.
A stable ID used in your data store (e.g. Firebase, etc).
Any stable information that can help you to identify a user (e.g. hashed email address, etc).
You can use that user ID to target a specific user with the transactional API, and more.
Push Token:
Tokens are volatile IDs generated by Apple, Google or your browser's push service. Batch collects these tokens in order to send a push notification to your users' devices:
iOS : We collect a token when a user clicks on "accept" or "refuse" on the push authorization request. It's displayed the first time the app is opened, so 100% of users see it.
Android: Same behaviour as iOS for Android 13 and above. For version 12 and below, users are opt-in by default.
APIs
Batch has several APIs, each with a specific mission:
App Data API:
Allows you to send custom data you associated to your application. This is particularly useful if you need app-level in your campaigns, such as dates or attributes (e.g. Quick! Premium subscription discount will end in 3 days).
Custom Audience API:
Allows you to upload static segments exported from your userbase (e.g. top 500 buyers, etc) or created by third-party tools like Tinyclues for example. You can easily retarget these custom audiences with a push or an In-App automation from the dashboard.
Custom Data API
Allows you to send custom data for specific custom user IDs to improve your campaign targetings and personalization with your own custom data.
GDPR API
Lets you make requests to fetch and/or delete user data from our database.
Push / In-App automation API
The Push / In-App automations APIs allow you to create Push or In-App automations remotely, from your own CMS for example.
Transactional API
The Transactional API is made for 1-to-1 or 1-to-few interactions. It allows you to send push notifications to a specific list of user IDs (push token or Custom User IDs) based on events in your back-end (e.g. "You have a new friend request").
Advanced parameters
Debug:
Batch provides a simple debug tool that allows you to test your custom data integration (Settings > Debug). It shows all the data available for a specific user ID (push token, Custom User ID, native and custom data, etc).
Label:
You can attach one or several labels to your push and In-App automations. This is useful to filter your campaigns (e.g. "onboarding campaigns") or apply a specific marketing pressure rule on them.
Capping:
This feature allows you to limit the number of push campaigns sent to your users and therefore manage your communication pressure. There are several layers of capping:
Global capping: the limitation rules will affect all your push notifications.
Campaigns capping: the limitation rules will only affect notifications coming from campaigns created on the dashboard or with the Push Campaigns API.
Transactional capping: the limitation rules will only affect real-time notifications sent with the Transactional API.
Label-based capping: you can create a frequency capping for all the notifications attached to a specific label.