Is the new server key restricted to messaging only?
explanation:
In firebase project settings, I can get "old" and new server keys(cloud messaging tab).
The old ones don't work to send push notifications via https://fcm.googleapis.com/fcm/send because the response says that it is a legacy server key. But it can be restricted to certain google apis here https://console.developers.google.com/apis.
The new is not listed in google apis console, but works.
We want to share the server key with partners, but won't allow to do other stuff. The new HTTP API V1 with OAuth2 is not an option unfortunately.
According to docs:
Server key (for legacy protocols): A server key that authorizes your app server for access to Google services, including sending messages via the Firebase Cloud Messaging legacy protocols.
Which services are here meant?
Got response from Google: Yes, the new server key is restricted to cloud messaging only.
Related
So i'm making an app using React JS, Cordova, node backend and a mongo database. I want to integrate firebase cloud messaging (FCM) into my platform. I'm quite new to firebase, and developing in general, and i'm not quite sure where to initialise firebase. I currently have it integrated into the front-end and it's requesting permission to receive notifications, generating tokens, and receiving messages from the firebase console. However i'm not entirely sure where to go from here. Do I add it to my backend as-well?
If you can receive messages in your client app, your front-end work is done for the moment.
But to send messages programmatically, you will need to write back-end code indeed. That's because sending messages through FCM requires that you specify the FCM server key to the API, and as its name implies that key should only be used in a trusted environment, such as your development machine, a server you control, or Cloud Functions.
For more on this, have a look at:
The architectural overview of FCM
The documentation on your server and FCM
My answer to How to send one to one message using Firebase Messaging
You have to get the FCM token from the frontend (or, client app).
After getting the token, just send it to your backend server using a POST method.
Then, store the token in whatever database you're using in your backend. It can be MongoDB, PostgreSQL, etc.
I have FCM push notifications implemented on a server.
I want to additionally send APNS notifications via that server by sending as a FCM message that is forwarded by Firebase to APNS.
To do that I understand I need to add APNS certificate to the firebase console.
FCM push notifications on my server were implemented some time back when FCM HTTP legacy protocol was available and server API keys were visible in the Firebase console (I got the key from somewhere so I guess it was there).
My question is if I add (and perhaps later remove) an APNS certificate to my firebase console production project will that affect the validity of my existing server API key in any way. It is important that FCM continues to work seamlessly.
It doesn't seem possible to get a FCM HTTP legacy protocol server key now. If there is a way to do this then I could try this myself on a test project.
If I share a user's Firebase device ID key (for a user who has my app installed) with other Firebase service providers, can they send messages from their account (using their authentication key) to a user who has my app installed?
Yes I do realize the process of sharing a user's Firebase device ID key could be problematic. The problem I am trying to solve is that I want multiple providers to be able to send messages to a user who has my app installed.
The Firebase Instance ID (also known as a registration token, or FCM token) identifies an installation of your app on a specific device.
Sending messages to such tokens in a project always requires an additional form "authentication.
The Firebase Cloud Messaging versioned REST API requires that the user has a service account. If you create a service account for each of your service providers, you grant them complete access to your Firebase project. So they can't only send FCM messages, they can also access every other Firebase product: e.g. delete your database, read all your users, etc.
The legacy REST API for Firebase Cloud Messaging instead uses a Server Key to authorize its callers. If you share your FCM server key with other service providers, they can only send FCM messages with that key. But they can send whatever messages they want to whatever user.
You might want to consider setting up your own API endpoint on Cloud Functions for Firebase. That way you can determine yourself how to secure that API, and what you allow your service providers to send to what users of your app.
Assuming that the Firebase Device ID Key you're referring to is the FCM Registration token, then having the value alone won't enable others to send a message to it without the corresponding Server Key it is associated with.
For your use-case of allowing multiple senders to a single app, you could refer to the official documentation on Receiving messages from multiple senders. I believe my answer here could also be helpful.
Is there any API (Python, JS, ...) that can be used to generate and retrieve the Firebase cloud messaging server token?
The end goal should be the same as clicking the Add server key button in the project settings.
There is no way to generate that key outside of the Firebase console.
Maybe have a look at the FCM HTTP v1 API which uses an OAuth based security model where the short lived tokens can be generated server side.
In Firebase console under Project Settings/General beneath the Project ID field there is a Web API key :
Where is this used? I know that the Server key found under Project Settings/Cloud Messaging is used as Authorization key to make calls to the firebase console:
I have also noticed that in google-services.json ther is an "api_key" property that has a "current_key" value which is different from both keys that I have mentioned. What is that key?
From my answer here:
current key - nothing is explicitly stated anywhere in the docs where it is used, however, among the 3 services where the google-services.json was originally used for before Firebase (Google Sign-in, Analytics, GCM), I'm guessing it would be between Google Sign-in and Analytics. As also mentioned by #DiegoGiorgini here:
The api_key value in google-services.json is not used by FCM. (it is used by other Firebase libraries)
So it can be for a separate Google non-Firebase or Firebase service.
Web API Key - this one I haven't had a chance to use before. However, I've seen other posts wherein this specific API key is used often on Web apps related to Firebase (possibly also for Auth purposes?), but I'm not entirely sure.
Server Key - as per the docs:
A server key that authorizes your app server for access to Google services, including sending messages via Firebase Cloud Messaging.
current_key (as per the docs) is the Android key auto-created by Firebase when creating a Firebase Android App. It's NOT used to control access to backend resources. Instead, it's used to identify your Firebase project when interacting with Firebase/Google services. Specifically, it's used to associate API requests with your project for quota and billing.
Web API Key (as per the docs): can be used to authenticate users by passing its value to the key query parameter in several API endpoints, e.g., sign up or sign in using email & password, generate refresh token, etc.
Server Key (as per the docs): is a server key that authorizes your app server for access to Google services, including sending messages via the Firebase Cloud Messaging legacy protocols.