# Test a push notification

Source: https://kirora.io/docs/guides/messaging/push/test-push

Preview a push as a contact and send it to your own devices before it reaches anyone else.

Test a push notification on your own phone or browser before you send it. A test goes to you, a test list or a teammate, right away, and is never recorded in reports.

## Before your first test

Each device you test on needs to be registered like any customer's:

1. Install your app, or open your website, and allow notifications.
2. Sign in with the email address you use for Kirora, so your app registers the device against a contact with that address.
3. Open the contact with your email and check its **Devices** tab: your device should be listed as **Active**, under the app you'll send through.

Use a **Sandbox** app for development builds of your iOS or Android app, and a **Production** app for builds from the App Store or Play Store. An iOS development build can't receive push from a Production app.

## Send a test

1. Open the campaign's **Push notification** step, or a journey's push step, and write the notification.
2. Under **Send a test to**, choose **Me**, **A test list** or **A teammate** (someone who has joined the workspace). It goes to the devices registered to their contact.
3. Optionally, choose a contact under **Personalise as** to fill the merge tags with their details. Otherwise each person's own details are used.
4. Choose **Send test**.

The result says where it went, for example *Sent to 2 of 2 devices.* If it couldn't send:

- *No device registered for this app on a contact with this email.* Register the device first, in the same push project, against a contact with that email address.
- *The push service refused it…* The device was registered for a different app or environment. See [Troubleshoot push](https://kirora.io/docs/guides/messaging/push/troubleshoot-push#many-devices-are-rejected-or-gone).

## Preview as a contact

Under the preview, choose a contact under **Preview as**, then **Render for this contact**, to see their merge tags filled in. On a campaign's page, **Preview as a contact** does the same for the saved notification without sending it.

## What to check

- **Title and message** fit on the lock screen: about one line of title and two of message.
- **Personalisation** reads well, and nothing private shows on the lock screen.
- **The link** opens the right page or screen when you tap the notification.
- **Image and buttons** show on each platform you send to. iOS needs your app's notification service extension for images, and buttons need your app's support.
- **Opens and clicks**: tests aren't recorded, so after your first real send, check that **Opened** and **Clicked** fill in. If they stay at zero, your app or website isn't reporting taps yet.
- **Each platform**: if you customised the notification for iOS, Android or web, test on each.

## Next steps

- [Send push from campaigns, journeys and your app](https://kirora.io/docs/guides/messaging/push/send-push)
- [Troubleshoot push](https://kirora.io/docs/guides/messaging/push/troubleshoot-push)
- [Test and preview a campaign](https://kirora.io/docs/guides/campaigns/test-and-preview)