[firebase_messaging]: FCM Notifications Not Displayed When App Opens from Background/Terminated State

[usama-sherazi]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues.

Are you aware of the differences between iOS and Android background message handling?

• I understand that iOS and Android background messages behave differently, and I've designed my application with that in mind.

Do you have an active Apple Developer account?

• I have an active Apple Developer account.

Are you using a physical iOS device to test background messages?

• I am using a physical iOS device to test background messages.

Have you enabled "Remote Notifications" & "Background Mode" (Checking options for "Background Processing" & "Remote Notifications") in your app's Xcode project?

Problem
When the app is in background or terminated, FCM notifications are received but not shown in the app when it opens. Messages received while the app was closed are not available in the app.
Current Behavior
Background/terminated: Notifications are received and saved via _firebaseMessagingBackgroundHandler
App opens: No code retrieves the initial message using FirebaseMessaging.instance.getInitialMessage()
Result: Messages received while app was closed are not displayed
Expected Behavior
When app opens from terminated state, check for initial message using getInitialMessage()
Display messages received in background/terminated state in the app
Process notifications that arrived while app was closed
Code References
Background handler saves notifications:
main.dartLines ``

Future<void> _firebaseMessagingBackgroundHandler(RemoteMessage message) async {  // ... saves notifications to device storage}
Foreground listener handles active app messages:
main.dartLines 509-583
void setupForegroundMessageListener() {  FirebaseMessaging.onMessage.listen((RemoteMessage message) async {    // ... handles foreground messages  });}

Technical Details
Firebase Core: ^4.3.0
Firebase Messaging: ^16.1.0
Platforms: Android & iOS

Have you created an APNs key in your Apple Developer account & uploaded this APNs key to your Firebase console?

yes uploaded

Have you disabled method swizzling for Firebase in your app?

Are you sending messages to your app from the Firebase Admin SDK?

{
"action": "ring",
"result": "ok",
"mac": ":F78:xx:0xx0:05:03",
"ip": "192.1x.x.x",
"img": "data:imag
}

Have you requested permission from the user to receive notifications?

• I have the relevant permission to receive notifications.

Have you used the 'Console' application on your macOS device to check if the iOS device's system is throttling your background messages?

no

Additional context and comments

No response

[SelaseKay]

Hi @usama-sherazi, at what point do you invoke FirebaseMessaging.instance.getInitialMessage() in your code?

[usama-sherazi]

Hi @SelaseKay Thanks for the quick response!
Here's the full repository for review:
This is a minimal test app I created to reproduce the issue
https://github.com/usama-sherazi/FCm-test.git
I'd appreciate if you could take a look at the code if there's something else that might be causing the issue.
Thank you

[SelaseKay]

Hi @usama-sherazi, could you try calling FirebaseMessaging.instance.getInitialMessage() inside your widget’s initState instead of main? You may also want to wrap the call in a short delay (3 seconds) to see if that resolves the issue.

[usama-sherazi]

Hi @SelaseKay ,

I've tried to fix the issue where FCM notifications received when the app is terminated are not being displayed when the app opens. Here's what I've implemented:

@OverRide
void initState() {
super.initState();
// ... other initialization
WidgetsBinding.instance.addPostFrameCallback((_) {
_checkInitialMessage();
});
}

Future _checkInitialMessage() async {
final initialMessage = await FirebaseMessaging.instance.getInitialMessage();
if (initialMessage != null) {
await saveMessage(initialMessage);
await _loadSavedMessages(); // Reload UI
// Show snackbar notification
}
}

Result: Still returns null - no initial message found.

Current Implementation Details

2. Foreground handler works perfectly:

   • FirebaseMessaging.onMessage.listen() handles messages when app is active
   • Messages are displayed and saved correctly

3. background/Initial message check is not working:

   • getInitialMessage() consistently returns null even when:
     • App is completely terminated
     • Notification is tapped to open the app

[SelaseKay]

Hi, I still don't see the 3 seconds delay before calling getInitialMessage in your implementation. Kindly reference how it's being done in the firebase_messaging example app.

[usama-sherazi]

Hi, I still don't see the 3 seconds delay before calling getInitialMessage in your implementation. Kindly reference how it's being done in the firebase_messaging example app.

Hi, thanks for checking. I’ve now pushed the updated code.

[usama-sherazi]

@SelaseKay hi hava you checked my code. Thank you

[usama-sherazi]

@SelaseKay
Hi
Please confirm if this backend-first approach is the recommended and correct solution for iOS.
The approach is to save all notification details (title, image, payload, etc.) on the backend before or when sending the FCM notification, and then fetch and display this data from the backend when the app is opened or when the user taps the notification.