Enforcing Registration Requirement to Utilize Push Gateway

[aaron.ogle]

Enforcing Registration Requirement to Utilize Push Gateway

On July 31th August 14, 2020. We will begin enforcing the requirement that your workspace is registered in order to send push notifications.

If you are on our cloud or already registered you can disregard

Update: there have been some issues with registration that we are working through together. We’ve extended the register enforcement date 2 weeks.

Update 2: A Follow up and more info on our plan going forward can be found here:

Update on Registration Requirement to Utilize Push Gateway

Dear Rocket.Chat community We want to make it very clear that what we are imposing right now is just the registration requirements for sending push notifications and not the limits on how many notifications can be sent. This requirement has already been stated over a year and a half ago, and we just haven’t imposed it until now. So we believe we have given enough time for people to prepare for this change. Having said that, we apologize for the confusion we may have caused. We should have been…

Update 3

Update on Registration Requirement to Utilize Push Gateway

UPDATE: We are changing the proposed free push notification limit from 1k/month to 5k/month. and splitting the sponsor plans into 2: 5 USD/month for extra 5k push/month 10 USD/month for extra 10k push/month And let me please explain why I use the word proposed: The reason we are asking servers to register now, and not imposing any limits, is exactly because we don’t have enough data about usage profile to be able to confidently determine what are the right ranges. I have already stated tha…

Background

Back in Rocket.Chat 0.65.0 we added a setup wizard. On the final step we started asking if you wanted to register to gain access to the push gateway and other services.

Release 0.65.0 · RocketChat/Rocket.Chat

Up until this point we have not enforced this and some have decided not to register and still used the push gateway to send out push notifications.

Why Start Requiring Now?

Last year we announced the intention to start charging for push notifications. You can read more details around that here:

Push Notification Gateway Pricing

Dear Rocket.Chat users, Our open source platform has come a long way since the start of our journey in 2015. With usage numbers now in the millions, we are facing increasing operational costs. We have discussed ways to soften the load this causes on our resources, while at the same time ensuring that the service we provide remains fully available to the community at the same high standard we always strive to maintain. Therefore, in order to mitigate some of these costs, we have decided to make…

This is the first step in this process. To be able to make sure we fairly charge and are charging only the levels of usage in the top 20% of usage, we need to be able to accurately measure and associate usage with your workspace. The only way we can do this with 100% confidence is to require registration.

What about privacy?

We remain committed to your privacy. Nothing changes here. We still don’t inspect, store or log any push notification payloads. We count a push as it passes through and associate with your account.

You can find more details in our privacy policy here:

Rocket.Chat Privacy Policy

Why do we need the gateway?

A typical closed source app would ship their keys with their mobile apps, and maintain control over the server as well.

But, since Rocket.Chat develops Rocket.Chat as open source and it can be installed by anyone, anywhere… We can’t ship our secret keys with the server. Otherwise it would run risk of abuse and spoil it for everyone.

To get around this we keep the secrets on our pushgateway and Rocket.Chat just relays the messages through for you if you chose that option.

What if I don’t want to register?

No hard feelings, we understand!

We will continue support the ability for you to talk to Apple and Google directly to send push notifications.

https://docs.rocket.chat/guides/administrator-guides/notifications/push-notifications#self-configured

FAQ

Am I using the gateway?

Starting with Rocket.Chat version 0.65 we provided the choice during setup to register and use our push gateway or to do it your self.

If you chose that option and use our mobile app to receive notifications. Then yes you are using it.

What version do I need to be on?

The minimum version to continue to work properly with the push gateway is: Rocket.Chat 1.3.2

But we would recommend updating to at least an officially supported release. More details of supported releases can be found here:

Rocket.Chat's Support Structure

I registered but the info doesn’t look correct

On the next sync it will correct the info. If you want to sync manually you can on the same page you entered the token.

How can I tell if I am registered?

Have your admin login and goto: administration->connectivity services

If you see:

Your workspace is already registered and nothing you need to do.

If you see:

Then you can follow the steps here:

Registration

If you see:

During setup you chose the option not to register. Click register and then see: https://docs.rocket.chat/guides/administrator-guides/connectivity-services

Questions

If you have questions let us know! We will be happy to help.

Thanks!

[reetp]

So, what are the limits? The last time it was mentioned the number was ridiculously low like 1,000 per month?

I did the maths before - that doesn’t catch the top 20% It will catch pretty well everyone:

Push Notification Gateway Pricing

Just as a follow up… 1000 notifications per month. 30 or so notifications a day between even 6 users is just 5 notifications per device per day. So quite honestly unless notifications are off this is going to apply to the vast majority of users, not just the ‘20% of large users’. Unless my maths is badly wrong.

Why can’t we have a monitor in Rocket so we can see for ourselves what we use? This has been asked before but just ignored. I’d like to see what we currently use - I still think that Rocket sends a lot of unnecessary notifications (because the logic is such a tangled mess) which we will end up paying for, or be cut off.

Perhaps we might then decide that we won’t bother registering and setting up an account as we don’t send many?

Also, registration failed. I wrote to support who gave me a key which I then entered.

Now it says:

Your workspace is connected to Rocket.Chat Cloud. Logging into your Rocket.Chat Cloud account here will allow you to interact with some services like marketplace.

My workspace is connected. But under it says login to Rocket.Chat cloud? But I don’t have a cloud account.

How many logins do I need? Totally illogical and the usual fractal of bad design.

Ohh and also I can disconnect. But how can I if I am not connected?

If you no longer wish to utilize cloud services you can disconnect your workspace from Rocket.Chat Cloud.

Come on Aaron - it’s the usual muddled messages and not up to scratch is it?

On v3.2.2 - maybe it is better on 3.3.x or 3.4.x

[aaron.ogle]

@reetp

So, what are the limits? The last time it was mentioned the number was ridiculously low like 1,000 per month?

I’m just the messenger on registration, so I don’t know for sure on the caps.
But I know two very important things here:

• Cap is still not enforced and this will be done very careful providing as much information as we can.
• We are committed to making sure that we aren’t charging everyone for push notification usage. We aren’t after small every day deployments at all. But, I believe the thought here is its easier to up a limit than to decrease a limit. Which I would agree with.

@reetp

Why can’t we have a monitor in Rocket so we can see for ourselves what we use? This has been asked before but just ignored. I’d like to see what we currently use - I still think that Rocket sends a lot of unnecessary notifications (because the logic is such a tangled mess) which we will end up paying for, or be cut off.

I’m not sure about inside of Rocket.Chat its self. But I know from the service perspective we will be surfacing this information in the Cloud Console before cap is enforced so this sort of thing can be kept track of.

@reetp

Perhaps we might then decide that we won’t bother registering and setting up an account as we don’t send many?

This is for sure an option we want to make sure our users always have. For sure don’t have to register. We just are turning on the requirement at the gateway for registration finally being required to send push through the gateway.

@reetp

Also, registration failed. I wrote to support who gave me a key which I then entered.

We are working to make this better. I expect the process to be even smoother by end of today. You know how it goes… you test something it works pretty well and then other people use it and start to give feedback and you realize its not as easy as you thought.

https://cloud.rocket.chat is basically the one stop place for hosted or self hosted workspaces. This is where you would manage your self hosted workspace and soon where you would see info about push usage etc.

If you follow up on the support thread they should be able to finish sorting out your cloud login.

[pjv]

@reetp

I still think that Rocket sends a lot of unnecessary notifications (because the logic is such a tangled mess) which we will end up paying for, or be cut off.

Agree with this part and really hope for a couple features that seem, honestly, critical from a usability standpoint for rocket.chat before RC start charging for sending pushes (which also seems completely reasonable).

1. Ability for a user to mute notifications for a channel for some period of time with a dropdown giving choices like 10 min, 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, 1 year.

2. Ability for a user to set a notification throttle on a channel basis with a unit of time (5 minutes, 10 minutes, 1 hour, 1 day) where they will receive no more than 1 notification for that channel for that period of time. How many RC contacts do you have that send you stream of consciousness novellas one line at a time where you get a push notification for each line? It’s totally not OK that there is not and has not been for years now a good solution for this. I don’t know about you, but I just need to know once that someone wrote me something - I don’t need a notification for each line they wrote to me.

[aaron.ogle]

@pjv

Agree with this part and really hope for a couple features that seem, honestly, critical from a usability standpoint for rocket.chat before RC start charging for sending pushes (which also seems completely reasonable).

Notifications and deciding when to send is tricky! This is something our backend team has refactored a few times. The common complaint is usually actually the opposite. They complain that notifications didn’t happen enough.

I think we are getting pretty close to ideal setup in latest versions. I know now days I don’t have to worry about missing potentially critical alerts like before.

@pjv

Ability for a user to mute notifications for a channel for some period of time with a dropdown giving choices like 10 min, 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, 1 year.

This is something that would really help the experience a lot. I think not disturb mode or something similar is on our roadmap. This is absolutely great feedback though!

@pjv

Ability for a user to set a notification throttle on a channel basis with a unit of time (5 minutes, 10 minutes, 1 hour, 1 day) where they will receive no more than 1 notification for that channel for that period of time. How many RC contacts do you have that send you stream of consciousness novellas one line at a time where you get a push notification for each line? It’s totally not OK that there is not and has not been for years now a good solution for this. I don’t know about you, but I just need to know once that someone wrote me something - I don’t need a notification for each line they wrote to me.

Interesting feedback. A bit tricky… because in some ways people expect to work like other mobile messengers. But that’s an super interesting idea to define some threshold and throttle it to keep from spamming the phone with pushes.

Thanks for providing feedback!

[reetp]

@aaron.ogle

I’m just the messenger on registration, so I don’t know for sure on the caps.

Isn’t that something either you or someone OUGHT to know? If you are the messenger then please bring some facts because you absolutely know you are going to get asked, and not marketing guff.

You could have actually got it and put it in your reply. But you didn’t. Now why is that I ask myself?

@aaron.ogle

I’m not sure about inside of Rocket.Chat its self. But I know from the service perspective we will be surfacing this information in the Cloud Console before cap is enforced so this sort of thing can be kept track of.

But Aaron I know you work closely alongside the people that do. So that isn’t a reasonable excuse. You are an extremely intelligent guy. You know.

Why on earth isn’t it ‘surfaced’ (please, cut the marketing guff and speak plain english) already?

It is inexcusable, and typical of stuff round here - half thought through and rushed.

Why is there no system in place to provide some way of checking the quantity of notifications so we can make informed decisions BEFORE any of this happens? Perhaps some might look at their notification use and say - “hey ho, we won’t bother, just use emails”. Some might say “blimey, we are sending to inactive users” or “why are we sending so many - is there a bug?”.

And some who might say - actually we’ll migrate (though it is hard to make comparisons of costs when you have no idea how many notifications you are sending)

Give people the tools to do the job and make informed decisions. Don’t just foist stuff on people at the last minute and ‘hope for the best’.

It just makes it sound like the vulture capitalist backers want their share of data before WE can make an informed choice whether to give it to them or not.

@aaron.ogle

https://cloud.rocket.chat is basically the one stop place for hosted or self hosted workspaces. This is where you would manage your self hosted workspace and soon where you would see info about push usage etc.

Why? If I self host, I manage it in my own instance. Why do I need some cloud nonsense that I am never going to use? Why not create a simple account page in Rocket for billing IF REQUIRED. It probably doesn’t even need that. Just a way to track notification usage and bill you via some payment method.

I presume this is to try and nag you into using your website, add tracking cookies to my browser, and upsell. It is what everyone else tries to do…

What is really frustrating is that this has once again been rushed in to, no proper preparation, no tools available for users and just a vague bunch of marketing guff from Rocket. It is just amateurish. Again.

Please, go back, get some proper information, give us some sensible tools to help us help ourselves, and you, and roll this out professionally.

Thanks.

[aaron.ogle]

@reetp

Isn’t that something either you or someone OUGHT to know? If you are the messenger then please bring some facts because you absolutely know you are going to get asked, and not marketing guff.

You could have actually got it and put it in your reply. But you didn’t. Now why is that I ask myself?

As far as I know the caps will be exactly as they exist on the website. I think the number will change as we get an accurate average. But thats new number isn’t my call. I do know we cannot with 100% confidence differentiate between workspaces if they aren’t registered. This is why this is the next step in this process that must happen. Then we can adjust the caps if needed (its easier to increase a number then to decrease it) and then put the caps in place.

@reetp

But Aaron I know you work closely alongside the people that do. So that isn’t a reasonable excuse. You are an extremely intelligent guy. You know.

From the OSS side I 100% do work along side the frontend / backend teams. In that regards i’m a community contributor working on the main code base because I love the project. Not because i’m paid to work on that part. From product roadmap standpoint my visibility is actually more to the cloud and our services.

@reetp

Why on earth isn’t it ‘surfaced’ (please, cut the marketing guff and speak plain english) already?

From a Cloud standpoint the data isn’t surfaced because registration had to happen before we can roll that feature out. The plan is to have to have it very soon after registration is required to use it. For sure before caps are enforced.

@rodrigo.nascimento or @gabriel.engel can probably chime in here more about any plans to show inside Rocket.Chat.

@reetp

Why? If I self host, I manage it in my own instance. Why do I need some cloud nonsense that I am never going to use? Why not create a simple account page in Rocket for billing IF REQUIRED. It probably doesn’t even need that. Just a way to track notification usage and bill you via some payment method.

The term “Cloud” I know is a bit off putting. Its simply the system we have for creating an account to work with our services.

Can you imagine if we just took card info without an account? You’d never be able to change the information. We couldn’t prove it was you… it wouldn’t be pretty. An account gives us assurance its you, and then we can give you controls.

@reetp

I presume this is to try and nag you into using your website, add tracking cookies to my browser, and upsell. It is what everyone else tries to do…

If you see tracking cookies please let me know. I’ve personally gone through reviewed and booted anything close to a tracking cookie from cloud.rocket.chat.

[jhjacobs81]

thats all nice and dandy… but i am unable to register our server, and there’s no more response to our ticket, ticket ID 14975

[aaron.ogle]

I’ll ping support team on this ticket. If you just need the token to finish registering goto https://cloud.rocket.chat and click the + to register or the big button:

[jhjacobs81]

thats the thing… it doesnt work… there was something with a double registration i think, but the corona happened and everything got snowed in

[aaron.ogle]

Found it, yup should have a response back from them shortly.

@jhjacobs81

but the corona happened and everything got snowed in

I’m with you. what a weird time we live in.

[rasos]

I hope that the option remains to run our own push gateway. We run a large community chat platform for free, so this strategy is our only option to survive when offering a regional alternaitve to WhatsApp and Telegram. In case of self-hosting a push gateway, monitoring and registration should remain optional IMHO.

[aaron.ogle]

@rasos

I hope that the option remains to run our own push gateway.

That option is for sure not going anywhere!

[Janevski]

Honestly, it’s 4AM, i am all alone in my internal safeheaven of a rocket chat server, nothing can possibly go wrong and you creeped the fu*- potatoe out of me with this message, pushed via rocket cat to all servers.

Rod, Todd, This is god!

[cim]

So clicked that Resend Email button in Connectivity Services and the button in the email I got went nowhere.

[Stan]

Yes. It’s happening to me also. And I can’t register account in https://cloud.rocket.chat/.

[cim]

Also I can’t register for https://desk.rocket.chat. I have, in fact, cookies enabled. Disabled ad/content blockers and even tried it on different browsers.

Never mind. It let me through when using Firefox.

[slyfox]

Hi @aaron.ogle thanks for the post. I just tried to register my workspace and I think it worked?

This is what I see in the cloud console right now. The name and domain look like generic placeholders, but I don’t think I was given a choice anywhere to put in the right information. Is this a bug on your end or something that I did wrong?

Also, any idea what the future pricing might be? Or when exactly you will start charging?

Thanks!

[Nogowski]

Will this still work in older versions of rocketchat? 32-bit users are stuck with 1.3.2.

@aaron.ogle

How can I tell if I am registered?

Have your admin login and goto: administration->connectivity services

This section isn’t present in that version.