At the time of writing, doing SSL on the ESP8266 still has several drawbacks.
For example you have to hard code the fingerprint of the SSL certificate of the domain you want to connect to.
However SSL certificates change and therefore also their fingerprints.
Also specific to push notifications to your smartphone your SSL encryption usually ends at Google or Apple who you would have to trust.
With Simplepush (Android only so far - https://simplepush.io) you can have end-to-end encryption for push notifications from your ESP8266.
And it is super easy when using the provided ESP8266 library.
Check out how to use it here: https://github.com/simplepush/simplepush-esp8266
I am in the unenviable position of being excessively old and crusty with an idea for a project/product that requires microcontrollers and push notification and possibly app control. Starting to learn the micro controller side of things is feeling tough enough at my age lol, but I had kind of hoped the push notification end of things would be "easier" which doesn't seem to be the case
Many of the services are geared up for advertising or mail shots rather than multiple IOT devices sending to one or a few specific items. And then of course theres the problem of what if I do manage to get my idea working, sell a few hundred or thousand of them and THEN the company I was using goes belly up?
So I did wonder whether there is a way to do this with an inserted server. So you have your own interface that always talks to/is talked to by the IOT devices and with a webpage where new users would set up their account and register the device then behind the curtain your web site sets them up with a unique account on whatever provider is being used.
That way you could even have your server set up two accounts on two providers for each user and operate them like a fall over system where the best one is used normally, but if their service seems offline or they go bump it defaults to the back up. Then if you know one is going to go belly up soon or it just does you have a breathing space to replace it if that makes sense
Not sure if that idea is even possible or just plain dumb, but thought I would throw it out there to see if its even worth considering or would be possible
I am in the unenviable position of being excessively old and crusty with an idea for a project/product that requires microcontrollers and push notification and possibly app control. Starting to learn the micro controller side of things is feeling tough enough at my age lol, but I had kind of hoped the push notification end of things would be "easier" which doesn't seem to be the case
Many of the services are geared up for advertising or mail shots rather than multiple IOT devices sending to one or a few specific items. And then of course theres the problem of what if I do manage to get my idea working, sell a few hundred or thousand of them and THEN the company I was using goes belly up?
So I did wonder whether there is a way to do this with an inserted server. So you have your own interface that always talks to/is talked to by the IOT devices and with a webpage where new users would set up their account and register the device then behind the curtain your web site sets them up with a unique account on whatever provider is being used.
That way you could even have your server set up two accounts on two providers for each user and operate them like a fall over system where the best one is used normally, but if their service seems offline or they go bump it defaults to the back up. Then if you know one is going to go belly up soon or it just does you have a breathing space to replace it if that makes sense
Not sure if that idea is even possible or just plain dumb, but thought I would throw it out there to see if its even worth considering or would be possible