Push notifications give you something few marketing channels can: a message on your customer’s lock screen, from an app they chose to install, with no cost per send.
Every one of those messages depends on a single yes. Your users need to allow you to contact them with push notifications. And if they don’t, it’s very difficult to turn that decision around.
That makes your opt-in rate for push notifications one of the biggest success drivers for mobile apps. More opt-ins means more customers you can reach through the most effective channel in ecommerce, more revenue and stronger app retention.
This guide covers the latest push notification opt-in rate statistics for iPhone and Android, how permission works on each platform today and nine ways to get more of your app users to opt in.
What Is Push Notification Opt-In Rate?
Push notification opt-in rate is the share of your app users who have given your app permission to send them push notifications.
Installing your app doesn’t automatically give you that permission. On iPhone, and on Android 13 or later, the customer has to allow notifications first, and they can turn them off again at any time in their phone’s settings.
To work out your opt-in rate, divide the number of app users with notifications turned on by your total number of app users. If 6,000 of your 10,000 app users have opted in, your opt-in rate is 60%.
That number sets the stage for your app’s reach. Every point increase means more of your app users you’re able to reach any time, directly on their lock screens.
What’s the Average Opt-In Rate for Push Notifications?
The best retail apps get about two in three of their users to allow push notifications. In Airship’s 2026 benchmarks, based on 2025 data from thousands of apps, the top 10% of retail apps reached opt-in rates of 63.93% on iPhone and 69.85% on Android.
The median retail app reached 43.5% on iPhone and 49.95% on Android, about 20 percentage points behind the leaders on both platforms.
| Retail app opt-in rate (Airship, 2025) | iPhone | Android |
|---|---|---|
| Top 10% of apps | 63.93% | 69.85% |
| Median | 43.5% | 49.95% |
| Bottom 10% of apps | 18.1% | 25.2% |
That gap can be seen as an opportunity. Many brands don’t do a good job of convincing app users to opt in to push, and those that do have a major leg up.
Average Opt-In Rate by Industry
In Airship’s 2025 data, food and drink, travel and finance apps all had medians above 55% on both platforms.
| Median opt-in rate (Airship, 2025) | iPhone | Android |
|---|---|---|
| Food and drink | 61.13% | 57.73% |
| Travel and transportation | 61.08% | 60.4% |
| Finance and insurance | 55.43% | 58.4% |
| Medical, health and fitness | 54.98% | 58.48% |
| Entertainment | 46.93% | 53.3% |
| Sports and recreation | 45.6% | 56.88% |
| Retail | 43.5% | 49.95% |
| Gaming and gambling | 43.2% | 60.05% |
| Media | 38.83% | 41.9% |
| All apps | 48.85% | 53.3% |
Those apps send messages people see as part of daily life, like order tracking, bookings and account alerts. A shopping app can make the same case, with delivery updates, restock alerts and early access alerts, that customers actually want to receive.
What’s the Opt-In Rate on iPhone vs Android?
Android apps still get slightly more opt-ins than iPhone apps, but the gap has nearly closed. Across all apps, Airship’s median was 48.85% on iPhone and 53.3% on Android in 2025, with Android down from 59.5% a year earlier.
Batch’s 2025 benchmark, covering 10,000 apps and websites, shows the same shift. Its average Android opt-in rate fell from 85% to 67% in a year, while the iPhone’s slipped from 58% to 56%.
Both put the change down to Android 13, which made Android apps ask for permission the way iPhone apps always have. It’s one of several ways iOS and Android push notifications have moved closer together.
How Does Opt-In Permission Work?
Push permission works more or less the same way on iPhone and Android today: your app asks, and the customer taps Allow or Don’t Allow. They can change their mind at any time in their phone’s settings.
| iPhone | Android (Version 13 and later) | |
|---|---|---|
| When the prompt appears | When your app asks | When your app asks |
| Chances to show the system prompt | One | Two |
| Before the customer decides | No alerts, unless the app sends quiet provisional notifications | Notifications off (for new installs) |
| Where customers change their mind | The Settings app | The phone's app settings |
How Push Permission Works on iPhone
iPhone apps have always needed permission to send push notifications. Your app shows Apple’s system prompt, and the customer chooses Allow or Don’t Allow.
iOS shows that prompt only the first time your app asks. After a Don’t Allow, the only way back is through the iPhone’s Settings app, which is why Apple suggests asking in context, when people can see what your notifications are for, rather than the moment the app first opens.
Apple also offers a quieter route called provisional authorization. Your app can send notifications without asking first, but they arrive silently in Notification Center, with no sound or banner and nothing on the lock screen.
Each provisional notification comes with buttons to keep or turn off your notifications. A customer who taps Keep still gets them quietly unless they change their settings, so provisional notifications work best for messages that sell themselves, like restock alerts and order updates.
Marketing messages need clear consent on top of that. Apple’s App Store rules only allow promotional push notifications to customers who have explicitly opted in through consent wording in your app, with a way to opt out inside the app.
How Push Permission Works on Android
Android apps have needed permission since Android 13, released in 2022. A newly installed app starts with notifications off, and it has to ask with a system prompt much like the iPhone’s.
Apps built for Android 13 or later choose when the prompt appears, so you can wait for the right moment, just as you would on iPhone. Apps built for older versions show it when the app starts.
Android gives your app two chances. If a customer taps Don’t Allow twice, Android treats it as a permanent no and stops showing the prompt.
Phones that upgraded to Android 13 kept notifications on for apps that already had them. That’s why Android opt-in rates stayed high for a while, and have been falling toward the iPhone’s since.
9 Ways to Increase Push Notification Opt-In Rate
Raising your opt-in rate is one of the most effective ways to grow revenue from push, because every extra opt-in adds reach to every campaign, cart reminder and restock alert you send after it.
It’s also one of the few numbers you can move quickly. Every change to how you ask reaches the next customer who installs your app.
Send Your Opt-In Prompt at the Right Time
Many apps ask for permission the moment they first open, before the customer has seen a single product or a reason to say yes. That’s often the weakest moment to ask, and on iPhone it uses up your only chance at the system prompt.
Ask once customers have seen what your app does: after they browse a category, save a product, sign in or place their first order. Google’s own advice for Android is to let people get familiar with the app first, and to tie the prompt to something they do, like submitting an order.
An order is an especially strong moment, because delivery updates give the customer an obvious reason to say yes.
Set Up a Custom Pre-Permission Prompt
A pre-permission prompt is your own screen, shown just before the system prompt, that tells customers what they’ll get from your notifications. It’s often called a soft ask.
The system prompt can’t be changed, and on iPhone it only appears once. Your own screen can say anything you like, and if the customer taps “Not now”, you can ask again later without using up your chance.
Onboarding is a natural home for it: a few welcome screens that introduce your app and end with the ask. Airship found that apps running onboarding campaigns lifted their opt-in rates as much as 40% above their category’s average.
Explain the Benefits of Opting In to Push Notifications
Customers say yes when they can see what’s in it for them. In Airship’s consumer research, published in 2022, immediate value, like discounts or loyalty rewards, was the top reason people gave for opting in, at 35%.
Delivery updates and order confirmations came next, at 25% each, followed by early access to big sales, at 21%.
So be specific on your pre-permission screen. “Get early access to drops, restock alerts and delivery updates” gives customers a reason. “Turn on notifications to stay in the loop” doesn’t.
Incentivize Users to Opt In
A clear incentive is often the strongest reason to opt in. A welcome discount, bonus loyalty points or early access to a sale gives customers something now, not a vague promise of updates later.
The neatest way to do it is to deliver the reward by push. Your welcome code arrives as the first notification, so it only reaches customers who said yes, and it shows them straight away what your notifications are worth.
Nu Harvest thanks new subscribers for turning on push and promises app-only offers. Bo+Tee’s welcome notification carries a 10% code for a first order.
A few customers will take the code and switch notifications off again. The messages you send next decide how many stay.
A/B Test Your Opt-In Prompts
Testing is the surest way to find what works for your customers. If you have enough app users, try different wording on your pre-permission screen, different incentives and different moments to ask, like the first open against after the first order.
On iPhone, you can also test provisional authorization against a full ask. Quiet notifications let customers try yours before they decide, but they’re easy to miss.
Judge each version by how many customers are still opted in a month later, not just by how many tap Allow on the day.
Deliver Value in Your Push Notifications
Your opt-in rate depends on what you send after the yes, too. Restock alerts, early access, price drops and order updates are messages customers are glad to get, and they keep people opted in.
Primally Pure gives app customers early access to a kit that had sold out, and JD Sports sends a “most wanted” alert for a popular sneaker.
Relevance matters as much as the offer. In the same Airship research, messages that weren’t relevant were the second most common reason people gave for opting out, at 40%, so use what customers browse and buy to personalize what they get.
Optimize Sending Frequency
The right frequency keeps customers opted in for the long run. Getting too many messages too often was the most common reason people gave for opting out in Airship’s research, at 51%.
Sending too rarely can hurt as well. If customers hardly ever hear from you, a notification out of nowhere can feel like an intrusion, and some will turn notifications off on the spot.
Most ecommerce brands do well with three to six campaigns a week, plus automated messages like cart reminders and order updates. From there, you can find your own ideal frequency by testing.
Re-Engage Users Who Opt Out
A customer who says no today can still say yes later. Airship’s advice is to ask once, then ask again when a customer shows strong intent, like viewing a product or visiting your sale page.
That second ask happens in your own words, inside the app, because the system prompt won’t appear again on iPhone, or on Android after two refusals. A tap can then take the customer straight to your app’s notification settings to turn them back on.
Temu does both on its account page, with a banner that ties notifications to order updates and a delivery alerts screen that asks again.
Second asks like these get a good response. In Batch’s 2025 benchmark, in-app messages asking people to turn notifications back on got click rates of 11% on Android and 9% on iOS.
You can make the case by email or SMS too, since both still reach customers who have turned push off.
Let Users Customize Their Push Preferences
Notification preferences let customers turn off one kind of message without losing all of them. Someone tired of daily offers may still want restock alerts and delivery updates.
Offer a few clear choices in your app, such as sales, new arrivals, restocks and order updates. Airship recommends mentioning them during onboarding, because customers who feel in control are more likely to opt in.
On Android, notification channels let customers make the same choice in their phone’s settings, one kind of message at a time.
Unlock Push Notifications With Your Own App
Push notifications start with having a mobile app. If you don’t have one yet, MobiLoud can get you there.
MobiLoud transforms your website into a custom native app, powered by the same underlying code as your site. We help established brands launch VIP channels tailored to their best customers, without the cost and complexity of traditional app development.
Push notifications come with your app from launch day, and so can a welcome screen that asks for permission in your own brand’s words, like the “Be the first to know” screen in the John Varvatos app.
We build, publish and maintain your app, and you can go live in a few weeks. Once it’s live, our team works with you to make your push campaigns a success, from your first welcome message to automated flows like abandoned cart notifications.
Final Thoughts
Your opt-in rate decides how far every push notification can go. The best retail apps get about two in three customers to say yes, and they get there by asking at the right moment, explaining what customers will get and rewarding the yes.
After that, keeping the yes comes down to what you send: useful messages, at a sensible pace, with a choice over what customers get.
Start with the moment you ask and the screen before it. Every customer who installs your app from then on meets the better ask, and every campaign you send reaches further because of it.
