Preview generators
Push notification preview generator
Build realistic push notification mockups for iOS and Android lock screens: your app icon, title, subtitle, and body, exported as a PNG.
Instructions
How to use this tool
- 01Upload your app icon (a 256x256 PNG works best) and set the app name.
- 02Fill the three text lines: title, optional subtitle, and body. iOS renders title and subtitle as two bold lines above the body, which is how a real lock screen notification is structured; Android has no subtitle slot, so it uses the subtitle as its title.
- 03Set the lock screen date and device time, then toggle iOS or Android to see how each system renders the notification.
- 04Click Download PNG to export the preview for specs, design reviews, or app store material.
Background
Push notification character limits
There is no single hard limit, but the practical display budgets are consistent: an iOS banner shows roughly 30 to 50 characters of title and around 150 of body before truncating, while Android's collapsed view shows about 50 title characters and 40 to 60 of body, expanding to around 240. Anything critical belongs in the first few words of the title.
The payload limits are far larger (4KB on both APNs and FCM), which is why teams get surprised: the message goes through fine, it just gets visually cut. Previewing at real proportions before shipping is the cheap way to catch that.
Background
What makes a push notification effective
The best-performing pushes lead with the specific fact rather than the app's excitement about it: Your order shipped beats Great news from Acme. Personal, event-driven notifications routinely see several times the open rate of broadcast blasts, and front-loading the payoff matters because most users only read the collapsed view.
Frequency is the other lever: opt-out rates climb sharply once apps exceed a handful of non-essential pushes per week. Preference controls and event-based triggers protect the channel.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How many characters can a push notification show?
Plan for roughly 30 to 50 title characters and 120 to 150 body characters to be visible across iOS and Android without truncation. The underlying payload limit is 4KB on both platforms, so the message arrives; it just gets cut visually.
What size should a push notification icon be?
Upload at least 256x256 pixels. iOS derives the small notification icon from your app icon automatically, while Android uses your notification icon resources; a square source image previews correctly for both.
Can I use the exported PNG in presentations and app store screenshots?
Yes. The download is a plain PNG rendered at 2x resolution, suitable for specs, decks, design reviews, and marketing pages.
Do iOS and Android render the same notification differently?
Yes. iOS shows a rounded banner with the app icon at the left and truncates the body around four lines on the lock screen; Android shows the app name above the content and collapses the body to about two lines until expanded. The toggle in this tool shows both.
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Compare iOS and Android push