# Notification Actions in Expo: Let Users Respond Without Opening Your App
# Code with Beto · https://codewithbeto.dev/blog/expo-notification-actions
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## This document

- **Title:** Notification Actions in Expo: Let Users Respond Without Opening Your App
- **Canonical URL:** https://codewithbeto.dev/blog/expo-notification-actions
- **Agents export:** https://codewithbeto.dev/blog/expo-notification-actions/agents.txt
- **Author:** Beto
- **Published:** July 9, 2026
- **Summary:** Add action buttons to your Expo notifications so users can respond in the background, without ever opening the app. Pure JS, no native code, no config plugins.
- **Access tier:** public (full article in this file)

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---

# Notification Actions in Expo: Let Users Respond Without Opening Your App

Most React Native apps use notifications as a doorbell. It rings, the user taps it, the app opens. That's it.

But notifications can do more. Long-press one (or swipe left on the lock screen) and you can show buttons. Tap a button and your app handles it in the background, without ever opening.

I added this to a habit tracker I built recently. I long-press the notification, tap **Mark as Done**, and the streak updates. The app never opens.

It's built into `expo-notifications`. No native code. No config plugins. No extensions. Here's the whole thing.

![Long-press the reminder and the action button shows up (works on apple watch too!)](https://d3ynb031qx3d1.cloudfront.net/blog/apple-watch-medium.png)

## What we're building

Three pieces:

1. A **notification category** that defines the action buttons
2. Notifications that reference that category and carry data (which habit is this?)
3. A **response handler** that runs when the user taps the button

## Step 1: Register a category with actions

A category is a named set of actions. You register it once at app launch:

```ts
import * as Notifications from "expo-notifications";

export const HABIT_REMINDER_CATEGORY = "habitReminder";
export const MARK_DONE_ACTION = "markDone";

export async function registerNotificationCategories() {
  await Notifications.setNotificationCategoryAsync(HABIT_REMINDER_CATEGORY, [
    {
      identifier: MARK_DONE_ACTION,
      buttonTitle: "Mark as Done",
      options: { opensAppToForeground: false },
    },
  ]);
}
```

`opensAppToForeground: false` is the key line. It means tapping the button does **not** open the app. iOS wakes your app in the background, your JS handles the action, and the notification dismisses itself.

One footgun straight from the Expo docs: don't use `:` or `-` in your category identifier. Categories silently misbehave if you do.

You can also add destructive actions (red button), actions that require the device to be unlocked, and even text input actions. Imagine replying to a chat message from the notification. It's all in the same API.

## Step 2: Attach the category to your notifications

When scheduling, reference the category and include whatever data your handler will need:

```ts
await Notifications.scheduleNotificationAsync({
  content: {
    title: habit.name,
    body: "A small step keeps the ember burning.",
    sound: "default",
    categoryIdentifier: HABIT_REMINDER_CATEGORY,
    data: { habitId: habit.id },
  },
  trigger: {
    type: Notifications.SchedulableTriggerInputTypes.DAILY,
    hour: 21,
    minute: 0,
  },
});
```

The `data` payload is invisible to the user. It's how your handler knows _which_ habit to mark done.

## Step 3: Handle the response

When the user taps an action, you get a `NotificationResponse` with the `actionIdentifier` and your data:

```ts
import * as Notifications from "expo-notifications";
import { useEffect } from "react";

function handleResponse(response: Notifications.NotificationResponse | null) {
  if (response?.actionIdentifier !== MARK_DONE_ACTION) return;
  const habitId = response.notification.request.content.data?.habitId;
  if (typeof habitId !== "string") return;
  completeHabit(habitId, todayKey());
}

export function useNotificationActions() {
  useEffect(() => {
    void registerNotificationCategories();

    // Cold start: the action tap may have launched the app
    handleResponse(Notifications.getLastNotificationResponse() ?? null);
    Notifications.clearLastNotificationResponse();

    // Running app: the listener fires directly
    const sub =
      Notifications.addNotificationResponseReceivedListener(handleResponse);
    return () => sub.remove();
  }, []);
}
```

Call this hook once in your root layout and you're done.

Note the check on `actionIdentifier`. Regular notification taps (the ones that open your app) also fire this listener, with `actionIdentifier` set to `Notifications.DEFAULT_ACTION_IDENTIFIER`. If you skip the check, opening the app from a notification would also mark the habit done.

## Pro tip: make your handler idempotent

The same response can reach your handler **twice**. Once from `getLastNotificationResponse()` on a cold start, once from the listener. If your handler _toggles_ state, the second delivery undoes the first. The user marks their walk done, and your app silently un-marks it.

The fix is to make the operation idempotent: "set to done", not "flip".

```ts
export function completeHabit(habitId: string, date: string) {
  db.runSync(
    "INSERT OR IGNORE INTO completions (habit_id, date, completed_at) VALUES (?, ?, ?)",
    [habitId, date, new Date().toISOString()],
  );
}
```

`INSERT OR IGNORE` (or an upsert, or a `Set`, whatever fits your storage) means processing the response twice is harmless. Design every notification action handler this way.

## How reliable is it?

The answer depends on the app state when the user taps the action:

- **App in foreground or background**: rock solid. The listener fires immediately.
- **App killed (iOS)**: iOS launches your app in the background, headless. Your JS boots, the root layout mounts, and the response arrives via `getLastNotificationResponse()` or the listener. I also tested killing the app and tapping the action from my apple watch and it worked.
- **App killed (Android)**: the response listener path is less reliable when terminated. For guaranteed delivery, Android supports `Notifications.registerTaskAsync` with `expo-task-manager`, a background task that runs on action taps even when the app is dead. If Android is critical for you, add it.

One more reliability note: because the handler runs headless, don't rely on React state or navigation being ready. Write to your database (SQLite, MMKV, whatever persists), and let the UI read fresh state when it next mounts. In my habit tracker, the handler writes straight to SQLite and even the home screen widget re-syncs from the same write.

If you're testing _remote_ pushes, [QuickPush](/tools/quickPush) (my macOS menu bar tool) makes firing Expo push notifications at your device painless.

**QuickPush**

Test Expo push notifications from your Mac menu bar. No command line, no copy-pasting tokens, just fast iteration on payloads and delivery.

[Check it out](https://codewithbeto.dev/tools/quickPush)

## Want images in your notifications too?

Action buttons are one upgrade. The other one people always ask about is showing an image in the push itself: the photo someone just sent, the product that's back in stock.

**Remote** pushes are the tricky ones. An APNs payload can only carry a URL, not the image itself, so something on the device has to download the image before the notification is displayed. That something is a **Notification Service Extension**: a small native process that intercepts the push and modifies it before iOS shows it.

Sounds like heavy native work. It's not. I recorded a **FREE** lesson where I set up the whole thing with Expo Apple Targets: creating the extension, downloading the image, and testing a rich push end to end.

**Rich Notifications iOS (free lesson)**

Free public lesson: set up a Notification Service Extension with Expo Apple Targets so your remote pushes display images on iOS. 7 minutes.

[Watch for free](https://codewithbeto.dev/rnCourse/expoNotificationsExtension)

## Wrap up

Notification actions are one of those features that make an app feel finished. They've been sitting in `expo-notifications` the whole time: a category, a `categoryIdentifier`, and a response handler. The only real trap is idempotency, and now you know about it.