Editors and viewers · 02

Your first sign-in starts with a password change

A superadmin creates your account and gives you a temporary password. It lets you sign in once — but until you replace it, the console won't let you do anything else.

1. Open the console

   You get the address and the temporary password from the superadmin — Postbox itself doesn't send emails.

2. Sign in with your email address

   Right after Sign in, the password change screen appears.

3. Choose your own password

   Enter the temporary one in the Current password field, and the new one twice. At least 10 characters, and it can't be the same as the old one.

4. Save and continue

   You'll see the Password changed message, and the Dashboard loads.

1. Enabled only when the new password is at least 10 characters and both fields match.
2. Sign out without changing — the same screen greets you next time you sign in.

Editors and viewers · 03

The console always works inside one app

The app you pick in the top-right corner decides what you see on the Compose, Messages, Audience, Segments and Templates pages. Check it before you send anything.

1. App switcher. Lists only the apps assigned to you. Your browser remembers the choice.
2. Apple environment. production is the live App Store app; sandbox is the development build. Their tokens aren't interchangeable.
3. Poste restante — scheduled messages that haven't gone out yet. One click takes you to the Schedule page.

What the numbers show

The Recent events box only shows rows to editors — audit data is left out of the viewer view.

Editors and viewers · 04

Test devices first, then everyone

The Compose page is three steps from top to bottom: who it goes to, what it says, and when. On the right, a live preview shows how it looks on a phone, with the estimated reach and the send button below it. By default the page targets your test devices — you can only change that on purpose.

1. Who. The three common modes are visible; one-off filters and specific users are under More targeting options.
2. Language variants. Add language asks for a language code (e.g. de) and opens a new tab for German-language phones. The Default tab goes to everyone else; the phone's language decides.
3. Placeholders from the recipient's data: {{name}}, {{tags.week}}. If a recipient has no value, it becomes empty text.
4. Platforms. You can untick one, so it goes only to iPhones or only to Android phones.
5. Rarely needed. Extra data, sound, priority, time to live and the per-platform settings wait collapsed; a section you've filled in shows a 1 set marker in its header.
6. Preview. Updates as you type; switch between iOS and Android. Placeholders are highlighted.
7. Estimated reach. Recalculates automatically as you change the audience or the platforms.

The text

You can pick a saved template from the Start from template list — it fills in the fields, which you can then edit for this one send; the template itself doesn't change. Or write it here.

Character limits

A live counter runs above the field. It turns orange when the text is longer than a locked screen can show in full; at the hard limit, the field stops accepting input.

Placeholders count at their written length ({{tags.week}} = 13 characters); the phone shows the substituted value — which may be shorter or longer.

Personalization: the Insert… menu

At the right edge of the Title, Message and Subtitle fields, a + button (Insert…) opens a menu:

1. Personalization tag

   The list shows the tags that actually exist on the app's phones, most common first, with an example value and how many devices have it. It's searchable.

2. A default value, if needed

   In the Default value field, enter what should appear when the recipient doesn't have that data — e.g. there. Left empty, nothing appears.

3. Insert

   It goes in at the cursor, e.g. {{ tags.name | default: "there" }}. You can insert a few common emoji from here too.

In the collapsed sections:

Who — the Audience

The selected platforms narrow every mode: if only Apple iOS is active, only the iPhones in a segment get it.

When — the Delivery schedule

Sending, step by step

1. Pick the app, then write

   Check the app switcher in the top right. If you switch apps while writing, Compose takes you back to the Dashboard and the unfinished message is lost — so no segment or template from the other app can linger on screen.

2. Send it to your test devices

   Send to named test devices + Immediately → Send to test devices. Check it on your phone.

3. Switch the audience

   A segment or everyone; check the Estimated reach number on the right.

4. Send or schedule

   Once accepted, the console jumps to the message details (chapter 05).

Editors and viewers · 05

Every phone sends back its own receipt

The Messages page lists all of the app's messages; Schedule lists only the ones that haven't gone out yet. Click a message to see how many phones got it, and what happened with each one.

1. Cancel is available until the message has finished; for scheduled ones there's also Reschedule next to it. Viewers see neither.
2. Receipts per device, filterable by status (any status).

Message statuses

Receipt statuses

Editors and viewers · 06

One person, several phones — and yours is a test device

Audience shows the address book in two views: People — users by their own ID, and Devices — individual phones. This is where you mark your own phone as a test device.

1. Give it a recognizable name and press the button. This name appears in Compose under Named test devices. Afterwards, the same place offers Rename and Remove from test devices.

How to find your own phone

1. Open the app on your phone

   At least once, signed in — that's when it registers with Postbox. Allow notifications.

2. Search for your own ID

   In the Devices view, type your external id in the Search field (the developers can tell you which one is yours), or filter by platform and Last seen.

3. Name it and mark it

   In the panel: name → Mark as test device.

A grey muted badge next to a phone means the user turned off notifications on it. Postbox keeps it but won't send to it until they turn them back on.

People vs. Devices — what's the difference

Filters: Platform, Locale, Tag + Tag value, Last seen (7 / 30 / 90 days, 1 year), Active only, Test devices.

Dead addresses

If Postbox has retired a phone, a red bar sits at the top of the panel: Returned to sender: …. The Reactivate button brings it back, but the address only truly works again once the app checks in from that phone again.

Editors and viewers · 07

A segment is a rule, not a list

A segment describes who gets a message — for example, “German-language phones, from week 12”. It's recalculated at send time, so anyone who has joined since is included. A template is reusable text.

1. Field, operator, value. tag… looks at the phone's tag, user tag… at the user's.
2. Count before you save with the Count devices button. On the list page, the Devices now column always shows the current number.

Fields and operators

Operators: eq equals, ne not equal, in / nin in / not in the list (a, b, c), gt gte lt lte greater / less than, exists the data is present (true / false), contains, starts_with, within_days.

Templates

On the Templates page you fill in the same fields as in Compose, language tabs included. In Compose, picking from the Start from template list fills in the fields. Changes you make there apply only to that one send — you edit the template itself on the Templates page. Template and segment names are unique within an app (A template with this name already exists for the app).

Editors and viewers · 08

Without two keys, not a single notification goes out

Every app needs an Apple key (iPhone) and a Firebase key (Android). An editor uploads them on the Apps page; that's also where you set when the app asks for notification permission.

1. The full file contents, including the BEGIN and END lines.
2. Store key (Rotate key for an existing key) validates on save: a wrong key gives you an error right away, not on the first send. To delete: Remove APNs key.

Where the two keys come from

While either key is missing, a yellow bar on the right side of Compose, above the send button, warns you (only for the selected platforms): APNs credentials are missing — those deliveries will fail until they are stored.

The permission prompt

The app shows its own friendly question before the iOS/Android system permission dialog — because that can only be asked once, and an instant “No” is final. You set its text and rules here, and the app picks them up on its next launch, without releasing a new version.

Stats at the bottom: how many times it was shown (shown), and how many people allowed (allowed), postponed (later) or dismissed it (dismissed).

Editors and viewers · 09

Some things affect the whole company, not just one app

Three pages belong to the whole tenant rather than to one app: billing, API keys and the audit log. Each has its own permission rule.

Billing — for everyone, read-only

Your plan (Plan), this month's meter (MAU — the number of users active in the month), the expected charge (Projected charge), any open balance (Outstanding), the plan's limits (Limits) and issued invoices as PDFs. You can't change anything here; to switch plans, contact Smartbits.

API keys — only if you're an editor on every app

Keys are how your own backend (sk_…, can send) and the mobile app (pk_…, only registers the phone) reach Postbox. For a new key, the secret is shown once (Copy it now) — after that, only its beginning is visible.

Audit log — who did what, when

Every change is one row: who did it (Actor), what (Action), to what (Target), whether it succeeded (Outcome), and what changed (Changes). Passwords and keys never go into it. Editors see the rows for their own apps; someone who is an editor on every app also sees tenant-level ones (keys, rejected attempts). You can filter by action (message, app.*), by outcome, and with the This app only toggle.

Exporting your data

The Export button on Audience (people and devices), Segments and Templates downloads the current app's data, whole — not just the page or the filter on screen. Anyone who can see the app can export it, viewers too.

• CSV (spreadsheet) — opens in Excel; tags, filters and content sit in one cell as JSON.
• NDJSON (re-importable) — one record per line, exactly as stored; this is the one for the developers.

The device export contains each phone's full push token, which is what lets you move the audience to another service. Treat the file as personal data. Every export is a row in the audit log (Data exported).