Open Radar

 
Custom notification actions (UIMutableUserNotificationAction) have been a great addition to iOS. With the introduction of the Apple Watch and the increased importance of quick, relevant, and actionable notifications on all iOS devices, developers would benefit from a better way to present the user with custom notification actions. 

Currently a developer has to define custom notification actions when registering UIUserNotificationSettings. Although it’s possible to change these after the initial registration, it’s not a flexible or granular system. The entire UIUserNotificationSettings object has to be recreated and re-registered with the UIApplication. This creates a lot of overhead when wanting to modify the action items associated with just one particular notification, and doesn’t allow for truly dynamic action items.

Rather than creating UIMutableUserNotificationActions in conjunction with a UIMutableUserNotificationCategory at time of registration, it would be preferable to have the option to push custom actions with each individual notification.

Messaging apps provide a great example as to why this would be useful. Whatsapp might know that you often reply with just a smiley face when a specific friend messages you. That smiley face along with a few other contextual options should be available as quick reply interactive notifications.

Setting these actions on-the-fly when the notification is created would more easily enable developers to provide their users with powerful, relevant actions they could perform from their lock screens and watches.