[Feature Request] Critical alerts/notifications

[ymaglaras]

Hello, lovely devs!

Apple allows apps to utilise critical alerts (i.e. notifications that ring no matter the position of the silent switch or the focus mode). This is extremely useful for critical applications such as water leakage sensors, doors/windows etc.

The feature requires explicit permission from the user (once, when the app asks for push notification rights). After that, when a notification is delivered with a specific flag, it's displayed as critical etc.

More info here (or somewhere around here): https://developer.apple.com/documentation/usernotifications/unnotificationinterruptionlevel/critical

So far, I've seen this implemented in the Apple Home app and it can literally be a life-saver.

[weakfl]

@digitaldan the entitlement for critical alerts needs explicit permission from Apple. It can be requested via https://developer.apple.com/contact/request/notifications-critical-alerts-entitlement/

Apart from that there isn't much to implement on the app side of things (except prompting for additional permissions). Most of the work will need to be done on the backend.

[hiSandog]

Because critical-alert entitlement and user permission are both exceptional, the app should expose the capability state clearly: entitlement unavailable, permission not requested, denied, or enabled. The notification payload could fall back to timeSensitive/normal delivery when critical alerts are unavailable rather than failing silently. A per-rule opt-in is also important so only explicitly designated leak/alarm events bypass Focus, not every openHAB notification.