Hi. I am putting together educational activities within a Code Club context (9 to 11 year olds).
I am exploring ways to send notifications from instructor-provided Raspberry Pi Node-RED devices to participant-provided Android and iOS devices.
Ideally I would like a single app available for both platforms with simple registration and easy connection to the Node-RED instance. Oh, and free for basic, low-volume use.
However, my research so far suggests that:
There is no simple-to-implement cross-platform stack
Implementing even platform-specific solutions requires a lot of set up for each participant's device (e.g. registering for keys)
The simplest way i found is telegram, there is also push bullet. both have api's and node-red nodes.
Telegram make it very simple to set up bots. Once registered, keys can be obtained in app.
Simply :-
Register account.
Set up bot (using botfather).
Set up private chat room .
Add yourself and bot (give rights, admins etc)
Get key from botfather in app.
Enter key in node-red nodes.
Obtain chat id.
You should then be able to receive/send notifications to and from chat.
Most applications will require parental consent or for the parent to own the account.