Try Airship with the 1st Flight app

Want to see Airship work on your own device before integrating it with your own app or site? The 1st Flight app lets you create an Airship account, connect a ready-made project, and send yourself messages in minutes.

The app also includes guided learning tracks for features, capabilities, and data. Each track explains a topic, calls out key use cases, and walks you through hands-on tasks in the app and dashboard.

Create an account and set up the app

First set up your Airship account, then request a magic link to install the 1st Flight app:

1. Create an Airship account on go.airship.com  or go.airship.eu . Make sure your Region selection matches the location where you want your data to be hosted.
2. Check your inbox for a verification email from Airship and click Activate account to open the account setup page.
3. Set up a password.

On the next screen, enter your email address and select Get magic link. If on a mobile device, scroll to the right to see the field and button.

Perform the next steps on your mobile device:

1. Check your email for our message, and tap Install the app. Your device’s app store will open to the Airship app.
2. Install and open the app.
3. Tap Connect My App.
4. Select your region (US or EU) and log in with your Airship username and password. Your Airship account is now associated with the 1st Flight app on your device.
5. For iOS mobile devices, tap Enable Push then Allow to allow the device to receive push notifications. Push is automatically enabled for Android, so this screen will not appear for Android mobile devices.

Start sending messages

Now that your device is connected with your 1st Flight project in Airship, you’re ready to send yourself messages.

Send a push notification

Send a Push NotificationA message that can appear on any screen on a mobile device. Push notifications appear as banners. to your mobile device. We’ll try out a few features along the way too.

1. Open the 1st Flight project from the DashboardThe Airship web interface at go.airship.com or go.airship.eu. and select Create a message.

   Tip

   After sending your first message, this screen will display your Messages OverviewA view of all your project’s messages, with options for editing their settings, content, status, and more.. Select Create to create more messages.

2. Enter a message name and save it.

3. In Audience, select All Users and Fan Out, and enable Mobile Apps. Then, select Content in the header.

4. Select Push Notification, then Add content.

5. Enter your message in the text field. You will see your message appear in the device preview.

6. Select the Web Page action and enter a URL. We recommend http://bit.ly/IqT6zt . When your device receives the message and you tap the notification, its web browser will open the URL entered here.

7. Enable the Title option and enter a title in the text field. Notice its position in the preview.

8. Select Delivery in the header and then Send Now.

9. Select Review & Send in the header and review the appearance and content of your message. You can page through the images in the device preview.

   

10. Select Send Message.

Your push notification should appear momentarily. Tap the message and the device’s browser should open the URL you entered when composing your message.

Want to send more messages? Our Message composer tutorials walk you through all the features and options.

Ready to integrate Airship with your own app? See Set up your messaging project.

Automate a push notification

After you’ve sent your first message, try setting up some automated messages. Airship’s automation features make it easy to send your audience relevant messages based on things they do in your app, changes in their preferences, or changes in their location. Learn more in About Automations and Sequences.

Automate a push notification using the Tag Change trigger:

1. Follow the steps in the Automation Composer Tutorial, using these settings:
   • In the Setup step, select the Tag Change trigger, then enter a tag in the search field (e.g., heyo) and select Create tag.
   • In the Content step, select Push Notification as your content type.
2. Set the tag on your Channel ID so you can trigger the message:
   1. In the 1st Flight app, go to Account, then Tags.
   2. Select Tag, you’re it!, then Set tags.
   3. Enter the tag you used when setting up your automation rule and select Add. This simulates how you would assign tags to your audience as they use your app and also demonstrates how you can use tags with your messages. Tags are case-sensitive.

Your push notification should appear momentarily.

Try In-App Automation

In-App Automation messages are cached in your app, helping you immediately respond to your audience’s behaviors with contextual messages. Using In-App Automation, you can even reach users who may have opted out of traditional push notifications.

Learn more in the In-App Automation feature guide.

Try In-App Automation using the App Open trigger:

1. Follow the steps in the In-App Automation Composer Tutorial, using these settings:
   • In the Behavior step, select the App Open trigger and leave the value set to 1. This triggers your message the next time your audience opens the app.
2. Close and open the 1st Flight app to see your message.

If you don’t see your message, go to Messages, then Messages Overview, and make sure it is listed as Active. After it is Active, reopen the app.

Create your first Sequence

SequencesA series of messages that is initiated by a trigger. Airship sends messages in the series based on your timing settings, and you can also set conditions that determine its audience and continuation. Sequences can be connected to each other and to other messaging components to create continuous user experiences in a Journey. are a quick and powerful way to encourage your audience to reach a goal with an automated series of messages. You might use a Sequence to encourage your audience to buy items that they left in their shopping cart, or count down to an upcoming event that they have tickets for.

You can set goals to end the Sequence when your audience achieves a desired result. For example, if you start a Sequence when your audience leaves items in their cart, you might end the Sequence when your audience completes a purchase. Learn more in the Sequences guide.

Set up a Sequence using the Tag Change trigger:

1. Follow the steps in Create a Sequence, using these settings:
   • For the trigger, select Tag Change, then enter a tag in the search field (e.g., woohoo) and select Create tag.
2. Set the tag on your Channel ID so you can trigger the Sequence:
   1. In the 1st Flight app, go to Account, then Tags.
   2. Select Tag, you’re it!, then Set tags.
   3. Enter the tag you used when setting up your Sequence and select Add. This simulates how you would assign tags to your audience as they use your app and also demonstrates how you can use tags with your messages. Tags are case-sensitive.

Your audience will receive messages in the Sequence according to the schedule and conditions you set. When your audience no longer meets the conditions to continue receiving messages, or achieves a goal of the Sequence (set in Outcomes), they stop receiving messages and their Sequence ends.

Try Message Center

Message Center is both a place in your app where you can display persistent rich messages, including HTML, video, etc., and a message type. Similar to email, Message Center represents both the medium (the in-app inbox) and the message type (the messages you send to the inbox).

Message Center messages support HTML messages with images and video, helping you keep your audience engaged with creative visuals. You might use the Message Center to send your audience coupons, or notify them of upcoming events, encouraging them to keep returning to your app and services.

See Message Center content to create an HTML message with images and video.

• You can send Message Center messages from the Message, Automation, and Sequence composers.
• You can send a Message Center message by itself, or you can combine it with a push notification and/or in-app message. Interacting with the push notification or in-app message sends your audience to the Message Center.

Try the API

If you’d like to try out the Airship API with your new 1st Flight app, you can use the Airship Public Workspace  on Postman.com.

From the Airship public workspace, select the Airship 1st Flight  collection to get started.

In the upper-right hand corner, choose the Airship 1st Flight environment and populate it with your 1st Flight app key, secret, and other variables to use the Airship API.