First look at the Unification Notification center for Windows Phone

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This morning we reported that NotifyMe! was in the works as an independent notification system for Windows Phone 8 and how this will be competing with Liquid Daffodil’s proposed Unification system, which is already in early beta testing.

We now have more info including some new screenshots of what that Unification system will look like, including some features that users can expect when it is finally released. What makes this interesting of course is this is not just conceptual but already being done by Liquid Daffodil, moving beyond the numerous proposed models we’ve seen in the past from the Windows Phone community.

This is real, this is happening, folks.

Unification: Displaying supported apps, with ability to jump to their notifications

Here are some of the main features that are now working in Unification:

  1. Not just Notifications, but Notification History, 100% managed by a user
  2. Optional additional information that CAN’T be contained in a Toast or Tile, like 255 character message from the app
  3. Single location to view ALL your Notifications for ALL devices, including apps on Windows Phone 7, Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 (like fantweestic! Super rowi Bros:TweetWerks)

We’ve been told that all of Liquid Daffodil’s apps that utilize notifications have been updated to include Unification support and are pending Store approval. Likewise, for those wondering yes, Windows Phone Central is planning to opt-in with our app as well and we hope to be one of the first non-Liquid Daffodil apps to support this system at launch.

The big hurdle that Unification obviously faces is third-party app developers adding the line of code to their apps. In reality, that’s a simple step and since it is free for them, there really should be no excuse to not do it. But the question remains if users will start demanding that their favorite apps opt-in to Unification or, like the nascent ‘homebrew scene’, it remains a small minority. There is also the larger problem if major services like WhatsApp or Facebook would ever join the movement, which would seem important for the concept to take off.

For developers, the system is seemingly very simple and secure:

  • Free to developers
  • It only takes one line of code
  • Secure and encrypted
  • It offers way more than an eventual Microsoft solution, especially Windows Phone 7 notifications AND “additional” messages

As Unification comes closer to being a reality, we’ll see about posting those developers/apps that have signed on to the system, to help build momentum. What do you folks think? 

Are you a developer and wish to get involved and participate in the beta of the Unification service? Be sure to contact the team at unifyus@liquiddaffodil.com. Liquid Daffodil are after all developers who support Windows and / or Windows Phone. Unification is a free project to participate in (and will be free once the service hits gold and goes live), so we urge you to at least contact them about your app(s).

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Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.