Overview of Iterable's Web SDK

Iterable can send in-app messages to your website. These messages are called in-browser messages. To make it easy to display in-browser messages on your website, Iterable has a web SDK.

# Description

Iterable's web SDK:

• Can fetch HTML or JSON in-app messages from Iterable and display them on your website (or use the raw JSON in a custom message display or to trigger custom functionality).

• Supports standard in-app message configurations like message priority, animations, expiration, background overlay, etc.

• Can set custom margins and display intervals.

• Can pause the display of in-browser messages, for situations where they shouldn't be shown. For example, you might not want to show in-browser messages when a user is viewing a shopping cart.

• Can add an autogenerated close button to your in-browser messages.

• Uses JWT-enabled Web API keys for authentication. Because of this, to use the web SDK, you'll need to set up a URL (on your servers) from which the SDK can fetch user-specific JWT tokens. To generate these tokens, use the JWT secret Iterable creates alongside your API key.

• Checks for messages when its getMessages method is called, which can happen whenever you like (on page refresh, on button click, etc.). If the SDK fetches multiple messages, it will show them in sequence, at a configurable interval.

• Does not display in-browser messages configured for silent delivery.

• Supports action:// and iterable:// URLs (except on Safari), but not itbl://.

• Syncs message read state back to Iterable, so that users don't see the same message on multiple devices.

• Tracks standard in-app message events such as In-App Open and In-App Click (except for In-App Delete events).

# Limitations

Some limitations to keep in mind:

• Iterable's Web SDK does not provide an out-of-the-box mobile inbox implementation.

• When displayed by Iterable's web SDK in the Safari web browser, in-browser messages have various limitations:

  • In Safari, standard links embedded in in-browser messages work as expected. However, iterable:// and action:// links are not supported. Clicking them does not do anything.

  • Safari prevents Iterable's web SDK from tracking events when users interact with in-browser messages, which affects your campaign metrics.

  • Iterable's web SDK does not auto-generate close buttons in Safari, regardless of how the SDK is configured (since Safari limitations would prevent them from working). In Safari, users can close in-app messages by clicking outside of them.

# Beta web SDK deprecation

If you've been beta testing in-browser messages (in-app messages that target a website), work with your website engineers to upgrade your website to a non-beta version of Iterable's web SDK as soon as possible. The beta SDK will stop working on January 31, 2023. Starting on that day, the SDK will no longer display in-browser messages or track events.

# Learn more

• Introduction to In-Browser Messaging
• Docs for Iterable's web SDK