I haven't seen any other apps using push notifications in this way - Tom Insam came up with the idea based on our iOS app's extensive internal use of URLs.
The implementation is pretty simple - when a user enables push notifications in their install of the Lanyrd iOS app we pass that token back to our server (we actually pass the token back with every future API request as a custom HTTP header, over SSL). The server records both the push token, the logged in user and the user agent string sent by the app.
When a logged in user views an event page on http://lanyrd.com/ (e.g. http://lanyrd.com/2012/oscon/ ) we check to see if they have any push tokens associated with their account. If they do, we show them a "Push to your iPhone" button - but we vary the copy and the icon depending on their user agent string, so if they're running an iPad the button says "Push to your iPad" instead, with a wider icon.
When they push the button, we send a custom URL to our app in a standard push notification, along with a command to store the corresponding event in our app's offline cache.
If the user has the Lanyrd app open, the event page is displayed instantly - which is a pretty cool effect (click a button on a web page on your laptop, watch the app on your phone instantly update). If they don't have the app open they get a standard notification prompt which, when activated, will launch the app and send it to the corresponding event page.
The implementation is pretty simple - when a user enables push notifications in their install of the Lanyrd iOS app we pass that token back to our server (we actually pass the token back with every future API request as a custom HTTP header, over SSL). The server records both the push token, the logged in user and the user agent string sent by the app.
When a logged in user views an event page on http://lanyrd.com/ (e.g. http://lanyrd.com/2012/oscon/ ) we check to see if they have any push tokens associated with their account. If they do, we show them a "Push to your iPhone" button - but we vary the copy and the icon depending on their user agent string, so if they're running an iPad the button says "Push to your iPad" instead, with a wider icon.
When they push the button, we send a custom URL to our app in a standard push notification, along with a command to store the corresponding event in our app's offline cache.
If the user has the Lanyrd app open, the event page is displayed instantly - which is a pretty cool effect (click a button on a web page on your laptop, watch the app on your phone instantly update). If they don't have the app open they get a standard notification prompt which, when activated, will launch the app and send it to the corresponding event page.