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Marketing Cloud Engagement | MobilePush Send Results: Key Metrics and Their Differences in Journey Builder

Date de publication: Nov 28, 2025
Description

Discrepancies between the number of contacts that passed through the Journey Builder canvas, the number of push notifications delivered, the "Sent" count in activity summaries, and various send result metrics are a common support inquiry. In most cases, these discrepancies reflect expected behavior and do not indicate a delivery issue.

To understand this behavior, it is important to know exactly what each value on the UI and in reports represents. This article explains each MobilePush-related metric available for Journey sends and what it measures.

Résolution
The following sections explain what each metric shown in the management screens and reports represents for push notification sends via Journey Builder.
 

1. Activity Count on the Canvas

Each activity on the canvas displays a person icon with a number below it. This number represents the number of contacts that passed through that activity. It does not indicate whether a message was sent or whether the send was successful.

 

2. Activity Summary

This is the summary screen displayed when you click the icon described in section 1. It shows a breakdown — including sent and error statuses — of contacts that passed through the activity and triggered the MobilePush send process from Journey Builder.

Note:
"Triggering the MobilePush send process from Journey Builder" refers to Marketing Cloud's internal send processing call, not the actual delivery to a message provider (APNs/FCM).
Additionally, in MobilePush, contacts that do not have MobilePush address information (such as a Device ID) are counted as "Success" rather than as a hard error (as would occur with email sends. In most cases, therefore, the "Sent" count here equals the activity pass-through count from section 1.

 

3. Push Notification Analytics

This is the analytics screen displayed when you click the MobilePush activity icon. It shows the number of devices that successfully received the send request when Marketing Cloud attempted delivery to each message provider (APNs/FCM). Note that this is a device count, not a contact count.

Note: This value does not represent delivery to end users' mobile devices (i.e., whether the notification was received). It is counted at the point the provider successfully accepted the request — even if the device is powered off or out of range. Whether the end user's device actually received the notification cannot be confirmed from the screens or reports.

4. Reports

The MobilePush Detail Extract Report and  Push Message Summary Report are both based on the number of devices for which a send was attempted. Note that these are also device-based, not contact-based.

  • Push Message Summary Report: Review the number of devices for which a send was attempted and the number of failures, broken down by OS.
  • MobilePush Detail Extract Report: Records the send result (such as success or failure) for each individual device for which a send was attempted.
 

Examples

The following examples illustrate how each metric appears in different scenarios.

Example 1: One contact owns multiple devices
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Scenario
  • 2 contacts pass through the Push notification activity
  • Combined, the 2 contacts have 5 opted-in devices and 3 opted-out devices
  • Send results: 4 devices succeeded / 1 device failed

Metrics displayed
  1. Canvas count: 2
  2. Activity Summary (Success): 2
  3. Push Notification Analytics (sends): 4 (5 opted-in devices − 1 failed device)
  4. Reports:
    • Summary Report: 5 send attempts (total across OS), 1 failure
    • Detailed Report: 5 records (4 Success, 1 Fail)
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In this case, the send results (5 device attempts) exceed the number of contacts that passed through (2). This is expected behavior and does not indicate misdelivery — it results from the target contacts owning multiple opted-in devices.
 
Example 2: Many contacts have no address information or are opted out
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Scenario
  • 6 contacts pass through
  • 4 of the 6 contacts have MobilePush address information, with a total of 4 devices
  • Of the 4 devices: 2 opted-in, 2 opted-out
  • Send results for the 2 opted-in devices: 1 success / 1 failure


Metrics displayed
  1. Canvas count: 6
  2. Activity Summary (Success): 6
  3. Push Notification Analytics (sends): 1 (2 opted-in devices − 1 failed device)
  4. Reports:
    • Summary Report: 2 send attempts (total across OS), 1 failure
    • Detailed Report: 2 records (1 Success, 1 Fail)
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In this case, even though 6 contacts passed through, the actual send count (1) is significantly lower. This is not a delivery shortage — it results from the low number of opted-in devices available for sending and the presence of a failed device 
As shown above, each item on the screens and in reports represents a value with a different definition. Understanding these characteristics and distinguishing between metric definitions enables accurate status assessment.

 
 

FAQ

Q) What happens when a contact key that passed through a MobilePush-related message activity (such as Push, Inbox, or In-App) is not registered as a contact for the MobilePush app, or is registered as a contact for a different app than the message target?
A) Journey Builder records a success and the contact proceeds to the next activity. However, because the contact is not registered for the target app, the message is not delivered.
Numéro d’article de la base de connaissances

000396496

 
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Salesforce Help | Article