> This page is part of the [Customer.io documentation](https://docs-customerio.netlify.app). For the complete index, see [llms.txt](https://docs-customerio.netlify.app/llms.txt).
> Last updated: July 15, 2025

# Set up in-app messages

 There's a new version available!

These pages cover version 1 of our SDK, but a newer version is available. In general, we suggest that you update to the latest version to take advantage of new features and fixes.

*   Are you new to our SDKs? [Check out the latest docs.](/integrations/sdk/expo/getting-started)
*   Otherwise, [learn about updating to the latest version](/integrations/sdk/expo/whats-new/)

This page is part of a setup flow for the SDK. Before you continue, make sure you've implemented previous features—i.e. you can't receive in-app notifications before you identify people!

## How it works

An in-app message is a message that people see within the app. People won’t see your in-app messages until they open your app. If you set an *expiry* period for your message, and that time elapses before someone opens your app, they won’t see your message.

You can also set *page rules* to display your in-app messages when people visit specific pages in your app. However, to take advantage of page rules, you need to use [screen tracking](/integrations/sdk/expo/track-events/#auto-screenview) features. Screen tracking tells us the names of your pages and which page a person is on, so we can display in-app messages on the correct pages in your app.

## Set up in-app messaging

Before you can take advantage of in-app messaging, you need to set up your workspace to receive in-app messages. You’ll find your in-app settings under [**Settings** > **Workspace Settings** > **In App Settings**](https://fly.customer.io/env/last/settings).

You also need to set `enableInApp` to `true` in your configuration options.

```javascript
import { CustomerIO, CustomerioConfig, CustomerIOEnv, Region } from 'customerio-reactnative';

const data = new CustomerioConfig()
data.logLevel = CioLogLevel.debug
data.autoTrackDeviceAttributes = true
    
// In-app messages are optional and disabled by default
// To enable in-app messages, set enableInApp to true
data.enableInApp = true

CustomerIO.initialize(env, data) 
```

## Page rules

You can set page rules when you create an in-app message. A page rule determines the page that your audience must visit in your app to see your message. However, before you can take advantage of page rules, you need to:

1.  Track screens in your app. See the [Track Events](/integrations/sdk/expo/track-events/#manual-screenview) page for help sending `screen` events.
2.  Provide page names to whomever sets up in-app messages in fly.customer.io. If we don’t recognize the page that you set for a page rule, your audience will never see your message.

[![Set up page rules to limit in app messages by page](https://docs.customer.io/images/in-app-page-rule.png)](#a55af0f9917c15a7b484c9df200f448d-lightbox)

Keep in mind: page rules are case sensitive. If you’re targeting your mobile app, make sure your page rules match the casing of the `name` in your `screen` events. If you’re targeting your website, your page rules should always be lowercase.

[![The first page rule is Web contains /dashboard. The second page rule is iOS contains Dashboard.](https://docs.customer.io/images/page-rule-case-sensitive.png)](#ba51bbdc9b4c25b5402f99a8a9d30245-lightbox)

Version[](https://github.com/customerio/customerio-expo-plugin/releases/1.0.0-beta.17 "See this release in GitHub")

3.7.0 (Current)1.0.0-beta.17

*   *   [How it works](#how-it-works)
    *   [Set up in-app messaging](#set-up-in-app-messaging)
    *   [Page rules](#page-rules)

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