A push notification is used to deliver information, such as a message, from a backend system to an application on a mobile device in order to increase application engagement and usage. The notification can be sent at anytime, even when the user is not actively using the targeted application.

Sending Push Notifications from Azure Mobile Apps

Azure Notification Hubs provide a scalable push infrastructure for sending mobile push notifications from any backend to any mobile platform, while eliminating the complexity of a backend having to communicate with different platform notification systems.