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Braze push notification timing depends on how you schedule delivery: at a designated time, at a designated time in each user's local time zone, or with Intelligent Timing. Each method has its own lead time, segment window and fallback, and quiet hours and frequency caps then decide whether the message goes out as planned.
Key Takeaways
- Braze offers three scheduling options: send at launch, send at a designated time, or use Intelligent Timing.
- Local time zone campaigns need scheduling 24 hours ahead, and Intelligent Timing campaigns 48 hours ahead.
- Users with no engagement data get a fallback: the most popular app time or a custom time.
- Braze recommends choosing quiet hours or Intelligent Timing, unless policy or compliance requires both.
- Braze checks the frequency cap before quiet hours, and a user already at cap is skipped, not held.
- We recommend reviewing the cap, the quiet window and the rate limit together before every launch.
Which send methods does Braze offer for timing a push notification?
Scheduled delivery in Braze offers three options: send as soon as the campaign launches, send at a designated time, or use Intelligent Timing. A designated time can be sent in each user's local time zone. It can repeat daily, weekly or monthly at a set time of day.
Unless you choose local time, a designated-time campaign sends according to the time zone in your Company Settings. The table shows how the other two methods differ in practice.
| Method | Lead time | Segment window | If data is missing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Designated time | Per schedule | None stated | Not applicable |
| Local time zone | Schedule 24 hours ahead | At least a 2-day window | Not applicable |
| Intelligent Timing | Schedule 48 hours ahead | At least a 3-day window | Peak app-usage time or a custom fallback |
The windows exist because of time zones. A segment that is too narrow can lose users before their local send time arrives. Braze also evaluates audience criteria at the time of the scheduled send, not when the campaign launches.
How does Braze work out an optimal send time for push?
Braze calculates each individual's time from when that user typically engages with your app and its notifications. For push, the inputs include session times, push direct opens and push influenced opens. The same list includes email and SMS interactions, and a Canvas Message step that targets several channels may send at different times for each channel.
If a user has no relevant engagement data, you set a fallback. You can choose the peak app-usage time across all users or a custom time. For a completely new app with no session data, Braze sends at 5 pm in the user's local time zone.
Braze notes that it can calculate the optimal time more effectively later in a user's lifecycle.
That makes Intelligent Timing a better fit for established audiences than for a welcome push to someone who installed an hour ago. For new installs we would use a fixed delay instead and keep Intelligent Timing for later lifecycle messages.
What happens if you launch too close to the send date?
Braze asks you to launch an Intelligent Timing campaign at least 48 hours before the scheduled send date. The reason is documented: a single day spans about two days across the globe.
The consequence is easy to miss. If a user's optimal time passed less than an hour ago at launch, the message goes out immediately. If it passed more than an hour ago, the message is not sent at all.
Braze documents one exception. With a custom fallback time set, a campaign launched within 24 hours of the send date reaches users whose optimal time has passed at the fallback time instead.
We treat the 48-hour lead time as a calendar entry, not a guideline. A launch that slips does not delay the push for users whose time has passed, and the fallback exception only applies inside the 24-hour mark.
How do quiet hours interact with Intelligent Timing?
Quiet hours stop messages going out during a window you choose, and they apply in each user's local time zone. Braze holds a message that falls inside the window and delivers it when the window ends.
With Intelligent Timing, Braze still calculates each optimal time. If that time lands inside quiet hours, the message is held and delivered at the nearest edge of the quiet window. The abort fallback is not available when Intelligent Timing is on.
Braze recommends choosing quiet hours or Intelligent Timing, unless policy, compliance or other requirements make quiet hours necessary alongside it. Two consequences follow: a large held audience sends all at once when the window closes, and quiet hours do not re-evaluate segment membership for a held send.
Braze also lists workspace quiet hours as an early access feature that needs enablement by your account manager. Check the current status before planning around it.
How do frequency caps and rate limits change the timing you planned?
Braze checks the frequency cap when a campaign sends or a user reaches a Canvas Message step, before quiet hours. A user who is already at cap is skipped, and the send is not held for the quiet window.
Caps count by calendar day in the user's time zone instead of rolling 24-hour periods. For push, the cap counts at the campaign or Canvas component level and not per device. A user with two devices still counts once.
Delivery speed limits can also move a send. Braze warns against a low rate limit on a time-sensitive message sent to a large segment. It aborts messages that a low limit delays by 72 hours or more.
Timing is only as good as the weakest control in the chain. We would review the cap, the quiet window and the rate limit together. Each can move or remove a send that the schedule promised.
What would Braze push notification timing look like for a hypothetical retailer?
Take a hypothetical retailer with two recurring push messages. This is an illustration, with no client work or CustomerIK delivery data behind it.
The first is a flash sale that ends at a fixed hour. Braze gives the example of a promotion that ends at midnight and suggests limiting delivery so messages go out by 10 pm at the latest. The team picks a local-time or windowed Intelligent Timing send, schedules the campaign with the required lead time and widens the segment window so no one drops out early.
The second is a weekly content push with no deadline. That is a natural fit for Intelligent Timing, because Braze describes it as suited to recurring messages with flexible delivery times. The team sets a custom fallback for users without data and leaves quiet hours off, as Braze recommends.
The team then lists both campaigns against one frequency cap. That way the content push cannot crowd out the sale on the same day. Deadline messages are scheduled first and flexible ones fit around them.
How does this connect to the rest of the programme?
Timing works on top of the audience you choose, so push notification segmentation in Braze is the natural companion. Once a send is live, analysing push notification performance shows whether the timing choice helped.
Message content matters as much as the hour, which personalising push notifications covers. New installs need a different approach, described in push notifications for onboarding completion. Audience building is covered in audience segmentation, and push rarely works alone, as multichannel engagement campaigns explains.
What should you check before scheduling a push campaign?
- Choose the send method that matches the message: fixed, local time or Intelligent Timing.
- Confirm the lead time, 24 hours for local time or 48 hours for Intelligent Timing.
- Widen the segment window to the documented minimum.
- Set a fallback for users with no engagement data.
- Decide whether quiet hours are needed, and avoid combining them with Intelligent Timing without a reason.
- Review the frequency cap and rate limit for the same campaign.
As a Braze implementation partner, CustomerIK recommends writing each push campaign's timing rule next to its frequency cap. Keep both in one planning document. Deadline messages are then protected before flexible ones are scheduled.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How far ahead must I schedule an Intelligent Timing campaign?
Braze says to launch at least 48 hours before the scheduled send date. A single day spans about two days across all time zones.
2. What happens if a user has no engagement data?
You choose a fallback. It can be the peak app-usage time or a custom time, and the message sends in the user's local time zone.
3. Should I use quiet hours with Intelligent Timing?
Braze recommends choosing one or the other unless policy or compliance requirements make quiet hours necessary. If the optimal time falls inside quiet hours, the message goes at the nearest edge of the window.
4. Does a frequency cap count each device a user has?
No, Braze counts push at the campaign or Canvas component level, so a user with several devices counts once.
5. Does Braze check the cap before quiet hours?
Yes. Braze checks the cap first and skips the send if the user is already at cap, instead of holding it for quiet hours.
Sources
- Braze, Scheduled delivery. Retrieved 21 Oct 2026.
- Braze, Intelligent Timing. Retrieved 21 Oct 2026.
- Braze, Quiet hours. Retrieved 21 Oct 2026.
- Braze, Rate limiting and frequency capping. Retrieved 21 Oct 2026.
- Written by CustomerIK, a Braze implementation partner.
CustomerIK is a Braze implementation partner working across onboarding, technical integration, marketing operations and customer data management.
If you want your push timing, caps and quiet hours reviewed as one set of rules before your next launch, let's talk.
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