--- schema_version: "1" id: 605f0308366c5e819f506facbd65b72de1ca9411e567791faaa8129b9608c0fc title: Create an In-App Message Activity in Journey Builder collection: admin version: current locale: en-us portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/mktg/264-0-0/mc_jb_configure_inapp_in_journey_builder.md canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_jb_configure_inapp_in_journey_builder.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 source_site: help.salesforce.com content_type: documentation content_hash: 3e48ee39eeee253e4905fb5bec1d1c99b69c92095a972e1c1c368129f207449d description: Use the in-app message activity to power Journey Builder sends to Marketing Cloud Engagement contacts in a journey. An in-app message is a full-page, window, or banner message that’s sent to users of your mobile app. The message appears when the user is in the app. Use in-app messages to announce offers, invite users to take a survey, or encourage them to turn on push notifications or location settings for your app. products: - Marketing - Marketing Cloud Engagement release: "264" --- # Create an In-App Message Activity in Journey Builder Use the in-app message activity to power Journey Builder sends to Marketing Cloud Engagement contacts in a journey. An in-app message is a full-page, window, or banner message that’s sent to users of your mobile app. The message appears when the user is in the app. Use in-app messages to announce offers, invite users to take a survey, or encourage them to turn on push notifications or location settings for your app. By default, only one in-app message is shown per app session. You can update this setting in MobilePush Administration. To see another in-app message, the user has to background or close the app. 1. In Journey Builder, drag the **In-App Message** activity to the canvas. 2. Click the **In-App Message** activity, and add a name and description. If applicable, name your activity. Otherwise, your content name serves as your activity name and is visible in all reports. 3. Click **New Message**. 4. Follow the directions to [configure your in-app message](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_ceb_create_in_app.htm&language=en_US). 5. Next to Message Configuration, click **Edit**. 6. Select the app that you want to send to. 7. Select the Active Message Timeframe. To send the message whenever the contact reaches the activity, select **Always Active**. To display the message only when the user reaches the activity during a specified period, select **Custom Timeframe**. Then, select the display start and end dates, times, and time zone. Sending begins at the defined start time for all users who reach the activity. The message display time can vary based on the number of users and when the device knows about the message. Optionally, you can schedule the message to begin sending before its display start time. Select **Set a different start time** for sending and specify the send start time. You can start sending as soon as the journey is activated, or at a custom start time. The time zone is the same for both display and sending. This approach helps you manage the sending window for a large number of users, making sure their devices have enough time to download the message. To learn more about how in-app messaging works, see [In-App Message Sequence of Events](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/marketing/mobilepush/guide/how-the-sdk-works.html#in-app-message-sequence-of-events). To display the message for a specific period after the user reaches the activity, select **Dynamic Timeframe**. Then, enter the duration for which the user can view the message. 8. To [configure the criteria to display your message](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_mp_in_app_display_controls.htm&language=en_US), click **Display Trigger**. 9. To [set the priority](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_mp_inapp_priority.htm&language=en_US) and message delay for the message, click **Delivery Options**. 10. To preview your message, click **Summary**. Use the device and view dropdowns to see how your message renders. 11. Click **Summary**. 12. For a subscriber-level preview for your message, click **Subscriber Preview**. 13. To verify content and personalization before the actual send, click [Send Test](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_mp_test_send.htm&language=en_US). 14. Click **Done**. #### See Also - [iOS SDK for In-App Messaging](https://salesforce-marketingcloud.github.io/MarketingCloudSDK-iOS/in-app-message/in-app-messaging.html) - [Android SDK for In-App Messaging](https://salesforce-marketingcloud.github.io/MarketingCloudSDK-Android/in-app-message/in-app-messaging.html) - [Configure an Existing Content Builder In-App Message in Journey Builder](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_jb_configure_cb_in_app_in_journey_builder.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Use the in-app message activity to power Journey Builder sends to Marketing Cloud Engagement contacts in a journey. An in-app message is a full-page, window, or banner message that is sent to users of your mobile app. The message is displayed when the user opens the app. You can use in-app messages to announce new content in your app, invite users to take a survey, or encourage users to enable features in your app. You can add in-app messages that you created in Content Builder to a Journey Builder Push activity.")