There are a lot of apps that are basically made of notifications. When I install Signal I want it to immediately ask me if sending notifications is ok so that I can say yes.
The app checks for notifications authorization on every startup, and the system checks it against stored user settings. To establish the user settings initially, the system pops up the dialog the first time you run an app with notification capabilities.
No, that's not the case. The user only gets a prompt if the app requests permissions. The user doesn't get a prompt if all the app does is check for authorisation – the state is returned to the app as UNAuthorizationStatus.notDetermined without showing a prompt.
If an app prompts the user for permission to send notifications as soon as it starts up, then it's the app's fault. It's been known to be bad practice (and counter-productive) for many years.
I do not think this is the case, I had a lot of apps require notifications permission at a separate page with a question asking the user if they would like to receive notifications from this app and pop up the system notification permission dialog after the user taps "I want notifications" button.
Interestingly, I run exactly this in one of my apps. A lot of users never actually figure out my app has notifications, but I sleep a lot better at night knowing that I'm not annoying people with prompts.
There are a lot of apps that are basically made of notifications. When I install Signal I want it to immediately ask me if sending notifications is ok so that I can say yes.