diff --git a/native/android/app/src/main/java/app/comm/android/CommNotificationsHandler.java b/native/android/app/src/main/java/app/comm/android/CommNotificationsHandler.java
index 506b2ac25..1c483afd2 100644
--- a/native/android/app/src/main/java/app/comm/android/CommNotificationsHandler.java
+++ b/native/android/app/src/main/java/app/comm/android/CommNotificationsHandler.java
@@ -1,86 +1,95 @@
 package app.comm.android;
 
 import android.app.NotificationManager;
 import android.content.Context;
 import android.service.notification.StatusBarNotification;
 import android.util.Log;
+import app.comm.android.fbjni.NetworkModule;
 import com.google.firebase.messaging.RemoteMessage;
 import io.invertase.firebase.messaging.RNFirebaseMessagingService;
 import me.leolin.shortcutbadger.ShortcutBadger;
 
 /**
  * We're extending RNFirebaseMessagingService here instead of
  * FirebaseMessagingService which is not ideal but let's us work around an
  * Android limitation. If there are a couple of FirebaseMessagingServices
  * declared in manifest, only the first one would get all the notifications.
  * So we need to find a way to have only one service that implements this.
  *
  * There are a couple of solutions here:
  * 1. We could have both services declared and only one of them would handle
  * the intents. Then it would check the intent and forward it to
  * another service. This solution is problematic as the second service would
  * need to listen for a different set of intents that effectively duplicate
  * all the notifications intents.
  * 2. We can instantiate RNFirebaseMessagingService here and call its callbacks
  * which sounds like a good solution. But then, some mechanisms would not work
  * correctly, e.g. we would need to somehow take care of the Context.
  * 3. This solution, in which we extend RNFirebaseMessagingService, would
  * consist of implementing the callbacks and either handling them or calling
  * super methods. In near future we plan to get rid of
  * RNFirebaseMessagingService and at that point super methods will no longer be
  * called and this class could start implementing FirebaseMessagingService.
  *
  * There's nothing that makes 1st and 2nd solution impossible, but 3rd one is
  * the easiest in terms of making it safe.
  */
 public class CommNotificationsHandler extends RNFirebaseMessagingService {
   private static final String RESCIND_KEY = "rescind";
   private static final String RESCIND_ID_KEY = "rescindID";
   private static final String BADGE_KEY = "badge";
   private static final String BADGE_ONLY_KEY = "badgeOnly";
+  private static final String BACKGROUND_NOTIF_TYPE_KEY = "backgroundNotifType";
   private NotificationManager notificationManager;
 
   @Override
   public void onCreate() {
     super.onCreate();
     notificationManager = (NotificationManager)this.getSystemService(
         Context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE);
   }
 
   @Override
   public void onMessageReceived(RemoteMessage message) {
     String rescind = message.getData().get(RESCIND_KEY);
     String rescindID = message.getData().get(RESCIND_ID_KEY);
     if ("true".equals(rescind) &&
         android.os.Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES.M) {
       for (StatusBarNotification notification :
            notificationManager.getActiveNotifications()) {
         if (notification.getTag().equals(rescindID)) {
           notificationManager.cancel(
               notification.getTag(), notification.getId());
         }
       }
     }
 
     String badge = message.getData().get(BADGE_KEY);
     if (badge != null) {
       try {
         int badgeCount = Integer.parseInt(badge);
         if (badgeCount > 0) {
           ShortcutBadger.applyCount(this, badgeCount);
         } else {
           ShortcutBadger.removeCount(this);
         }
       } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
         Log.w("COMM", "Invalid badge count", e);
       }
     }
 
     String badgeOnly = message.getData().get(BADGE_ONLY_KEY);
     if ("1".equals(badgeOnly)) {
       return;
     }
 
+    String backgroundNotifType =
+        message.getData().get(BACKGROUND_NOTIF_TYPE_KEY);
+    if ("PING".equals(backgroundNotifType)) {
+      NetworkModule.sendPong();
+      return;
+    }
+
     super.onMessageReceived(message);
   }
 }