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Notifications and push

Who this is for: everyone Applies to: all

What this page covers

Why push notifications might not arrive on your device, what the badge on the app icon means, what to do when the in-app Notification center stops updating, and what to do when tapping a notification opens the wrong place or nothing at all.

Common problems

No push notifications on your device

Symptom: Other people get notifications, but your phone never buzzes.

Likely cause: One of these three things:

  1. Notifications are switched off for the app in your phone's settings.
  2. Notifications are turned off inside the app for that type of alert or that channel.
  3. This device was removed from push — signing out removes it — and you haven't signed back in.

What to do:

  1. On your phone, open Settings → Notifications → the app name and make sure notifications are on.
  2. In the app, open your notification preferences and turn on the types you want. Some settings are per channel (All messages / Mentions only / Muted), and some are grouped by category (for example, chat messages).
  3. If you recently signed out, sign back in once so this device is connected for push again.

Notifications arrive silently (iPhone)

Symptom: Alerts show up in the iPhone's Notification Center, but there's no banner on screen and no sound.

Likely cause: iPhones can deliver an app's notifications quietly — they arrive without banners or sound. iOS can set this from the very first time you're asked about notifications, and it never asks again. When it happens, the app shows a one-time message pointing you to your phone's settings.

What to do: On your iPhone, open Settings → Notifications → Groupset and set the alert style to banners with sound.

No push notifications in the browser (web app)

Symptom: You use Groupset in a browser and never get notifications, though the in-app Notification center works.

Likely cause: The browser hasn't been given permission yet. In a browser, the app doesn't pop the question on its own — it shows an Enable notifications banner once per visit, and tapping that banner is what triggers the browser's permission ask. (Also note: on the web, alerts that arrive while the app is open show as an in-app banner, not as a system notification.)

What to do:

  1. Look for the Enable notifications banner at the top of the app and tap it, then choose Allow when the browser asks.
  2. If you previously chose Block, the banner won't come back — open the browser's site settings (the icon next to the web address), set notifications for Groupset to Allow, and reload the page.

The Notification center looks empty or stopped updating

Symptom: Your in-app Notification center shows nothing new, or it stops updating while you're using the app.

Likely cause: The live connection that feeds the notification center dropped. When that happens, the app fetches the list once and then reconnects on its own — you may just need a moment.

What to do:

  1. Give it a moment and reopen the Notification center — it reconnects automatically.
  2. If it's still empty, check your connection. If nothing on the team is arriving either, see General availability.

The badge count looks wrong

Symptom: The number on the app icon doesn't match what you'd expect.

Likely cause: The badge counts unread items in the in-app Notification center, and it updates from each push as it arrives — even when the app is closed — rather than waiting for you to open the app. (The number shown on the icon caps at 99, so a big count just means "a lot".)

What to do: Open the Notification center in the app and read or clear the unread items. From there, Mark all as read clears everything — the app asks you to confirm first. The badge settles on the next update.

You turned a notification category off, but volunteer reminders still arrive

Symptom: You switched the volunteering category off in your preferences, but "shift starting soon" reminders still buzz your phone.

Likely cause: That's by design. Volunteer shift reminders can't be opted out per category — they arrive even when that category is off. Turning off all push notifications (the master switch) does silence them. The in-app copy of every notification still appears in the Notification center either way.

What to do: If you don't want volunteer reminders at all, turn off push notifications for the app in your phone's settings. Otherwise, ignore them — they stop once your shift starts.

Symptom: You turned off one kind of alert (for example, messages) and a related kind (for example, mentions) went quiet too.

Likely cause: Alert types are grouped — switching off a group switches off everything inside it. The preferences screen shows the groups; each channel's bell menu (All messages / Mentions only / Muted) controls chat separately.

What to do: Open your notification preferences and switch the group back on, then adjust the individual channel bells for chat.

Tapping a notification opens the wrong place or nothing

Symptom: You tap a notification and it goes somewhere unexpected — or nothing happens at all.

Likely cause: The app was closed, or you were signed out, when the notification arrived; or the item it points to no longer exists (for example, a deleted message).

What to do:

  1. If you were signed out, sign back in first — notifications only open their target when you're signed in.
  2. Open the app normally and look in the Notification center to find the item.
  3. If it opens nothing, the item may have been removed — check the relevant screen directly (for example, the chat message or the event).

Notes and limits

  • Notifications come in two forms: items in the in-app Notification center, and push notifications on your device. Turning one off doesn't affect the other.
  • Some notifications are role-based (for example, a parent only gets race updates about their own athlete).
  • If no one on the team is getting notifications, see General availability.