---
title: "Turn on push notifications on your phone"
description: "Push is the only IoTFlows channel that reaches someone away from a screen. Allow the operating system permission, see which three things send push (machine event alerts, work orders and their comments, and chat messages), where each notification opens when you tap it, how a notification from a second organization is routed, and the Android sign-out defect that stops push arriving until the app is reinstalled."
category: "Alert on machine events"
source_url: "https://www.iotflows.com/docs/alerts/mobile-push/"
---
# Turn on push notifications on your phone

Get alerts, work orders and messages on your phone, and know where each one opens.

The IoTFlows app delivers push through Apple's Push Notification service on iOS and Firebase Cloud Messaging on Android. The app registers with the service when you sign in, so the only switch you hold is the operating system's notification permission.

Push reaches the apps only. The web dashboard sends no browser notification, so somebody who works at the dashboard all day still needs email or SMS.

Before you start, you need:

- The app installed and signed in, see [Install the mobile app](/docs/get-started/install-mobile-app/).
- **Push** switched on for the events you care about, with your name on that event type's push subscriber list, see [Email, push and SMS subscriber lists](/docs/alerts/asset-event-rules/#subscribers).

## Allow notifications
The app asks for permission the first time it launches, and [Install the mobile app](/docs/get-started/install-mobile-app/#notifications) covers that prompt. If you declined it, or you inherited the phone, set it in the operating system:

- **iOS:** open **Settings**, select **Notifications**, select **IoTFlows**, and turn **Allow Notifications** on.
- **Android:** open **Settings**, select **Apps**, select **IoTFlows**, select **Notifications**, and turn notifications on.

![The iOS system dialog over the IoTFlows app asking whether IoTFlows may send notifications, with a violet highlight on the Allow button beside Don't Allow](/images/alerts/alr-push-01.webp)

*Granting notification permission. Denied permission fails silently on every rule.*

> **Warning:**
> **Why does nothing warn me?** Grant the permission during install, not later. A rule with **Push** enabled and permission denied fails silently: the event fires, and nothing in the product shows that the message never reached the phone.

You do not need push on every operator's phone. Push is per person, through a subscriber list, so a phone belonging to nobody on a list receives no alerts however the permission is set.

## What sends push
Three things send push, from different parts of the product.

**Machine event alerts.** Any of the ten event types, when **Push** is on for that event on that machine and you are on its push subscriber list. This is the only family you configure, and you configure it on the web, see [Set alert rules for a machine](/docs/alerts/asset-event-rules/).

![An iPhone lock screen carrying one IoTFlows notification. Its title is the machine's name, and the body reads that the asset has not been utilized for more than the set threshold, with the threshold in minutes in parentheses](/images/alerts/alr-push-02.webp)

*A machine-down alert arriving on the lock screen.*

**Work orders and their comments.** Maintenance and production work you are involved in, and comments added to it.

**Chat messages.** Messages in a conversation you belong to. These are rendered communication-style, so the sender's avatar and name sit on the notification rather than the app's icon.

![An iPhone lock screen carrying one IoTFlows notification rendered in the communication style: the sender's circular photo stands where the app icon would be, badged with the IoTFlows mark, with the sender's name above the message text](/images/alerts/alr-push-04.webp)

*Chat notifications are rendered communication-style, with the sender's avatar.*

## Where each notification opens
Every IoTFlows notification is a *deep link*: tapping it opens the app at the record it is about, not at the home screen.

| Notification | Sent when | Opens | Client |
|---|---|---|---|
| Machine event alert | An event type with **Push** on fires, and you are on its push subscriber list | That machine | iOS, Android |
| Work order | A work order you are involved in is created or changes | That work order | iOS, Android |
| Work-order comment | Somebody comments on a work order you are involved in | That work order's comments | iOS, Android |
| Chat message | Somebody posts in a conversation you belong to | That conversation | iOS, Android |

A comment notification lands on the thread itself, so you can reply without scrolling the record.

![An iPhone lock screen carrying one IoTFlows notification. Its title is the commenter's name followed by the work order's title in parentheses, truncated; the body beneath is the first line of the comment](/images/alerts/alr-push-03.webp)

*A work-order comment notification. The title carries the work order, the body the comment.*

## Notifications from another organization
If your account belongs to more than one organization, push arrives from all of them, and the app routes each notification to the organization that owns the record before opening it. You do not switch organizations first.

For a contractor covering several plants, a machine-down alert from the second plant opens that plant's machine, and the app stays there until you switch back, see [Switch organizations](/docs/get-started/switch-organizations/).

## Marking as read
Opening a record clears its notification from the phone. Reading a chat conversation clears the messages already delivered for it, so a thread you have caught up on leaves no stack behind.

Machine event alerts are separate from the **Event Alerts** list on a machine's Health tab. Clearing a notification clears nothing for anybody else, and dismissing the logged event is its own action on the web, see [Review and dismiss machine events](/docs/monitoring/asset-events/).

## If push stops arriving
Check three things in order: notification permission on the phone, **Push** on for that event on that machine, and your name on that event type's push subscriber list. The list is the usual answer, because it belongs to one event type rather than to the machine, see [Troubleshoot alerts you did not receive](/docs/alerts/troubleshoot-alerts/#push).

> **Warning:**
> **Push stopped after signing out on Android.** This is a known defect. The app does not unregister its push token when you sign out, and the next session never gets one, so nothing arrives and nothing reports an error. Delete and reinstall the app, or turn the operating system's notification permission for IoTFlows off and back on.

If subscribing somebody reports **Failed to update push subscription**, the change was not saved. Retry, then reopen **Event Notifications** and check the avatar pile in the **Push** column.

## See also
- [Set alert rules for a machine](/docs/alerts/asset-event-rules/)
- [Troubleshoot alerts you did not receive](/docs/alerts/troubleshoot-alerts/)
- [Install the mobile app](/docs/get-started/install-mobile-app/)
- [Overview: messaging](/docs/messaging/overview/)