Notifications and reminders

A notification is something you asked for, about one thing. The app never sends one about a date that has passed, a regular running low, a question going unanswered, or anything it worked out by itself — "no notifications nagging you" stays true. Three kinds exist, each a switch on each phone, each off until you turn it on:

• Reminders you set. Remind me on a to-do or a note, at a time you chose, for you or for everyone in the household.
• Somebody asked you. An ask @you: line saved in a note, or a to-do that names you as doing it, by someone else — not one that is only for you ("the memo for @you") or waiting on you. One push, once, with the question.
• Somebody is at the shop. A household member's trip started at a shop: "Sam is at Kroger · 7 on the list". It opens the list, with the Might be missing shelf under it. The one moment a push saves a phone call.

Turning them on

More → Settings, and the Notifications block under the workspace's rows. Flip the kinds you want. The first one asks the browser's permission — the reason is on the screen, since the browser's own prompt gives none — and registers this phone. Each phone has its own switches: turning reminders on here says nothing about your other phone.

On an iPhone, a push reaches the app only once it is on the Home Screen: open the app in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen, and open it from there before turning a switch on. Android and desktop browsers need only the permission.

Send me a test sends one push to this phone through the same path a real one takes, and Forget this phone unregisters it.

If a switch flips back off, the line under the switches says why: the browser's prompt was dismissed, the site is blocked, or this deployment is missing part of its push setup. The same line is kept under Settings → Service.

When the app is open on the phone that is notified, the same thing shows as a short bar at the top of the screen instead of a system banner: nothing interrupts you for what is already in front of you.

When somebody asks you, or is at the shop

Somebody asked you needs two things: the person named has said This is me on their page, and has the switch on. Then an ask @sam: line saved in a note reaches Sam once, with the question, and so does a to-do that names @sam when somebody else writes it. Writing a question to yourself tells nobody — a note to self is not a notification.

Somebody is at the shop fires once, when a trip gains its shop while it is open — the first check-off opens the trip, and the shop comes from where the phone was, or from the question the list asks. Everyone else in the household with the switch on hears "Sam is at Kroger · 7 on the list", named for whoever ticked the first item off, and a tap opens that list. A receipt recorded later is history, not somebody at a shop, and sends nothing.

Setting a reminder

On a to-do, tap its title to open the editor — on a tablet or a computer, click it to open its page — and Remind me sits under the words, beside Repeats. Tick it, pick a day and time in the phone's own picker — it starts at nine tomorrow morning, a value you need not accept — and choose Me or Everyone. The to-do's row then says when, in the same quiet voice as its day ("⏰ tomorrow 9:00"). In a note, the line under the title opens In this note, where Reminder does the same for the note, and the note's row on the Notes list then says when too. Either way the time stays on the row after it passes — read as its date, never as late — until you clear or change it, so a reminder missed with no notification is still there to find.

A reminder is a time you chose, never one the app inferred: a date written in the words puts a thing on the calendar, and only Remind me sets a reminder. When it is due, every phone you turned reminders on gets it, and the app, if it is open, shows the bar at the top with Open — and if it was not open, shows it once the next time it is, up to half a day later, so a phone left in a bag still says so. A reminder on a repeating to-do moves on with it when the to-do is completed. Untick to clear it; change the time and the reminder moves. A reminder for you also shows on the calendar and on Today, on the day of its time, with ⏰ and the time.

A line in a note that opens with remind: sets one too, on save: remind: tomorrow 9am call the vet — a day the app already understands, a time, and the words. The line is marked "(reminder set for Oct 11, 09:00)" and the reminder is yours; a line without a time sets nothing. See Notes.

Where this deployment stands

Notifications need the deployment's own push key in the web build, beside the web app's own id and sender id, and the Cloud Functions deployed; without the key the Notifications block in Settings says so in one line, and reminders still show in the app while it is open. A build that carries the key without the id and sender id cannot register a phone, and the build refuses that combination. See the FAQ's "Why didn't I get a reminder?".