Hi Eli,

Thanks for the thoughtful note, and you’re not wrong to raise this.

At the moment, Bettermode supports real-time browser notifications for things like direct messages, mentions, and activity from followed spaces. So if a user enables browser notifications under Account > Notifications, and their browser supports it, they can receive real-time popups, including for chat messages.

That said, how this works depends heavily on the device and browser being used:

On Desktop (Windows/macOS):

Works in most modern browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Brave
The browser must be open or running in the background (fully closed browsers won’t receive push alerts)
Users must grant notification permission when prompted
Works best when the community tab is active or recently used

On Mobile (iOS/Android):

Android (Chrome) may show browser push notifications if the browser is open or running in the background, and permissions are granted
iOS Safari does not support browser push notifications, Apple does not allow it for web apps in most versions
There is no native mobile app or system-level push integration in Bettermode today
This means you won't get mobile push alerts like you would from apps like Slack or WhatsApp

So while real-time notifications do work on desktop browsers, mobile support is limited due to platform restrictions especially on iOS. We agree this impacts the real-time feel of chat, and we understand how important that is for engagement.

If mobile push notifications are key to your experience, we’d encourage you to submit a request in our Wishlist space. It helps our product team prioritize improvements based on actual use cases like yours.

So. I realized that adding Push notifications for new messages is not allowed at this moment in Bettermode.