Push Notifications

Browser push notifications let you receive instant alerts on your desktop or mobile device, even when you're not actively using PixoMonitor. Get notified the moment something goes down.

What Are Push Notifications?

Push notifications are alerts sent directly to your web browser or mobile device. Unlike email or Slack:

• Instant delivery — No checking inbox required
• Works in background — Receive alerts even when PixoMonitor isn't open
• Desktop & mobile — Works on phones, tablets, and computers
• No app required — Uses your existing web browser

How Push Notifications Work

1. You enable push notifications in your browser
2. Your browser receives a unique subscription
3. PixoMonitor stores this subscription
4. When an alert triggers, PixoMonitor sends it to your subscription
5. Your browser displays the notification

The connection is secure and private:

• Uses VAPID keys for authentication
• Notifications are encrypted end-to-end
• Your subscription can only receive notifications from PixoMonitor

Enabling Push Notifications

Browser Permission Reset

If you accidentally blocked notifications or need to re-enable them:

Chrome

1. Click the lock/info icon in the address bar
2. Find "Notifications" in the permissions list
3. Change from "Block" to "Allow"
4. Refresh the page

Firefox

1. Click the lock icon in the address bar
2. Click "Clear permissions and cookies for this site"
3. Refresh and re-enable notifications

Safari

1. Go to Safari → Preferences → Websites → Notifications
2. Find pixomonitor.com
3. Change from "Deny" to "Allow"

Edge

1. Click the lock icon in the address bar
2. Find "Notifications"
3. Change to "Allow"

Notification Preferences

Customize which events trigger push notifications:

Alert Types

Choose what to get notified about:

• Monitor down — Service is unreachable or failing
• Monitor recovered — Service is back up
• Monitor degraded — Service is slow but not down
• Incident created — New incident detected
• Incident updated — Status change on an incident
• Incident resolved — Incident has been fixed
• SLA at risk — Approaching SLA breach
• SLA breached — SLA target missed

Severity Filtering

Only receive notifications for certain severity levels:

• All severities — Every alert
• High and Critical — Only urgent issues
• Critical only — Only the most severe

Quiet Hours

Prevent notifications during specific times:

1. Go to Notification Settings → Quiet Hours
2. Enable quiet hours
3. Set start and end times (e.g., 10 PM - 8 AM)
4. Choose days (e.g., every day, weekdays only)

During quiet hours:

• Push notifications are suppressed
• Other channels (email, Slack) still work
• Critical alerts can optionally bypass quiet hours

Multiple Devices

Push notifications are per-browser and per-device. To receive notifications on multiple devices:

1. Open PixoMonitor in each browser/device
2. Enable push notifications on each one
3. Each device gets its own subscription

Common setup:

• Desktop Chrome for work computer
• Mobile Safari for iPhone
• Mobile Chrome for Android

Managing Subscriptions

View and manage your subscriptions in Settings → Notifications → Push Devices:

• See all devices with push enabled
• Remove old or unused devices
• Test notifications on specific devices

Testing Push Notifications

Verify your setup is working:

Push vs. Other Alert Channels

When to use push notifications:

• You want instant, attention-grabbing alerts
• You're at your computer but not watching PixoMonitor
• You want quick acknowledgment capability
• You don't want to rely on third-party services

When to use other channels:

• You need guaranteed delivery (email, SMS)
• You need team visibility (Slack, Teams)
• You're away from your devices (SMS, voice)

Notification Actions

Push notifications can include action buttons:

When a monitor goes down:

• View — Open the monitor details
• Acknowledge — Mark that you're looking at it

When an incident is created:

• View Incident — Open the incident page
• Mark Investigating — Start working on it

These actions work directly from the notification without opening PixoMonitor first.

Mobile Considerations

iOS (Safari)

• Push notifications work on iOS 16.4+
• Must add PixoMonitor to home screen for best experience
• Go to Share → Add to Home Screen

Android (Chrome)

• Works on all recent Android versions
• No special setup required
• Notifications appear in system tray

Battery Impact

Push notifications use minimal battery:

• Browser maintains a lightweight connection
• Notifications only sent when events occur
• No constant polling or background activity

Troubleshooting

Not receiving notifications

1. Check browser permissions — Ensure notifications are allowed
2. Check notification settings — Make sure the alert type is enabled
3. Check quiet hours — Might be in quiet hours period
4. Check browser/OS settings — System-level notification blocking
5. Try test notification — Verify the subscription is working

Notifications delayed

Push should be instant. If delayed:

• Check your internet connection
• Browser extensions might interfere
• Try disabling and re-enabling push

Notifications not showing on mobile

• Ensure browser has notification permission at OS level
• Check Do Not Disturb settings
• For iOS, ensure PixoMonitor is added to home screen
• For Android, check app notification settings

"Push notifications not supported"

Your browser might not support Web Push:

• Use a modern browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge)
• Update to the latest browser version
• Check if push is disabled by corporate policy

Subscription expired

Push subscriptions can expire. If notifications stop working:

1. Go to notification settings
2. Disable push notifications
3. Re-enable and allow permission again
4. This creates a fresh subscription

Privacy and Security

What we store:

• Your push subscription endpoint (browser-generated URL)
• Notification preferences
• Device identifier (browser-generated)

What we don't store:

• Your device information
• Your location
• Any personal data from notifications

Security:

• All push notifications use HTTPS
• VAPID authentication prevents spoofing
• End-to-end encryption on notification payload

Next Steps