Help & Documentation

Offline-first guidance for safe gear lists.

Push Notifications

Browser desktop notifications for collaboration and sync events

Browser push notifications are the optional desktop-notification layer on top of the in-app Notification Center bell. They fire for project changes (collaborators editing shared projects) and sync completion. They are NOT the only notification surface — the bell always works regardless.

Enabling Push Notifications

A single master switch plus two per-event toggles.

  • Push notifications work in Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari (macOS Ventura+ for desktop).
  • PWA installs receive notifications like native apps.
  • Browser permission can be revoked from the browser's site settings at any time.
  • Notifications are delivered via the browser's native notification system.
  1. Settings → General → Notifications.
  2. Toggle 'Enable browser notifications' on. The browser prompts for permission the first time — accept it.
  3. Toggle 'Notify on project changes' and 'Notify on sync completion' to taste.
  4. Changes apply immediately — there is no Save button.
Tips
  • If push doesn't fire after enabling, double-check the browser-level permission for cine-power-planner.com — the app toggle can't override a denied browser permission.
  • On mobile, notifications show up in the system notification tray.
  • Private / incognito windows often refuse to register a service worker; push won't work there.
Common Pitfalls
  • Clicking 'Block' on the first browser prompt — reset from browser site settings to re-enable.
  • Cloud sync isn't strictly required for the in-app bell, but push notifications about remote project changes don't have anything to fire on without it.
  • Trying to fix a denied permission from inside the app — browser permission lives outside the app toggle.

PWA Installation

Installing the PWA improves notification reliability — especially on mobile.

  • PWA notifications appear in the OS notification center.
  • The app icon shows an unread badge on the dock / taskbar where the OS supports it.
  • Notifications persist when the app window is closed.
  • PWAs auto-update — you stay on the latest build.
  1. Open the app in Chrome, Edge, or Safari.
  2. Use the address-bar install icon, or the browser menu's 'Install App'.
  3. Once installed the app opens in its own window.
  4. Enable push from Settings → General → Notifications as usual.
Tips
  • iOS Safari: Share → 'Add to Home Screen' to install. iOS doesn't expose a programmatic install button.
  • Android Chrome: menu → 'Install App' or 'Add to Home Screen'.
  • PWA notifications are more reliable than browser-tab notifications, especially when the tab is in the background.

What Triggers a Push Notification

Only two events trigger a browser-level push notification, gated by their respective toggles.

Project changes
A collaborator edits a shared project. Gated by 'Notify on project changes'.
Sync completion
A sync run finishes successfully. Gated by 'Notify on sync completion'.
  • The in-app Notification Center bell covers many more sources (chat messages, comment mentions, pending invites, sync activity, export completions). Push only fires for the two events above.
  • Driving Mode has its own reminders, separate from these toggles. Under Reminders in Driving Mode you switch on a notification before each gear pickup or return, and one that tells you when to leave for set (the day needs a call time). They are scheduled on this device only; nothing is sent to a server. If notification permission is blocked they still appear in the bell. In the iPhone and Android apps, a reminder for a stop with an address carries an 'Open in Maps' button.
  • Separate from these toggles, Data Management has its own transfer alerts: 'Enable notifications' in Data Management sends a push when Offshoot transfers complete or report verification issues, on that device.
  • iPhone app only: 'Live progress on the Lock Screen' (Settings → General → Notifications, off by default) shows the Mac app's running copies, verifications and proxy renders as a Live Activity on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, with progress, time left and the queue. Needs iOS 16.2 or later and the same account on the Mac.
Tips
  • The bell is the source of truth for in-app activity. Push notifications are an opt-in desktop mirror for a subset of those events.
  • Sync-completion push notifications are useful right after a long offline session — they confirm the upload finished.
  • Project-change push notifications can get noisy on busy shared projects; the toggle lets you turn them off without losing the bell entries.

Managing Preferences

Three toggles, no quiet hours, no per-project mute.

  • Three switches total: master 'Enable browser notifications', plus 'Notify on project changes' and 'Notify on sync completion'.
  • There is NO quiet-hours setting — use the OS Focus / Do Not Disturb instead.
  • There is NO per-project or per-category mute beyond the two per-event toggles.
  • The Notification Center bell is independent of these toggles — it always works regardless of browser push state.
  • Signing out removes this browser's push registration for that account (on an iPhone also its live-progress registration), so a device that several people use only shows notifications for whoever is signed in. A browser's registration always belongs to the account that switched notifications on there last.
Tips
  • Use OS Focus / Do Not Disturb to mute outside working hours.
  • Click the bell to scan recent in-app activity without leaving the current view.
  • During crunch, disable project-change push and keep sync-completion on — sync-completion is rarely noisy.
Common Pitfalls
  • Expecting quiet hours, per-project mute, or per-category granularity — none of those exist in the current settings.
  • Disabling the master switch and forgetting — you'll see push events drying up. Re-check Settings → General → Notifications.
  • Treating the bell and push as the same channel — they aren't. The bell always works.

Push Doesn't Fire

Order-of-operations for debugging.

  1. Confirm 'Enable browser notifications' is on (Settings → General → Notifications).
  2. Open browser site settings for cine-power-planner.com — make sure notifications are 'Allow'. If they were ever denied, the app toggle alone can't override.
  3. Check OS Focus / Do Not Disturb — both macOS Focus and Windows Focus Assist suppress browser desktop notifications globally.
  4. Try a normal browser window (not private / incognito) — service workers often refuse to register there.
  5. Try disabling ad blockers and privacy extensions — some block the Notification API.
  6. If still nothing fires, install the PWA — PWA delivery is more reliable than tab delivery.
Tips
  • The in-app bell is the diagnostic: if events show up there but no push fires, the issue is in the browser/OS layer, not the app.
  • If no events show up in the bell either, the underlying event isn't firing (e.g. no collaborator actually edited the project).

Push notifications are an opt-in mirror of two specific events. The Notification Center bell is the always-on, in-app source of truth for activity across the workspace.

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