Not receiving notifications for Pushover messages or device marked "offline"
For iPhone/iPad and Android devices, Pushover sends push notifications through Apple's and Google's servers and we rely on their systems and frameworks to deliver messages to your device. If the connection between your device and Apple's or Google's servers is not working properly, you will not receive push notifications, but once you open the Pushover device client, it will synchronize directly with our servers and download all pending messages.
To get push notifications working, you can try each of these steps until your device is receiving push notifications:
Check Common Settings
Verify the Device Is Enabled
Visit your Pushover dashboard and find your device under Your Devices. If the device is listed as Disabled, click its name and set it to Enabled if the option exists. If it is marked as Offline, proceed to the next steps.
Unmute Notifications
Open the main Settings app on your device, then tap on Notifications and make sure that its Do Not Disturb mode is not enabled, and that notifications are enabled for the Pushover application.
Disable Notifications, then Re-enable Notifications
This step can force iOS/iPadOS or Android to generate a new push notification token for the Pushover app, which may resolve the problem.
Open the main Settings app of your device, tap on Notifications, then Pushover, and disable Allow Notifications.
Next, open the Pushover app and you should see a warning indicating that notifications have been disabled. If not, you may want to force-close the app and open it again.
Finally, open the Settings app again, then tap Notifications, then Pushover, and enable Allow Notifications. Open the Pushover app again and the warning should be gone. Close the Pushover app and try to send a test message to your device from your dashboard.
Restart the Device
Sometimes notifications stop working because of a problem on the device, unrelated to any specific app. Restarting the device can easily fix this. Hold down the power button of your device until you see a prompt to power off the device, then select it and power it back on.
Verify Notifications are Working in Other Apps
If your device is not receiving any push notifications from other apps installed on the device, then there may be a problem with the device or your network. Common apps to check are social media apps that send notifications, such as Facebook, Instagram, Google Hangouts, Snapchat, Vine, etc. (Note that some apps like e-mail clients, WhatsApp, and SMS/Messaging use their own notification delivery mechanisms.)
On Android, you can use a 3rd party test app like Push Notification Tester to verify that push notifications work on your device.
iPhone and iPad
Verify Notification Settings
Open the main Settings app on your device, then tap on Notifications. Ensure that Pushover is listed, and tap on it. Make sure that Allow Notifications is enabled. You will most likely want Lock Screen alerts to be enabled, and Sounds.
Android
Disable Wi-Fi Sleep Optimization
Android has an option that can put the Wi-Fi radio into a very low power mode to conserve battery power. Unfortunately this option does not work very well in some environments, which can cause your device to go completely offline while its screen is off instead of waking up when it has new notifications pending. To disable this setting, open the system Settings app, then Wi-Fi, then press the Menu button, then Advanced, and set "Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep" to "Always".
Disable Battery Optimizations
Some phone vendors that ship with customized versions of Android have overly aggressive battery optimization mechanisms that kill or prevent the startup of background services which can affect Pushover's ability to receive push notifications. You will need to disable these battery optimizations for the Pushover app depending on your device vendor.
For more information on disabling battery optimizations on non-standard versions of Android, see the website Don't Kill My App.
- Huawei
Mark Pushover as a Protected App by opening the System Settings, then Advanced Settings, then Battery Manager, then Protected Apps, and enable Pushover to run when the screen is off. - Lenovo
Enable auto-start for Pushover by opening the Settings app, then Power Manager, then Background App Management, and make sure Pushover is enabled. - OnePlus
Enable auto-launch for Pushover by opening the Settings app, then Apps, then the gear icon, then Apps Auto-launch, and make sure Pushover is enabled. Also disable battery optimization by opening the Settings app, then Battery, then Battery Optimization, find the Pushover app, and make sure it is not "optimized". - Oppo
Add Pushover to the list of allowed start-up apps by opening Security Center, then Privacy Permissions, then Startup Manager, and allow Pushover. - Samsung
Disable battery optimization for Pushover by opening the Settings app, then Apps, then the menu button in the corner, then Special Access, then Optimize Battery Usage. Tap on "Apps not optimized", then switch it to all apps and then switch off battery optimization for Pushover. - Xiaomi
Enable autostart for Pushover by opening the Security app, then tap on Permissions, then Autostart, and make sure Pushover is enabled.
If your vendor is not listed here or the instructions did not work, you may need to look around in the system settings or the vendor's proprietary manager applications to determine how to flag the Pushover application as "protected" or exempt from these battery optimizations. Additional information may be available on your phone vendor's support website.
Verify Data Syncing
If your Android device receives push notifications on WiFi but not while on on a mobile data network (3G/HSPA/4G/etc.), you may have "mobile data" disabled. Open the Settings app on the device, tap "Data usage", and verify that "Mobile data" is turned on. If you are not receiving push notifications on WiFi or mobile data, verify that "Background data" for your Google account (2.3+) is enabled, or that "Auto-sync data" (4.0+) is enabled.
Verify Google Services Framework
If your Android device is still not receiving push notifications after reinstalling, there may be a problem with the Google Services Framework on your device. This is a common service that runs on the phone and provides communication between Google's servers and your device and is responsible for delivering push notifications to Google Talk, Google Play, and applications like Pushover.
If there is a problem with your Google Services Framework, there is unfortunately nothing we can do to resolve it on our end. It is a problem with your device and will affect all applications that use push notifications. An easy test is to login to Google Talk on your phone, switch out of the application, then login to Gmail on your computer and send yourself an instant message. If you don't receive it on your device, your push notifications are not working.
To try to resolve the problem with the Google Services Framework, you can try removing your Google account from the device (in Settings -> Accounts & sync -> your Google account -> Menu -> Remove account) and then re-adding it. Next, logout of the Pushover app by tapping the Settings button, then reboot the device. Re-add your Google account, and then login to the Pushover app again.
Advanced
Verify WiFi Connectivity and Firewalling
If your device is connected to a WiFi network, try disabling WiFi to force it onto the mobile data network. Then send your device a notification from the dashboard. If your device receives the new notification, then you may be on a WiFi network that is blocking access to Apple's or Google's servers. For iOS devices, outbound TCP port 5223 is required to be open to establish a persistent connection to Apple's servers. For Android devices, outbound TCP port 5228 is required. For Desktop devices, outbound TCP port 443 is required.
Reinstall Pushover
If you are still not receiving push notifications in Pushover but are in other apps, you may need to reinstall the app completely. To prevent a possibly-corrupted database or settings, we recommend uninstalling/deleting the app, then rebooting the device, and then reinstalling it from the App Store or Google Play (do not restore it from a backup). Unfortunately this means you will lose your local database of messages stored on the device.
