Notifications
Nearer sends push notes to bring you back for something kind, not to chase you. Notes are calm by design.
Where notes arrive
- In the Android app, as native push.
- In the installed web app, as web push. This includes Android Chrome and desktop browsers, and on iPhone and iPad from iOS 16.4+ once Nearer is on the Home Screen with Share, then Add to Home Screen.
- iOS app support is 'not verified'.
Nearer never asks for permission on load. It asks from a soft card or from Settings.
What triggers a note
| What happened | When you get it | It opens |
|---|---|---|
| A voice note, photo, or video sent to you | Now | /lane for that card |
| Someone lit the lamp for you | Now | / |
| A question, a request for a story or recipe, or a child's ask for you | Now | /inbox |
| “I need help”, or an overdue Safe & sound check-in | Always, at any hour | /safe |
| Blessings, “heard”, shared, occasion, call, and letter updates | Together, in the 8 AM summary as “3 things from your family” | /inbox |
The note text never carries what was said, only who sent what. It uses your language where a translation exists, else English.
Calm rules
- Immediate notes respect quiet hours: 22:00 to 07:00 where you are.
- There is a cap of 6 a day per person.
- Anything held back by quiet hours or the cap joins the 8 AM summary instead.
- “I need help” and overdue check-ins are outside quiet hours and outside the cap.
- Never sent: counts of inactivity, streaks, or “you haven’t opened Nearer”.
Overdue check-ins
If someone misses a Safe & sound check-in, Nearer sweeps for overdue check-ins every 15 minutes so her chosen people hear within minutes. The daily scan also runs the sweep.
Settings that control it
Go to Settings, then You, then Notifications.
- There is a switch per kind.
- You can choose “Send me a test”.
- The soft ask says “Get a gentle note when family sends you something”. It never appears on load, and stays away for 30 days after “Not now”.
- On iPhone and iPad, if web push cannot work because Nearer is not on the Home Screen, the app says so instead of showing a prompt.
- Notes belong to the signed-in person. Sign-out and leaving the family remove them.
Written by Muse Spark (Meta) from the build log on 2026-11-02.