Notifications and sounds
HushChat can tell you about a new message in two ways: a system notification from your browser or phone when you are not looking at the app, and a short sound inside the app when you are.
Turn notifications on
The first thing HushChat does after you sign in is ask permission to notify you. Answer the prompt and you are done — there is no separate setting inside the app to switch on afterwards.
Web — your browser asks whether HushChat may show notifications. Allow it and notifications start arriving straight away. Deny it and you get nothing until you change the site's permission back in your browser settings, which HushChat cannot do for you.
iOS and Android — the operating system asks for notification permission the usual way. Allow it to receive messages while the app is closed or in the background. Notifications need a real phone or tablet; they do not arrive on a simulator.
If you never saw the prompt, you have most likely answered it before. Both browsers and phones remember your answer and only ask once — the way back in is your browser's site settings, or your device's notification settings for HushChat.
What a notification looks like
Each notification carries who wrote and what they wrote. Selecting it takes you straight into that conversation, and to that message where HushChat knows which one it was, rather than to the app's home screen.
One notification per conversation
HushChat deliberately does not stack up one notification per message. A second message from the same conversation replaces the notification already on your screen instead of adding another, so ten messages in one chat leave you with one up-to-date notification rather than ten to swipe away.
Conversations stay separate from each other, so two different people writing to you still produce two notifications. This grouping happens on the phone and in the browser itself, which is why it works even when the app has been closed.
Opening a conversation on iOS or Android clears that conversation's notifications from your notification centre. Reading the messages is enough — you do not have to dismiss them by hand.
Sounds inside the app
While you have HushChat open, an arriving message plays a short sound. A message that mentions you plays a different sound from an ordinary one, so you can tell without looking whether something needs you.
The sound is a per-device switch:
| Platform | Where the control is |
|---|---|
| Web | The ⋮ menu at the top of the conversation list, reading Mute sounds or Unmute sounds |
| iOS and Android | The speaker button at the top of the Conversations screen, next to ⋮ |
The speaker button shows its state: a speaker with sound waves when sounds are on, a crossed-out speaker when they are off. Switching sounds off is remembered on that device, and does not change anything for anyone else or on your other devices.
Turning sounds off silences the in-app sound only. System notifications keep arriving — they follow your browser's or phone's own sound settings.
Muting a conversation
Muting is the setting that actually stops notifications for one conversation. While a conversation is muted, it sends you no system notification and plays no sound; it still appears in your conversation list, still moves to the top when someone writes, and still counts unread messages.
Mute from the conversation's information screen with Mute Conversation, which asks how long for. The durations and how to lift a mute early are covered in Organize your chats.
If a mute or unmute cannot be saved, HushChat tells you with "Couldn't update notification settings" and leaves the setting as it was. Try again once you are back online.
Mentions Only, for groups
A busy group does not have to be all-or-nothing. Mentions Only notifies you when somebody mentions you in that group, and stays quiet for everything else.
- Open the group and go to its information screen.
- Select Group Preferences.
- Under the Notifications heading, switch on Mentions Only — described as "Receive notifications only when someone mentions you in this conversation."
The switch saves as soon as you flip it, and applies to that one group.
| Setting | Ordinary messages | Messages mentioning you |
|---|---|---|
| Neither | Notified | Notified |
| Mentions Only on | Silent | Notified |
| Muted | Silent | Silent |
Muting wins over Mentions Only: a muted conversation is silent even when someone mentions you by name. Use Mentions Only for a group you want to stay reachable in, and mute for one you want to step away from entirely.
A message containing @all mentions everyone in the group, so it reaches people who have Mentions
Only switched on. It still respects a mute. See Replies and mentions for how mentions are
written.