Notifications
OterApp keeps you informed with timely notifications across all your features — delivered as push notifications, in-app alerts, and an in-app inbox.
What gets notified
The server checks regularly for things that need your attention:
- Overdue tasks — tasks past their due date
- Tasks due today — tasks due or scheduled for today
- Habits due — habits that are due right now
- Habit starting soon — a habit window is about to open
- Books overdue — books past their due date
- Books due soon — books due in the coming days
- Timer completed — a timer has finished running
- Reminders — task, habit, and book reminders at the time you set
How notifications reach you
Push notifications (mobile)
If you’re using the Android app, notifications arrive as push messages via Firebase Cloud Messaging. They appear in your device’s notification shade just like messages from any other app.
WebSocket (desktop)
On desktop and web, notifications arrive in real time over WebSocket while the app is open. No polling or refresh needed.
In-app inbox
Every notification is stored in your in-app inbox regardless of how it was delivered. Open the inbox from the sidebar to browse your notification history — it’s organised with read/unread status and paginated so you can scroll back through older items.
Managing notifications
From Settings, you can:
- Turn off all notifications with a master toggle
- Opt out of specific notification types (e.g. keep task notifications but mute book notifications)
- Control which device tokens receive push notifications
Tips
- Reminders are separate: A reminder is a notification you set on a specific task, habit, or book at a specific time. Notifications from the server (overdue items, due items) are automatic and can’t be individually scheduled.
- Notifications deduplicate: The server won’t spam you — the same notification type is throttled so you don’t get repeated alerts for the same item within a few minutes.
- Check the inbox: If you dismiss a push notification, the record is still in your in-app inbox for later review.
Our approach
OterApp’s notifications are throttled, opt-in, and intentionally quiet. The “starting in N minutes” reminders are just-in-time interventions; everything else is rate-limited so the app can’t spam you and erode your trust in the signal.