Why my users are not receiving notifications on Android devices?

Notifications may not be showing up or behaving as expected on some devices for multiple reasons.

Below we will go through the most common situations that could cause some sort of issue with notifications on Android devices.

Note that each device and operating system will have its own interface and design, but in general, the settings mentioned below are present in all devices even if using a different name or design.

The app is configured to not receive push notifications

This is definitely the first thing you will want to check as this setting must be enabled in order for a device to be able to receive push notifications at all.

In order to find it go to:

  1. Settings
  1. Apps or Applications
  1. Manage apps
  1. Find your app in the list

You will then see a few settings for your app, look for the “Notifications” one and make sure it is enabled.

Battery saver is enabled

One of the most common ways of saving battery is to disable push notifications, for this reason, you will want to check if any battery saver options or apps are running on your device.

There are two places where you must look, the app settings and the device settings.

For the app settings go to:

  • Settings
  • Apps or Applications
  • Manage apps
  • Find your app in the list

Make sure the following option is set to “No restrictions” so the notifications are not blocked.

For the device settings just pull down the top of your screen to show device settings, then look for the Battery Saver option and make sure that is disabled, as you can see below:

Background data is disabled

In order for your app to be able to receive push notifications, it needs to be connected to the internet, either through a wi-fi network or mobile data.

Under the app settings, make sure that your app has permissions to use Wi-fi and mobile data while in the background, as you can see here:

Still not receiving notifications?

If even after confirming that all the settings are properly configured your user is not receiving push notifications, our recommendation is to ask the user to reinstall the app.

It is possible that the user device didn’t get properly configured into the push notifications provider when the app was first installed, reinstalling it might help with resolving such a situation.