Are notifications for non-apps different?

[MoodyM]

I was utterly convinced I was missing notifications and was going to book a Genius Bar appointment to get a replacement watch, but I'm starting to think it may just be that notifications that come from iPhone apps that have no actual Watch app are different.

For example I quite often check my Watch and see the little red dot and think "that's weird, my phone didn't vibrate or make a noise", and it turns out to be Snapchat or some such iPhone app.

But then I'll get an Activity notification from the Watch or an iMessage, etc, and it most definitely does vibrate and make a noise.

Have I got a faulty Watch or is there some setting somewhere causing notifications from non-native apps to be missed?

 

[DavidLynch]

I was utterly convinced I was missing notifications and was going to book a Genius Bar appointment to get a replacement watch, but I'm starting to think it may just be that notifications that come from iPhone apps that have no actual Watch app are different.

For example I quite often check my Watch and see the little red dot and think "that's weird, my phone didn't vibrate or make a noise", and it turns out to be Snapchat or some such iPhone app.

But then I'll get an Activity notification from the Watch or an iMessage, etc, and it most definitely does vibrate and make a noise.

Have I got a faulty Watch or is there some setting somewhere causing notifications from non-native apps to be missed?

You should get an actual notification for any iPhone app (regardless of watch app) that has banner notifications enabled.

 

[mrboba1]

I think (I haven't tested) but if you have some phone notifications that you don't have set up to buzz and you mirror on the watch, then they won't tap you on the watch.

My hypothesis is this: if it buzzes and shows on lock screen on the phone, it will tap you. If it doesn't do both, the watch won't notify you.

 

[MoodyM]

I think (I haven't tested) but if you have some phone notifications that you don't have set up to buzz and you mirror on the watch, then they won't tap you on the watch.

My hypothesis is this: if it buzzes and shows on lock screen on the phone, it will tap you. If it doesn't do both, the watch won't notify you.

If you're hypothesis is correct, there's something wrong with my Apple Watch - I've got notifications on the phone, shown on the lock screen, shown on the Apple Watch but they do not buzz or make a sound on the Watch

 

[MoodyM]

Right, I've just tested this:

My iPhone is on, and locked, sitting next to me.

My Watch is on my wrist, down by my side, screen off.

My girlfriend just sent me a Snapchat. It said "Delivered" on her phone.

Waited a few seconds, no buzz or noise on my Watch. Lifted my wrist, small red "missed notification" dot is there. Dragged down to check what it was, sure enough it's a Snapchat from her, 1 minute ago.

 

[hlfway2anywhere]

Right, I've just tested this:

My iPhone is on, and locked, sitting next to me.

My Watch is on my wrist, down by my side, screen off.

My girlfriend just sent me a Snapchat. It said "Delivered" on her phone.

Waited a few seconds, no buzz or noise on my Watch. Lifted my wrist, small red "missed notification" dot is there. Dragged down to check what it was, sure enough it's a Snapchat from her, 1 minute ago.

This happens to me too. Just got a notification from Simple, my bank app. No tap or anything. Lifted my wrist and had the notification dot.

 

[mattopotamus]

Right, I've just tested this:

My iPhone is on, and locked, sitting next to me.

My Watch is on my wrist, down by my side, screen off.

My girlfriend just sent me a Snapchat. It said "Delivered" on her phone.

Waited a few seconds, no buzz or noise on my Watch. Lifted my wrist, small red "missed notification" dot is there. Dragged down to check what it was, sure enough it's a Snapchat from her, 1 minute ago.

my Amex does this. I do not get a buzz/noise despite it being on everywhere. I think it is on the apps end, not the watch. Facebook is the same way for me.

 

[MoodyM]

my Amex does this. I do not get a buzz/noise despite it being on everywhere. I think it is on the apps end, not the watch

I'm chatting with Apple Support now, I'll let you know what they say - the 1st question they asked was "is it happening with 1st or 3rd party apps?"

 

[mattopotamus]

I'm chatting with Apple Support now, I'll let you know what they say - the 1st question they asked was "is it happening with 1st or 3rd party apps?"

I have vibrate off on my phone. I wonder if that is it, and it only effects select few apps.

 

[MoodyM]

I just disabled Silent on my phone, didn't help

Apple Support asked if Snapchat notifications were coming through ok to my phone, I said yes. But when I checked (by sending another Snapchat from g/f's phone) I realised they're not - my iPhone 6 is not buzzing or making a sound when her Snapchat messages comes in!

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Just testing here, my iPhone 6 isn't buzzing or making a noise at all when Snapchats come in. Tried with mute switch on and off

 

[Randizzledante]

I just disabled Silent on my phone, didn't help

Apple Support asked if Snapchat notifications were coming through ok to my phone, I said yes. But when I checked (by sending another Snapchat from g/f's phone) I realised they're not - my iPhone 6 is not buzzing or making a sound when her Snapchat messages comes in!

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Just testing here, my iPhone 6 isn't buzzing or making a noise at all when Snapchats come in. Tried with mute switch on and off

Keep us posted. I am missing notifications as well.

 

[MoodyM]

With the iPhone screen unlocked, when the Snapchat comes in, I get the Banner but no sound or vibrate

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Keep us posted. I am missing notifications as well.

Any particular app? Support are asking me if I know of any other apps with this issue

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It's happening to me with Bacon Reader as well

 

[Randizzledante]

With the iPhone screen unlocked, when the Snapchat comes in, I get the Banner but no sound or vibrate

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Any particular app? Support are asking me if I know of any other apps with this issue

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It's happening to me with Bacon Reader as well

Only one I know for sure right now is the eBay app, which does have an "on/off switch" in the notifications area of the Apple Watch (app) settings.

 

[MoodyM]

They've got me doing a Reset All Settings on iPhone now (not Reset All Network Settings)

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Still not working after a Reset All Settings. They're saying the app developers will need to fix their apps.

Funny though that Snapchat and Bacon Reader always notified fine on my iPhone until I got an Apple Watch!

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Only one I know for sure right now is the eBay app, which does have an "on/off switch" in the notifications area of the Apple Watch (app) settings.

Hmm, eBay was working fine for me - I got plenty notifications on Watch from eBay earlier today, noise and vibrate.

 

[Randizzledante]

They've got me doing a Reset All Settings on iPhone now (not Reset All Network Settings)

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Still not working after a Reset All Settings. They're saying the app developers will need to fix their apps.

Funny though that Snapchat and Bacon Reader always notified fine on my iPhone until I got an Apple Watch!

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Hmm, eBay was working fine for me - I got plenty notifications on Watch from eBay earlier today, noise and vibrate.

Really? Interesting. If you don't mind, what are your eBay notification settings like?

 

[MoodyM]

Really? Interesting. If you don't mind, what are your eBay notification settings like?

On the phone?

Standard: Allow, 5, Sounds on, Badge icon on, Show Lockscreen On, Banners.

On Watch, it's just on or off (for Mirroring). It's set to On

 

[Randizzledante]

On the phone?

Standard: Allow, 5, Sounds on, Badge icon on, Show Lockscreen On, Banners.

On Watch, it's just on or off (for Mirroring). It's set to On

You know what I just realized? I am getting no eBay app notifications whatsoever, despite having all settings turned on. Very very weird. May try reinstalling the app on my phone.

 

[MoodyM]

You know what I just realized? I am getting no eBay app notifications whatsoever, despite having all settings turned on. Very very weird. May try reinstalling the app on my phone.

Yeah, it seemed weird to me that the Snapchat notifications were coming through to my phone in terms of the lock screen/notification centre, but not buzz/sound.

Same for Bacon Reader.

Both these apps' notifications worked fine on my phone before I got the Watch. Now they don't even work on my phone.

I wonder if you were to unpair your Watch, would these problem apps start working ok on the phone again?

 

[za9ra22]

This is happening to me too - the Fitbit app in my case. It's consistent, I haven't had any notifications sound or tap from the Fitbit app since I started wearing my Apple watch (4/24), though the red dot appears so the notifications are getting through OK.

On the iPhone, notifications for the app are set as they were before when I was using a Pebble Steel, when notifications worked perfectly, and the same as other apps.

What may be curious is that the Fitbit app notification options don't have an option for the selection of the specific sound, as the Mail app and Messages, etc have. I don't know if that is significant or not though!

 

[The Tuck]

Any app that doesn't use sounds for push notifications (Snapchat, Fitbit, Instagram, etc.) will NEVER make a taptic notification or sound on the Watch. It only gives feedback when the iPhone is locked and the notification would have made noise in the first place (regardless of whether the silent switch is active).

Pebble handles notifications differently- it vibrates for every notification whether it makes noise on the iPhone or not.

Tuck

 

[za9ra22]

Any app that doesn't use sounds for push notifications (Snapchat, Fitbit, Instagram, etc.) will NEVER make a taptic notification or sound on the Watch. It only gives feedback when the iPhone is locked and the notification would have made noise in the first place (regardless of whether the silent switch is active).

Pebble handles notifications differently- it vibrates for every notification whether it makes noise on the iPhone or not.

Tuck

Tuck, thanks - that makes perfect sense.

However, I always did get sounds/vibration for Fitbit notifications on the iPhone before. The problem is that these notifications are too irregular to make testing ideas all that viable, otherwise I'd un-pair the watch and see what happened then.

 

[MoodyM]

After Apple had me Reset All Settings on iPhone, the Watch would no longer work with regards to any app that needed Internet (Weather, etc) even though it was connected via Bluetooth.

I unpaired Watch from phone, but it wouldn't re-pair, so I reset Watch back to factory settings and restored from backup. The Watch is now working again in terms of Internet, etc, but I still get silent, missed notifications (this time from Gumtree).

Could other people test with Snapchat? It's easy to to test as you can send a message whenever you want.

What Tuck said is making it sound like this is all expected behaviour?

 

[bjdraw]

Ensure you have "Sounds" enabled in the notifications setting on the specified App on the iPhone. I just tested this using the Outlook for iOS app. I disabled sounds and locked my phone, and sent myself a test email. Red dot appeared, but no vibration or sound on the watch. Then I enabled sounds on the iPhone in Outlook and locked my phone. Sent another test message and this time my watch vibrated and made a sound.

So the banner setting on the iPhone corresponds to the red dot on the watch and sounds corresponds to vibrate/sound (depending if the watch is on mute).

 

[MoodyM]

Sounds are definitely enabled for all the problem apps on my iPhone

 

[wepiii]

Sounds are definitely enabled for all the problem apps on my iPhone

What about banners? I was having this problem until i enabled banners

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Ensure you have "Sounds" enabled in the notifications setting on the specified App on the iPhone. I just tested this using the Outlook for iOS app. I disabled sounds and locked my phone, and sent myself a test email. Red dot appeared, but no vibration or sound on the watch. Then I enabled sounds on the iPhone in Outlook and locked my phone. Sent another test message and this time my watch vibrated and made a sound.

So the banner setting on the iPhone corresponds to the red dot on the watch and sounds corresponds to vibrate/sound (depending if the watch is on mute).

what do you mean by the banner setting corresponds to the red dot?