Reminders are delivered as push notifications. Setup is a one-time tap on Android. On iPhone there's a catch you should know about up front.
On Android
Chrome on Android supports push to a regular browser tab — you don't have to install Working Memory as an app first. When you set your first reminder, the browser asks if Working Memory can send notifications. Tap Allow.
From then on, reminders fire as normal Android notifications at the time you scheduled them. Tap one to open the app to that reminder.
If you missed the prompt, open the app and look for Enable notifications in settings. Tap it, then allow when the browser asks.
On iPhone and iPad
iOS only supports push notifications for installed Working Memory PWAs running iOS 16.4 or later. This matters:
- On a regular Safari tab, asking for notification permission silently denies. The app can't fix this — it's an iOS rule.
- You have to install Working Memory to your home screen first. See Installing Working Memory on your phone for the steps.
- After installing, open the home-screen icon (not Safari) and enable notifications from settings.
If you're not sure whether you're on the installed app or a Safari tab, the installed app has no address bar at the top. A Safari tab does.
Enabling push inside the app
Open the app (the installed one on iOS, a tab on Android). In settings, look for the Notifications toggle. Turn it on, allow when the browser asks. Done.
Notifications not arriving — checklist
If you set a reminder and the notification never fired, run through this:
- Browser permission is granted. System settings → Notifications → Working Memory. Make sure it's enabled.
- Do Not Disturb / Focus mode isn't blocking us. Both Android and iOS can silently suppress notifications based on time of day or active focus mode.
- On iOS, you opened the installed app, not a Safari tab. Installed app only.
- You haven't uninstalled and reinstalled recently. Reinstalling creates a brand-new push subscription — the old one is gone and we don't know about the new one until you re-enable notifications in the app.
- The time and timezone are what you expected. A common cause of "didn't fire" is a reminder set for 9pm in a different timezone than you're in. See Timezones.
If we lost your subscription
We sometimes lose your push subscription — you uninstalled and reinstalled, you cleared site data, or the browser pruned it after a long stretch of inactivity. In all of those cases the fix is the same: open the app, re-enable notifications in settings.
You don't need to tell us anything. The next time the app loads, it registers a new subscription with us and reminders start flowing again.
What we actually push
Only what you've asked us to: reminder notifications, at the time you scheduled them.
No marketing pushes, no "we noticed you haven't opened the app in a while", no badge counts for things you don't care about. If your phone buzzes, it's because you told it to.