Troubleshoot Salesforce Mobile App Notifications

Check out the difference between Notification types used at Mobile, their expected behaviors, and tips to troubleshoot: In-App Notifications , Push Notifications , and Red Badge Numbers .

In-App Notifications

• Like desktop, Mobile Apps show a Bell icon in the upper right corner.
• When the User taps the blue Bell icon, it may show a shorter list than desktop.
• Please see Salesforce Mobile App Notification Types for details.

Push Notifications

Troubleshooting Push Notifications is a multi-step process. 

1. Ensure Notifications are enabled: see the Feature Documentation section.
2. Review the expected behavior: see Standard Push Notifications Types section
3. In Setup, review Settings: see the Notification Delivery Settings section
4. After logging into the Mobile App, check Registration: see the Device Registration for Push Notifications section
5. In Salesforce for Android or iOS App, pick Preferences: see the Salesforce App Push Notification Preferences section
6. On the phone or tablet, review the device settings: see the Device Push Notifications section
7. Consider testing a simple Standard Push Notification as a comparison, even if the goal is to troubleshoot a custom notification. (This is required to get Support on a Case request about Push Notifications.)
8. Involve two Users in testing: One User should be logged into the Mobile App while waiting for the Push Notification. A different User should take the action that causes the Push Notification. Two test Users is Best Practice because some Push Notifications may be prevented from going to the User who caused the action. (For example, a Chatter @ mention to yourself will not result in a Push.)
9. Background the mobile App while waiting for the Push Notification. This is Best Practice because Push Notifications may be prevented when the App is in the foreground.

Standard Push Notification Types :

• To see the full list of mobile Salesforce Notification Types, go to the Notification Delivery Settings page in Setup & expand each section. Please see Manage Notification Delivery Settings. 
• Notes on certain Notifications:

• Task assignments:
• This option is hidden unless enabled for your profile by a System Administrator
• Administrators can Enable 'Assigns you a task' User Permission to customize this Push Notification (making it visible within the app) by:

1. Navigate to Setup.
2. Select in the Quick Find search, type Activity Settings and select it.
3. Select Enable User Control over Task Assignment Notifications and click Save.

• Disabling "Task assignments" push notification will automatically enable the "Email me when someone assigns me a Task" option. You can disable that Email option after you have disabled "Task assignments" push notification, by going to the following click path (Classic UI only at this time):

1. Click on Your Name | Calendar & Reminders | Activity Reminders
2. Uncheck 'Email me when someone assigns me a task' and click Save

• NOTE: Reminder notifications for Tasks and Events are not supported in the Salesforce App. Please see Task Reminders not shown in Salesforce App.
• Salesforce Classic report updates: Report Thresholds are matched
• Approval requests: Push notifications for approval tasks are controlled by the 'Receive Approval Request Emails' User profile setting
• Posts to a group:

Notification Delivery Settings

• The Connected App must be selected for the desired Push Notification Delivery Settings
• Please see Manage Notification Delivery Settings

Salesforce App Push Notification Preferences

• In Salesforce for Android or iOS, go to the Menu, tap Settings | Push Notification Settings
• Toggle the switch to turn notifications on or off (a blue background indicates "on")

Device Push Notification Settings

• Ensure the phone or tablet allows the Mobile App to deliver Push Notifications:

Red Badge Number

On the phone home screen, the User may see a round, Red Badge on the App icon. This shows the number of noteworthy things that happened since the last time the User opened the App.
 

Increase in Red Badge Number

Push Notifications add 1 to the Red Badge Number. It happens at almost exactly the same time as the other Push Notification settings on that phone (such as a toast icon on the phone's lock screen).

Decrease in Red Badge Number

Unlike Increases, a Decrease cannot happen until the App is opened. This is because:

When the User opens the Mobile App:
An API call is made to display the most updated Salesforce information. The User can tap the blue Bell icon to view their In-App Notifications. Now with the App open, the system can update the Red Badge Number. The system subtracts the number of viewed Notifications, and the Red Badge now only shows the number of Notifications that still were not viewed.

When the User leaves the Mobile App backgrounded:
The Mobile App cannot call out with the API. Even if they go to Desktop to click on the Bell icon, so they have actually viewed The most updated system information is not retrieved, so the system cannot subtract the number of viewed Notifications yet.

Manually update the Red Badge Number

If a User is concerned that their Red Badge Number shows more than their actual unviewed Notifications, they only need to open the App & allow it to load up before backgrounding again.

Feature Enhancement Request

If Users are concerned about the limitation on when the Red Badge Number can decrease, please see voting and comments on Chatter Notifications Consistency  in IdeaExchange.