Push notifications on iPhone and Android
The native apps notify you when mail or a chat message arrives while the app is closed, without revealing sender or text. How to allow, silence or remove.
The Private.Ki apps for iPhone and Android can tell you when something new arrives while the app is not open. The notification is deliberately minimal: it says Private.Ki — New email or Private.Ki — New chat message, and nothing else. Who wrote, what they wrote, the subject — none of that leaves the encrypted message, so none of it can appear on your lock screen.
Push notifications need the iPhone or Android app, which is not yet in the app stores. The web app in a phone browser does not receive them. See Install Private.Ki on iPhone and Android.
How it works
- First unlock. The first time you sign in and unlock the app on a phone, the operating system asks whether Private.Ki may send notifications. Allow it. If you decline, you can change your mind in the phone's settings later (below); the app does not ask again on its own.Web & desktop screenshotThe system asks once whether Private.Ki may send notifications.This capture is produced by the screenshot pipeline and will appear here.
The system asks once whether Private.Ki may send notifications.Web & desktop iPhone screenshotThe system asks once whether Private.Ki may send notifications.Same screen as on the web, single column. This capture is produced by the screenshot pipeline and will appear here.The system asks once whether Private.Ki may send notifications.iPhone Android screenshotThe system asks once whether Private.Ki may send notifications.Same screen as on the web, single column. This capture is produced by the screenshot pipeline and will appear here.The system asks once whether Private.Ki may send notifications.Android - Registration. The app gets a delivery token from Apple (APNs) or Google (FCM) and sends it to our server together with your phone's name, so notifications for your account can reach this device.
- A message arrives for you while this phone has no live connection to our server — the app is closed, in the background, or offline. Our server sends the notification. If the app is open and connected on this phone, no push is sent; the message simply appears.Web & desktop screenshotA notification on the lock screen: the app name and 'New chat message' — no sender, no text.This capture is produced by the screenshot pipeline and will appear here.
A notification on the lock screen: the app name and 'New chat message' — no sender, no text.Web & desktop iPhone screenshotA notification on the lock screen: the app name and 'New chat message' — no sender, no text.Same screen as on the web, single column. This capture is produced by the screenshot pipeline and will appear here.A notification on the lock screen: the app name and 'New chat message' — no sender, no text.iPhone Android screenshotA notification on the lock screen: the app name and 'New chat message' — no sender, no text.Same screen as on the web, single column. This capture is produced by the screenshot pipeline and will appear here.A notification on the lock screen: the app name and 'New chat message' — no sender, no text.Android - Tap the notification. The app opens straight to Chats or to your Inbox, depending on which kind of message it was. If the app is locked, you unlock first — with your PIN or biometrics if you have set them up.
Notifications play the default sound and, on Android, vibrate. On Android they use a single channel called Default, which you can adjust in the system settings.
Turn notifications off or on
There is no notification setting inside Private.Ki. Use the phone's settings:
iPhone. Settings → Notifications → Private.Ki. Turn Allow Notifications off to stop them entirely, or adjust sounds, banners and lock-screen visibility here. Focus modes (Do Not Disturb, Sleep) silence them like any other app.
Android. Settings → Apps → Private.Ki → Notifications. Turn the app's notifications off, or open the Default channel to change its importance, sound or vibration. Do Not Disturb applies as usual.
Logging out of the app on a phone removes that phone's notification registration from our server. If you no longer have the phone, revoke its session from another device under Settings → Security and Privacy so the app on it can no longer open your mail — see Active sessions. A revoked phone may still receive the two-word New email / New chat message nudge until its registration is cleaned up; it cannot see anything more than that.
What a notification contains
| Shown | Not shown |
|---|---|
| The app name, Private.Ki | The sender |
| New email or New chat message | The subject or any text |
| The time it arrived | Attachments, reactions, group names |
The notification is a nudge to open the app, nothing more. That is not a limitation we could lift with a setting: our server does not have the readable message, so it cannot put any of it in a notification.
What our server sees
Cannot see
- The content of the message the notification is about — the server is announcing an encrypted object it cannot read
Can see
- A push token for each registered phone and the phone's name (for example Ada's iPhone), so it knows where to deliver
- Whether your phone currently has a live connection, which decides whether a push is sent at all
- That a notification was handed to Apple or Google for delivery; Apple and Google see the same two words you do
Common questions
I'm not getting notifications
In order: check the phone's notification settings for Private.Ki; check that you are signed in on that phone (a session that expired after 7 days of inactivity stops notifications until you sign in again); and check that the app is actually closed or in the background — a phone with the app open and connected gets the message directly, without a push. Notifications also do not work in simulators, only on real devices.
I get a notification but there is nothing new when I open the app
The message may have been unsent or destroyed by the sender before you opened it, or a self-destruct timer ran out. See Unsend and destroy and Self-destructing messages.
Can I get a preview of the message on the lock screen?
No. The content is encrypted end to end and our server cannot read it to preview it.
Can I get notifications only for chat, not for email?
Not today. Notifications are on or off for the app as a whole, via the phone's settings.
Do notifications work on the web?
No. On the web, the browser tab title shows the unread count — (3) Mail - Private.Ki — while the tab is open.