Notifications and Alerts
What Spanner notifications are for
Spanner can send notifications to help you stay on top of the Apps you use (like reminders, updates, or shared changes). You’re always in control—your device lets you turn Spanner notifications on, off, or make them less disruptive.
Notifications Spanner may send (and what they mean)
What you might see: “Reminder: …”, “Don’t forget to …”, or a notification tied to a specific App you use (like a grocery list, tracker, or routine).
What it means: An App you’re using in Spanner is trying to help you remember something at a certain time.
What to do: If reminders are helpful, keep them on. If they’re too frequent, reduce them by changing your device notification style (see below) or turning off Spanner notifications entirely.
What you might see: “Someone shared an App with you”, “Invite to collaborate”, or “Updates in a shared App”.
What it means: Someone sent you an App, or something changed in an App you share (for example, a family list or shared tracker).
What to do: Open the notification to view what changed. If you don’t want these alerts, change Spanner’s notification settings on your device (see steps below).
What you might see: “Sign-in required”, “New sign-in”, “Confirm your account”, or “Session expired”.
What it means: Spanner needs you to sign in again, or it’s letting you know about an account-related event.
What to do: Open Spanner and follow the on-screen prompts. If you didn’t expect the alert, make sure you’re signed in to the correct account.
What you might see: “Subscription updated”, “Payment issue”, “Plan changed”, or “Trial ending”.
What it means: Something changed with your plan, renewal, or payment status.
What to do: Open Spanner to review the message. If you prefer fewer notifications, you can keep banners off while still allowing critical alerts (see device steps below).
What you might see: “New features”, “What’s new”, or “Update available”.
What it means: Spanner is letting you know about improvements that may help you.
What to do: Optional—open to read more. If you don’t want announcements, adjust your notification style (deliver quietly) or turn off notifications.
What you might see: “Couldn’t complete that”, “Action failed”, “Try again”, or “We ran into a problem”.
What it means: Spanner tried to run something and couldn’t finish (for example, a temporary connection issue).
What to do: Open Spanner and try again. If you’re offline, reconnect and retry.
Change notification settings on your device
You can control whether Spanner can notify you at all, and also how notifications appear (banners, sounds, badges, lock screen).
Open the Settings app on your iPhone/iPad, then tap Notifications.
Scroll down and tap Spanner.
- Allow Notifications: turn on/off all notifications from Spanner.
- Lock Screen, Notification Center, Banners: choose where alerts appear.
- Banner Style: choose Temporary (goes away) or Persistent (stays until you dismiss).
- Sounds: turn sound on/off.
- Badges: control the red number on the app icon (if available).
If you still want notifications but fewer interruptions, turn off Sounds and/or turn off Lock Screen alerts.
Open Settings on your phone, then go to Notifications (or Apps → Spanner → Notifications).
Tap App notifications (if shown), then select Spanner.
- Use the main toggle to turn Spanner notifications off completely.
- If your device shows notification categories (like reminders vs. updates), you can turn specific ones on/off.
- Adjust sound, vibration, pop on screen, and lock screen behavior (wording varies by device).
Look for options like Silent, Minimize, or Deliver quietly (names vary) to keep notifications without interruptions.
If you aren’t getting Spanner notifications
- Check that notifications are allowed for Spanner in your device settings (steps above).
- Check Do Not Disturb / Focus: your phone may be hiding alerts even when they’re enabled.
- Check sounds: notifications might be arriving silently if sounds are off.
- Restart Spanner (and your phone) if notifications suddenly stop.
If you’re getting too many notifications
- Switch to quieter delivery (no sound, no lock screen, or silent/minimized notifications) instead of turning everything off.
- Turn off badges if the icon count stresses you out but you still want occasional alerts.
- Use Focus / Do Not Disturb schedules to silence notifications during work, sleep, or family time.