Notifications
The badges on the list, what reaches you in the app and on your phone, and how to make a conversation quiet.
A busy workspace produces a lot of messages, and almost none of them are for you specifically. This page is about telling those two apart.
The badges in the list
Every row can carry two numbers:
- A blue badge — how many messages you haven't read in that conversation.
- A red @ badge — how many of them mention you by name.
The red one is the one to act on. Blue means "there has been talk"; red means "somebody asked you something". The Unread filter above the list narrows it to conversations with either.
Opening a conversation marks it read.
What actually reaches you
Beyond the badge, some things are announced — in the bell in the top-right corner of the app, and as a notification on your phone if you use the mobile app:
| What happened | In the app | On your phone |
|---|---|---|
| Somebody sent you a direct message | ✓ | ✓ |
| Somebody mentioned you with @ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Somebody replied in a thread you started | ✓ | ✓ |
| Somebody reacted to your message | ✓ | |
| Somebody added you to a channel | ✓ |
Ordinary messages in a channel are not announced — they show up as the blue badge and wait. That is deliberate: a hotel channel that pings forty phones for "morning all" gets muted by everybody within a week, and then the message that mattered is missed too.
This is also the argument for @. If you need a particular person, use their name — it is the difference between a message they'll see this afternoon and one they'll see now.
Making a conversation quiet
There are two ways to mute a conversation:
- in the channel's header, choose Mute channel;
- in the panel on the right of an open conversation, choose Mute notifications.
While a conversation is muted, you will not be notified in the app or on your phone, including mentions. Its row in the conversation list keeps its unread badge and a crossed-out bell icon.
This setting applies to your account only. There is no way to mute a conversation for the whole team at once.
If a channel carries too many messages, split the subjects up. Separate channels for different kinds of discussion make the important information easier to follow.
On your phone
Phone notifications need the mobile app installed and signed in, with notifications allowed for it — see the mobile app. Everything else on this page applies there too: the same mentions, the same mutes, the same unread counts, because they're the same conversations.