---
title: Notifications
description: Get notified on your computer or phone when an agent needs you, fails or finishes.
---

Polaris can notify you on your computer or phone when an agent asks you
something, a Turn fails, or the work is done. Start a long task, step away, and
come back when it matters. Everything Polaris told you about also stays in the
Notifications panel inside the app.

![The Notifications panel open beside the sidebar, listing questions, a mention, finished Turns and failed Turns from several Sessions, with unread ones marked by green dots.](/docs/screenshots/notifications.webp)

## Turn notifications on

![The Notifications settings with Notifications on this browser turned on, Needs you and Failed on, and Finished off.](/docs/screenshots/notifications-settings.webp)

Notifications are off until you turn them on, and each browser has its own
switch:

1. Open **Settings → General**.
2. Under **Notifications**, turn on **Notifications on this browser**.
3. Allow notifications when your browser asks.

On Android, use Chrome. On iPhone and iPad, notifications work only in Polaris
opened from your Home Screen; see [Use Polaris on your phone](/docs/phone).

Turn notifications on in every browser and on every phone where you want them.
Signing out turns them off on that browser.

## What notifies you

Pick the reasons you want, on each browser. All three are on until you turn one
off:

- **Needs you**: an agent asked you something, a teammate mentioned you, a
  message is waiting for an [agent account](/docs/agent-accounts), or setup is
  waiting on you.
- **Failed**: a Turn failed.
- **Finished**: an agent finished working.

Polaris stays quiet while you're using it: nothing arrives while a Polaris tab
or the Home Screen app is in front. A notification shows the Session's title
and the reason, never the conversation. A mention shows who mentioned you, such
as **Andreas mentioned you**, not their message. Select it to open the Session.

You're notified about Sessions where you're the person the agent is answering,
even when someone else owns the Session. Your Sessions' check-ins and
automations notify you unless a teammate has since sent a message or steered
the agent. Watching a Session doesn't notify you unless someone [mentions
you](/what-needs-you#see-where-youre-mentioned); if you read the Session before
the notification goes out, it doesn't arrive. When messages wait because one of
your organization's shared agent accounts needs signing in again, its Owners
and Admins also get **Reconnect this organization's Claude Code account** (or
Pi), with how many Sessions are waiting. Subagents report to the agent that
started them instead, and the agent's Updates never notify you. A muted or
snoozed Session notifies you only when it needs you or someone mentions you;
see [What needs you](/docs/what-needs-you#keep-your-list-tidy).

## Look back in the Notifications panel

Select the bell at the top of the sidebar to see what Polaris told you about,
newest first, whether or not notifications are on. The panel follows the same
rule about who is notified. On a phone, the bell is at the top of the menu.

- Select an entry to open its Session at the question, the failure or the message that mentioned you.
- Switch between **Unread** and **All**, or narrow it with **Filter by type**.
- **Mark all as read** is in the panel's **More actions** menu.
- On a computer, select **Pin beside the sidebar** to keep it open next to your
  Sessions.

The bell's badge counts unread entries that need you or report a failure.

## If notifications don't arrive

- **Couldn't turn on notifications for this browser.**: select **Try again**.
- **Notifications stopped reaching this browser.**: select **Reconnect**.
- **Your browser blocks notifications from Polaris. Allow them in its site
  settings.**: allow them there, then turn **Notifications on this browser** on
  again.
- Still nothing: check that Do Not Disturb or Focus is off, and that your
  device allows notifications from your browser or from Polaris on your Home
  Screen.