Push notifications on Disco Mobile deliver real-time alerts to iOS and Android devices so Admins and Members stay on top of Academy activity when they are away from the app.
Overview
Push notifications cover the most time-sensitive activity across your Academy: new chat messages, mentions, replies, posts, comments, events, and curriculum items. They run alongside Disco’s email and in-app notification channels, so the same underlying event (like a new @mention) can fan out to push, email, and the in-app notification bell, based on each user’s preferences.
Every push-enabled notification type is community-activity-driven and applies to everyone. Academy Owners, Admins, Program Managers, Instructors, and Members all receive the same types of push notifications, just scoped to the Academies, Programs, and content they can access. Admin-only activity like new applications, submitted assignments, or new enrollments is delivered by email and in-app only, and does not produce a push notification.
Push notifications are available on any Disco plan. No special entitlement is required beyond an active subscription. Academies with a branded Disco mobile app receive push notifications through their own branded install, and the feature behaves identically.
Turn On Push Notifications
No setup is required from an Admin. Once the Academy is active on Disco, push notifications are available to anyone who installs the mobile app.
To start receiving them:
- Install the Disco iOS or Android app (or your Academy’s branded Disco mobile app) on a physical device. Push notifications cannot be delivered to simulators or emulators.
- Log in to the app with your Disco account.
- On first login after install, the operating system prompts you to allow notifications. Tap Allow.
Once permission is granted, the app registers the device with Disco and begins delivering push notifications based on your preferences. If you declined the prompt, see the FAQ below for how to re-enable permission from the device’s system settings.
Manage Your Notification Preferences
You can open your notification preferences from within the mobile app in two ways:
- Tap the bell icon in the upper-right of the home screen, tap the overflow icon, and choose Notification Preferences.
- Open the More tab, choose Settings, and select Notification Preferences.
Both paths open the same bottom sheet, titled Notifications. The sheet is organized into two sections:
- Experience notifications: modules, event reminders, new posts, new events, and curriculum due date reminders.
- Community notifications: direct messages, comment replies and mentions, chat replies and mentions, and channel messages.
Toggling a type off silences that push notification across every Academy you belong to. These toggles only affect push notifications on your mobile device. Email and in-app notifications are unaffected and are configured separately from your profile settings on the web.
What Push Notifications Look Like
When a push notification arrives, the device shows it in the operating system’s standard notification surface: a banner when the device is unlocked and in use, on the lock screen when locked, and in the system notification center until dismissed. Each notification shows:
- The Disco (or branded) app icon.
- A title, which is typically the name of the person or object the notification is about. For example, the sender’s name on a chat message, or a heading like “New event available!” on an event publish.
- A body with a preview of the underlying content, such as the message text, post title, comment preview, event name, or curriculum item name.
Disco also maintains an unread count on the app icon badge. The badge increments as new push notifications arrive whether the app is in the foreground or background. The badge clears to zero every time you open the app, and decrements each time you mark in-app notifications as read from the notification bell.
What Each Notification Type Contains
Each push notification type has its own title and body format. The table below summarizes what you see across all push-supported types.
| Notification type | Title | Body |
|---|
| Channel message | Sender’s name | Preview of the message |
| Channel reply | Sender’s name | Preview of the reply |
| Channel mention | Sender’s name plus an indicator they mentioned you | Preview of the message |
| Direct message | Sender’s name | Preview of the message |
| Post published | Author’s name | Post title or opening of the post body |
| Comment on content | Commenter’s name | Preview of the comment |
| Mention in a comment or post | Mentioning user’s name | Preview of the comment or post |
| Event published | ”New event available!” | Event title |
| Event reminder | The reminder’s configured subject line | Event details |
| Curriculum item released | ”Don’t miss out on new content!” | Name of the released item |
| Curriculum item due | ”Don’t forget your deadline!” | Name of the item and its due date |
How Taps Deep-Link Into the App
Tapping a push notification opens the app and takes you straight to the relevant screen:
- Chat channel message, reply, or mention opens the channel (and the thread, for replies in threads).
- Direct message opens the direct-message thread.
- Post published opens the post in the relevant feed.
- Comment on content or mention in a comment opens the content item where the comment lives.
- Event published or event reminder opens the event’s detail page.
- Curriculum item released or due-date reminder opens the curriculum item.
Once the app is open, the bell icon at the top of the screen opens the in-app notification center, which lists the same activity that generated the push notification plus additional in-app-only notification types. Marking notifications as read from the notification bell decrements the app icon badge.
Manage Notifications for a Single Chat Channel
Each chat channel has its own notification preference that controls what you are notified about in that specific channel. This preference applies to push and email notifications together. You will still see in-app notifications for the channel regardless of this setting.
To change it:
- Open the channel.
- Tap the three-dot menu and choose Manage notifications, or tap Channel details and then Notifications.
- Choose one of: All new messages, @ mentions and replies only, or Off.
Per-channel preferences interact with your global per-type toggle. If your global “Channel messages” toggle is off, a single channel set to All new messages will still not push. If your global “Channel messages” toggle is on, a channel set to @ mentions and replies only or Off will still suppress pushes for that channel. When a Member reports missing notifications from one channel, check both settings.
Admin Controls for Program Notifications
Admins have a few Program-level controls that affect what pushes to Members.
- New comments & replies toggle. Go to Program Settings → Notifications and disable New comments & replies to stop pushing comments, replies, and mentions on content in that Program. This also disables the matching email. Other notification types are unaffected.
- Waiting room mode. When a Program is in waiting room mode, Disco suppresses push notifications for newly released curriculum items and upcoming due dates in that Program, so Members are not notified about content they cannot yet access.
- Subscription status. Push notifications, along with all Disco notifications, are gated by the Academy’s subscription being in good standing. If the subscription is paused or in a non-active state, no notifications of any channel are sent until the subscription returns to active.
When you release a full curriculum to Members at once, you often want to notify them about access but avoid flooding their phones. Our recommendation: keep Curriculum item released on by default so Members know new content is live, and only disable the Program-level New comments & replies toggle when you need to calm notification volume in very high-traffic Programs. For staged rollouts, use waiting room mode or scheduled release dates rather than asking Members to turn off their notifications.
Branded Mobile Apps
Academies that ship a branded mobile app with Disco receive push notifications through that branded install. The notification types, preferences, setup flow, and deep-link behavior are identical to the standard Disco mobile app. The only visible differences are the app icon on the device and the app name shown on the lock screen.
A branded app is scoped to its Academy and only receives push notifications for activity in that Academy, even if the user belongs to other Academies on Disco. Members of multiple Academies who want push notifications from all of them should install the standard Disco app alongside the branded app. A push token is registered for each install independently.
FAQ
Why am I getting in-app notifications but no push notifications on my phone? The most common causes are that notification permission was denied at the operating-system level, your device has Focus or Do Not Disturb enabled, or a specific per-type toggle is off in your mobile Notification Preferences. Check each of these in order before reinstalling the app.
Why doesn’t the app icon badge stay on my home screen the way other apps do? This is expected behavior. Disco clears the badge count outside the app every time you open the app. The badge will increment again the next time a push notification arrives.
How do I stop getting push notifications for a specific chat channel without silencing every channel? Open the channel, tap the three-dot menu, choose Manage notifications, and set the channel to Off or @ mentions and replies only. This applies to push and email for that channel but leaves in-app notifications unchanged.
If I turn a notification type off in the mobile app, does it also turn off the email? Not for most types. The mobile Notification Preferences sheet controls push notifications on your device only. Email and in-app notifications are configured separately from your profile settings on the web. Two exceptions apply: the per-channel preference (which governs push and email together) and the Program-level New comments & replies toggle (which disables both push and email for comments and replies on that Program).
Why aren’t Admins getting push notifications when a new Member applies or submits an assignment? Admin-only activity like new applications, submitted assignments, and new enrollments is delivered by email and in-app only. These do not produce push notifications on mobile today.
What happens to my push notifications when I log out of the app? Logging out removes the push token registered for that device, and the device stops receiving push notifications until you log back in. Logging out on one device does not affect push notifications on any other device where you are still signed in.
I uninstalled the app. Do I need to do anything to stop push notifications? No. On the next delivery attempt, the push service reports the device as unregistered and Disco deletes the stale token automatically. You may see a short window where notifications are dispatched but not delivered before cleanup completes.
I’m logged in on my phone and my tablet. Will I get notifications on both? Yes. Every device you are signed in on receives push notifications simultaneously. There is no per-device configuration. Each device follows the same per-type preferences you have set in the mobile app.
I belong to more than one Academy. How do I know which Academy a push notification is about? The notification title does not identify the source Academy. Tap through to see which Academy the activity came from. If you use a branded app, that app only shows activity for its own Academy.
Will I get a push notification when I publish my own post or event? No. The author of a post and the creator of an event do not receive a push notification about their own publication. You will still get pushes for follow-up activity like comments, replies, or mentions.
I’m actively viewing a channel. Why don’t I see a banner for new messages in that channel? While you are on a channel’s screen in the mobile app, Disco suppresses the system push banner for new messages in that same channel so you are not interrupted by a banner about a message already on your screen. Messages in other channels continue to surface as usual.
I declined the notification prompt when I first logged in. How do I turn push notifications back on? Disco cannot re-trigger the system prompt from within the app. Open your device’s system settings, find Notifications for the Disco (or branded) app, and enable them there. Once enabled at the operating-system level, your mobile Notification Preferences take effect again.
My student installed the app fresh, signed in and out, and still gets no push notifications. What should I check? Confirm the operating-system notification permission is enabled for Disco in the device’s system settings, confirm Focus or Do Not Disturb is not active, and confirm the affected notification types are toggled on inside Notification Preferences. Ask them to check the specific chat channel’s own notification setting if the issue is limited to one channel. If all of those are correct and the device still receives no push notifications, contact Disco Support with the Member’s email so the team can check their device-token registration.
How do I stop the flood of emails when I release a lot of curriculum at once? The mobile Notification Preferences sheet silences push notifications only. To reduce curriculum release emails sent to Members, see the email notification settings available from a Member’s web profile or speak with Disco Support about the available Program-level options. 
