# Turn on notifications

> Say yes when CommonYard asks after you join a yard, then choose what you hear about — replies, yards, games, points — and keep the nights quiet.

Section: Getting started · Updated: 2026-10-05
URL: https://commonyard.app/guides/turn-on-notifications/

Notifications tell you when something needs you: a reply to what you said, a challenge from a friend, news from a yard you are in, or a game you asked to be reminded about.

## Steps

1. Join a yard, or make one. Right after, CommonYard asks whether that yard can reach you on your phone.
2. Tap **Yes, tell me**.
3. Your browser or phone asks for permission next. Tap **Allow**.

![A sheet that asks whether Tema Food Lovers can reach you on your phone, with Yes, tell me and Not now](https://commonyard.app/guides/img/push-ask.webp "Right after you join a yard, CommonYard asks once.")

CommonYard never asks the moment you arrive, never in the middle of a game, and at most once a week. It also asks when you tap **remind me** on a game that hasn't started yet.

## Choose what you hear about

1. Tap the bell at the top of the screen, then the gear on your notifications page. (It's also in **Settings**, under **Profile & account**.)
2. **What you hear about** opens.
3. **Alerts** turns notifications on or off on this device. Off, everything still waits on your notifications page.
4. Under **Tell me about**, switch each kind on or off: **Replies & mentions**, **Yards & causes** (polls ending, petitions you signed, news in your yards), **Games & invites**, **Points & rewards** and **CommonYard news**.
5. Under **Quiet hours**, switch on **Quiet at night**, and set **From** and **Until**. Alerts in those hours come in silently — no sound, no buzz.

![What you hear about: the Alerts switch, a switch for each kind of notification, and Quiet at night with its hours](https://commonyard.app/guides/img/notify.webp "Pick what reaches you, and when it keeps quiet.")

Messages about your account and your safety always come through.

## The quick switch

The **Notifications** switch on your profile — tap **YOU** — turns them on or off on this device in one tap.

## If you blocked them by mistake

Your browser remembers the choice. Open your browser's site settings for commonyard.app, allow notifications again, then turn on the switch under **YOU**.

## On iPhone

Apple only lets a web app send notifications once it is on your Home Screen. When you join a yard in Safari, CommonYard shows you how: tap **Share**, then **Add to Home Screen**, open CommonYard from its new icon, sign in, and turn on **Notifications** under **YOU**. See [Put CommonYard on your home screen](/guides/add-to-home-screen/).

## Mute a yard

1. Open the yard and tap its name at the top.
2. Tap **Mute**.

You still see the yard's posts and chat; you just stop getting notifications about it. Muting **CommonYard** itself the same way (tap the name at the top of the whole Yard) turns off every push until you unmute.

## Your notifications page

Tap the bell to see everything that came in, newest first. The number on the bell is how many are new; **Mark all read** clears it.

## Points don't ping you every time

Points you earn are added up and sent as one email and one notification — at most about once a week, at six in the evening, Accra time. A big game win is the exception: you hear about that straight away.