Webhook-to-phone push that doesn't run out.
The Notification App does one thing well: call a webhook URL or send one POST, and a push lands on your iPhone. It is tidy, private and hosted in Switzerland. It is also iPhone-only, and the free tier is 100 notifications for the life of the account. Pocket Alert keeps the same no-SDK model and adds an Android app, a free allowance that refills every day, priority levels from silent to critical, and a record of every message and webhook call.
Where a minimal push app gets tight
The Notification App is small on purpose. These are the edges developers reach first.
iPhone only
Android is on a waitlist. If you, a teammate or a client carries an Android phone, the alert does not reach them.
The free tier runs out
Free is 100 notifications in total, not per month. After that every alert needs Pro at $2.99 a month for 1,000.
Every push is equal
The API takes a title, body, link and image. With no priority field, a failed backup and a new signup arrive the same way.
Nothing to look back at
Content is not kept after delivery. There is no history or webhook log to check when an alert did not arrive.
Pocket Alert vs The Notification App, feature by feature
Both send from one HTTP call or a webhook URL, with no SDK. The difference is where it lands and what is kept.
| Feature | Pocket Alert | The Notification App |
|---|---|---|
| Where you use it | ||
| iOS app | ||
| Android app | Waitlist | |
| Web dashboard | Devices, keys, apps, webhooks | Everything is in the iOS app |
| Chrome extension | Send a link or note to your phone | |
| Command-line tool | Official binary for Linux, macOS, Windows | Copy-paste snippets |
| MCP server for AI agents | 10 tools | Built-in MCP server |
| Sending alerts | ||
| Send via HTTP API | One POST, title and body required | |
| Inbound webhook URL per source | One URL per service | Static and dynamic webhook URLs |
| Payload mapping into the message | %field.path% into title, body and buttons | Pick fields by name for title, body and link |
| Scheduled delivery | Up to 30 days, listable and cancellable | |
| Priority levels | Five, silent to critical | No priority field |
| Critical alerts that override Do Not Disturb | On paid plans | |
| Action buttons on the notification | Up to 3: open, HTTP request, copy | Tap opens a link, no buttons |
| Attachments | Images | Image by URL |
| Grouping by source | Applications, filtered in the app | Applications: 3 free, 10 on Pro |
| Email delivery | ||
| SMS or phone-call delivery | ||
| Records and debugging | ||
| Message history | Account-wide, synced to app and web | Content is not kept after delivery |
| Webhook call log | Headers, payload, rendered message, result | |
| History retention | 7 days free, 365 on the top plan | Pass-through by design |
| Delivery statistics | Per application and per device | Usage counter in the app |
| Account and data | ||
| Content encryption | At rest with a per-account key, secrets redacted | Not documented; content is not stored |
| Two-factor authentication | TOTP with recovery codes | Sign in with Apple |
| Open source or self-hosted | ||
The Notification App data from thenotification.app and its docs, checked October 2026.
What you’ll pay
| Pocket Alert | The Notification App | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 50 messages a day, no card | 100 notifications in total, 3 applications |
| Entry paid plan | $6/month — 1,000 messages a day, 5 webhooks | Pro, $2.99/month — 1,000 notifications a month |
| Highest tier | $25/month — unlimited messages, 365-day history | Pro is the only paid tier — 10 applications |
Pocket Alert pricing as of October 2026. The Notification App figures from thenotification.app and its rate-limit docs. See full pricing.
Coming from The Notification App
Install and get a key
Install Pocket Alert on your iPhone or Android phone, sign in, and copy your API key from the dashboard.
Swap the endpoint
Point scripts at the Pocket Alert endpoint with the key in the Token header. title stays title, body becomes message.
Recreate the webhooks
For each webhook URL, create a Pocket Alert webhook and map fields with %field.path%, nested ones included, into the title, body and buttons.
Set the levels
Add level=high or critical to alerts that must get through, and silent to the ones that only need a record.
curl https://thenotification.app/api/sendNotification \
-H 'app_key: YOUR_API_KEY' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
"title": "Deploy finished",
"body": "main is live",
"link": "https://github.com/you/repo/actions"
}'curl https://api.pocketalert.app/v1/messages \
-H 'Token: YOUR_API_KEY' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
"title": "Deploy finished",
"message": "main is live",
"level": "high",
"actions": [{ "type": "view", "label": "Open run",
"value": "https://github.com/you/repo/actions" }]
}'Questions, answered
Not yet. The Notification App is iOS only, with an Android waitlist on its site. Pocket Alert has apps for iPhone and Android today, and one API key reaches every device on the account: one on the free plan, three or more on paid plans.
The Notification App gives 100 notifications in total, for the life of the account, with 3 applications. Pocket Alert gives 50 messages a day with no card, for one device, one application and one webhook, and the allowance refills every day. A few alerts a day never run out; a busy webhook can spend 100 in an afternoon.
At the entry level, yes. Their Pro is $2.99 a month for 1,000 notifications a month. Pocket Alert starts at $6 a month for 1,000 messages a day, and paid plans add critical delivery and scheduling. If 1,000 a month on one iPhone covers you, their Pro is the smaller bill.
Not on The Notification App: the API takes a title, body, link and image, and every push arrives the same way. Pocket Alert has five levels. silent lands quietly in the history, high comes through Focus on iPhone, and critical overrides Do Not Disturb on Android. Set it with one level field, or as a default per application or webhook.
The Notification App is pass-through by design, hosted in Switzerland, and does not keep content after handing it to Apple. If storing nothing is the point, that is a real advantage. Pocket Alert keeps message history on the account, encrypted at rest, in the app and the dashboard, and logs every webhook call with its headers, payload and rendered message, so a missing alert can be traced.
Push that keeps going after the first 100.
The same one-POST push and webhook URLs, on iPhone and Android, with a free allowance that refills every day.