# Pocket Alert vs The Notification App > The Notification App alternative with iOS and Android apps, 50 free messages every day, five priority levels, message history and webhook logs. Same one-POST push and webhook URLs. Last updated: 2026-10-10 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. ### Where you use it - **iOS app** — Pocket Alert: Yes; The Notification App: Yes - **Android app** — Pocket Alert: Yes; The Notification App: No (Waitlist) - **Web dashboard** — Pocket Alert: Yes (Devices, keys, apps, webhooks); The Notification App: No (Everything is in the iOS app) - **Chrome extension** — Pocket Alert: Yes (Send a link or note to your phone); The Notification App: No - **Command-line tool** — Pocket Alert: Yes (Official binary for Linux, macOS, Windows); The Notification App: No (Copy-paste snippets) - **MCP server for AI agents** — Pocket Alert: Yes (10 tools); The Notification App: Yes (Built-in MCP server) ### Sending alerts - **Send via HTTP API** — Pocket Alert: Yes; The Notification App: Yes (One POST, title and body required) - **Inbound webhook URL per source** — Pocket Alert: Yes (One URL per service); The Notification App: Yes (Static and dynamic webhook URLs) - **Payload mapping into the message** — Pocket Alert: Yes (%field.path% into title, body and buttons); The Notification App: Partly (Pick fields by name for title, body and link) - **Scheduled delivery** — Pocket Alert: Yes (Up to 30 days, listable and cancellable); The Notification App: No - **Priority levels** — Pocket Alert: Yes (Five, silent to critical); The Notification App: No (No priority field) - **Critical alerts that override Do Not Disturb** — Pocket Alert: Yes (On paid plans); The Notification App: No - **Action buttons on the notification** — Pocket Alert: Yes (Up to 3: open, HTTP request, copy); The Notification App: Partly (Tap opens a link, no buttons) - **Attachments** — Pocket Alert: Yes (Images); The Notification App: Yes (Image by URL) - **Grouping by source** — Pocket Alert: Yes (Applications, filtered in the app); The Notification App: Yes (Applications: 3 free, 10 on Pro) - **Email delivery** — Pocket Alert: No; The Notification App: No - **SMS or phone-call delivery** — Pocket Alert: No; The Notification App: No ### Records and debugging - **Message history** — Pocket Alert: Yes (Account-wide, synced to app and web); The Notification App: No (Content is not kept after delivery) - **Webhook call log** — Pocket Alert: Yes (Headers, payload, rendered message, result); The Notification App: No - **History retention** — Pocket Alert: Yes (Messages until you delete them; webhook calls 7–365 days by plan); The Notification App: No (Pass-through by design) - **Delivery statistics** — Pocket Alert: Yes (Per application and per device); The Notification App: Partly (Usage counter in the app) ### Account and data - **Content encryption** — Pocket Alert: Yes (At rest with a per-account key, secrets redacted); The Notification App: Partly (Not documented; content is not stored) - **Two-factor authentication** — Pocket Alert: Yes (TOTP with recovery codes); The Notification App: Yes (Sign in with Apple) - **Open source or self-hosted** — Pocket Alert: No; The Notification App: No The Notification App data from thenotification.app and its docs, checked October 2026. ## Pricing - **Free plan** — Pocket Alert: 50 messages a day, no card; The Notification App: 100 notifications in total, 3 applications - **Entry paid plan** — Pocket Alert: $6/month — 1,000 messages a day, 5 webhooks; The Notification App: Pro, $2.99/month — 1,000 notifications a month - **Highest tier** — Pocket Alert: $25/month — unlimited messages, 365-day history; The Notification App: 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. ## Coming from The Notification App 1. **Install and get a key** — Install Pocket Alert on your iPhone or Android phone, sign in, and copy your API key from the dashboard. 2. **Swap the endpoint** — Point scripts at the Pocket Alert endpoint with the key in the Token header. title stays title, body becomes message. 3. **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. 4. **Set the levels** — Add level=high or critical to alerts that must get through, and silent to the ones that only need a record. ### Before: The Notification App ```bash 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" }' ``` ### After: Pocket Alert ```bash 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" }] }' ``` ## FAQ ### Does The Notification App work on Android? 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. ### How do the free tiers compare? 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. ### Is The Notification App cheaper? 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. ### Can I set the priority of a notification? 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. ### Which one keeps a record of what was sent? 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.