Notifications by text message

There are no text alerts

No message lands on your phone when a guest uploads, when a contribution needs review, or during crunch time. That isn't a setting waiting to be found — the channel doesn't exist for a personal account, and mentioning so is more useful than sending you looking.

During a party the dashboard overview serves as the live view, and it updates while guests contribute.

1. Check the email on your account. That's where each notice goes. An address you don't read is the usual problem.
2. Watch the retention warnings. They land 14 days, 3 days and 1 day pre-removal.
3. Use the overview during a party. For live activity, the dashboard is the channel. Nothing reaches your phone.

What email you do get

The notices tied to your account and the warnings pre-removal, sent 14 days, 3 days and 1 day ahead of time. They all land at the address on your account, which is why that field is merits checking.

There's an opt-out for the pre-event reminders, and it applies to your entire account instead of to one event.

The overview serves that role. Email is for the things that would otherwise slip through.

What branded SMS actually is

It's a business feature on the top tier: an agency texts its clients guests under its own sender name. The sender name must be approved by the provider before anything goes out, so it isn't something turned on in an afternoon.

It sends outward, to guests. It isn't a way of alerting you about your own party.

Watching a party without alerts

Keep the overview open on a phone. It tracks live totals and flags anything waiting for approval, which is everything a notification would have told you and it's available whenever you glance at it.

If you're reviewing contributions, a look every half hour is a workable rhythm.

And no push notifications either

There's no native app for hosts, so nothing is sent to a home screen. The dashboard lives in a browser on a phone perfectly well, and that's the intended way to keep an eye on an event from the room.

Add it to your home screen if you want it one tap away. It behaves like a page, not like an app.

What to set up instead

Use the right email address on the account, and determine before the party who is watching the overview if you're reviewing contributions. Those two together replace everything a notification would have done.

And download the album in the week after instead of relying on the expiry warnings to remind you.