User guide 14: Set up push notifications for storm warnings

Push notifications are short alerts that pop up on your phone or computer, the same way a text message does. You do not need to have dayboro.au open. Once they are set up, a storm warning reaches you while the phone sits in your pocket.

This guide takes you through it one step at a time. It takes about two minutes. Push notifications are for members. If you are not a member yet, see the membership page first.

Before you start

• Each device is set up on its own. If you want alerts on your phone and your computer, do the steps on both.
• On iPhone and iPad you first add Dayboro to your Home Screen. Apple only allows website notifications that way, and it needs iOS 16.4 or newer. The iPhone section below shows how.
• Use your usual browser. Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Samsung Internet on Android or a computer all work. On iPhone, use Safari to add Dayboro to the Home Screen.
• Want email or text as well, or instead? Storm emails are already on for members, and paying members can add warnings by text. See User guide 15: Storm warnings by email and text.

Step 1: Log in and open your Members Dashboard

1. Go to dayboro.au/come-in and log in with your email or username and password.
2. Click Go to Dashboard at the top right of any page. On a phone, open the menu first.

Step 2: Open the Account tab

Across the top of the dashboard is a row of tabs. Click Account. On a phone the row scrolls sideways, so swipe it left if you cannot see Account.

Scroll down to the card called Push notifications. It looks like this:

If you are on an iPhone or iPad, go to the iPhone section now. Android and computer users carry on with Step 3.

Step 3: Tick what you want, then switch it on

Do the ticking first. If you switch on with nothing ticked, you only get Severe Weather and creek crossing alerts, and no storm warnings.

1. Tick Lightning & Thunderstorm Warnings. This is the box that brings storm warnings to this device.
2. Under Storm warning distance, pick how far away a storm should be when we warn you. The next section helps you choose.
3. Tick anything else you want, such as Severe Weather, Crossing closed / reopened or Fire Danger Ratings.
4. Click the Enable switch so it turns on.

Step 4: Say Allow when your browser asks

When you turn the switch on, your browser asks whether dayboro.au may send notifications. Choose Allow. If you choose Block, the browser remembers it and the switch cannot work until you undo it (see Troubleshooting below).

• Android: a box appears at the bottom or middle of the screen. Tap Allow.
• Computer: a small box drops down under the address bar, top left. Click Allow.

The card then says Notifications enabled!. That device is done.

Step 5: Click Save after any change

If you tick or untick boxes later, click the Save button at the bottom of the card. The distance saves by itself the moment you pick one.

Which storm distance should I pick?

We watch lightning around Dayboro every minute. You get one warning when lightning first comes inside your distance, and one all clear once it has been quiet inside your distance for 30 minutes. New storms that join while a warning is on do not send more messages, so you will not get a stream of them.

If you are not sure, start at 50 km. You can change it any time, either here or on the Storm warnings card just below. Both are the same setting, so changing one changes the other.

On iPhone and iPad

Apple only lets a website send notifications once it is on your Home Screen, like an app. If you open the dashboard in Safari without doing this, the card tells you so:

1. Check your iPhone is up to date: Settings, General, About. You need iOS 16.4 or newer.
2. Open Safari and go to dayboro.au.
3. Tap the Share button. It is the square with an arrow pointing up, at the bottom of the screen (on iPad it is at the top).
4. Scroll down the list and tap Add to Home Screen.
5. Tap Add at the top right. A Dayboro icon appears on your Home Screen.
6. Close Safari. Open Dayboro from the new icon. This is the important part, the alerts only work from there.
7. Log in, go to Members Dashboard, then the Account tab.
8. Follow Step 3 above: tick Lightning & Thunderstorm Warnings, pick a distance, and turn on Enable.
9. When the iPhone asks if Dayboro may send notifications, tap Allow.

What happens when your phone is off or out of signal

• A storm warning is held for 30 minutes. If your phone comes back within that time, it still arrives. After that it is dropped, because a storm warning that old is no use to anyone.
• An all clear is held for 1 hour.
• Other alerts, such as forecasts and digests, are held for 6 hours.
• Severe Weather, Lightning & Thunderstorm and Urgent Community Notices are sent as urgent, so Android delivers them straight away and they are never held back by quiet hours.

Push depends on your phone having signal or wifi. When the power and the mobile tower are both down, it cannot reach you. That is why we also send storm emails, and why we post warnings on the local MeshCore radio network. See User guide 16: Weather alerts on MeshCore.

Check it is working

1. Go back to the Account tab on the same device. The Enable switch should still be on.
2. On Android, open Settings, Notifications (or Apps), find your browser or the Dayboro app, and make sure notifications are allowed.
3. On iPhone, open Settings, Notifications, Dayboro and make sure Allow Notifications is on.
4. Check Do Not Disturb or a Focus mode is not hiding them.

Troubleshooting

The card says “Notifications blocked”

• Computer (Chrome or Edge): click the icon just left of the web address, set Notifications to Allow, then reload the page.
• Android (Chrome): tap the three dots, Settings, Site settings, Notifications, find dayboro.au and set it to Allow. Then reload the dashboard.
• iPhone: open Settings, Notifications, Dayboro and turn on Allow Notifications.

Notifications keep turning themselves off

You switched notifications on, but next time you log in the switch is off again. This is your browser, not your account. Some browsers are set to delete everything a website saved as soon as you close them, and that throws away your notifications too.

When this happens, the Push notifications card shows a yellow note: Your browser removed your notifications. The note goes away once you switch notifications on again on that device.

To stop it happening again, tell your browser to keep data for dayboro.au:

• Chrome on a computer: click the three dots at the top right, then Settings, Privacy and security, Site settings, Additional content settings, On-device site data. Choose Allow sites to save data on your device. If you want to keep deleting data for other sites, leave your choice as it is and instead click Add next to Allowed to save data on your device and type dayboro.au.
• Edge on a computer: click the three dots at the top right, then Settings, Privacy, search, and services. Under Clear browsing data, open Choose what to clear every time you close the browser. Either switch off Cookies and other site data, or click Add next to Don’t clear and type dayboro.au.
• Firefox on a computer: open Settings, Privacy & Security. Under Cookies and Site Data, either untick Delete cookies and site data when Firefox is closed, or click Manage Exceptions, type https://dayboro.au and click Allow.
• Cleaning or privacy apps (on a computer or phone) can do the same thing. Add dayboro.au to their list of sites to keep, or stop them clearing your browser.

Then go back to the Account tab and switch Enable on once more. It should now stay on. If you use more than one computer, check each one.

A private or incognito window always forgets everything when you close it, so notifications set up there never last. Use a normal window.

The card says “Push notifications are not supported”

The browser you are using cannot do it. Try Chrome, Edge or Firefox. Private or incognito windows often cannot either. Storm emails still work on any device.

I set it up but no storm warning came

• Check Lightning & Thunderstorm Warnings is ticked on that device, then click Save.
• Check your distance. At 10 km a storm can pass 15 km away and, correctly, send nothing.
• A warning only goes out when lightning first comes inside your distance. If a storm was already there when you set it up, the next one will trigger it.
• Clearing browser data or reinstalling the browser removes the subscription. Switch Enable on again. If it keeps happening, see Notifications keep turning themselves off above.

Turn notifications off

Open the Account tab on that device and turn the Enable switch off. The card says Notifications disabled. To stop only storm warnings, untick Lightning & Thunderstorm Warnings and click Save.

Lightning detection can miss strikes. If you can hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck, so head inside whatever your phone says.