How to get Run Game notifications on iPhone and Android

To get Run Game notifications, open Settings from your profile picture, tap Notifications, and switch on "This device". On an iPhone this only works once Run Game is installed on your Home Screen and opened from that icon. Android and desktop browsers that support notifications don't need that step.

What you can be notified about

Settings lists four kinds, each with its own switch:

Messages
Friends and followers
Comments and replies
Plans nearby

The offer sheet that appears the first time puts it in one line: "Know when a friend joins, someone replies to you, or people are out near you." You can leave any kind off and keep the rest.

iPhone: install first

Safari on iPhone only allows web notifications for sites added to the Home Screen. Run Game knows this. If you open the Notifications sheet in a normal browser tab on an iPhone, it says "On iPhone, notifications need Run Game on your Home Screen" and shows a Show me how button that opens the install walkthrough.

The short version, for iOS 26: open rungame.org in Safari, tap the three dots at the bottom right, tap Share, swipe up, tap "Add to Home Screen", leave "Open as Web App" on, tap Add. On iOS 18 and earlier the Share button is in the toolbar. Then open Run Game from the new icon. The full install guide has screen recordings.

Do the rest from the installed app, not from Safari. A tab in Safari and the Home Screen app are separate places, so the switch has to be flipped in the one you'll use.

Turn them on

Open Run Game and tap your profile picture in the top bar. Its label is "Profile settings".
In the You group, tap Notifications. The row shows On or Off for this device.
Switch on This device. Your phone or browser asks for permission. Allow it. Run Game confirms with "Notifications are on."
Choose which of the four kinds you want.
Go back to the Settings page. The Notifications row now reads On.

The four kind switches only appear once this device is on.

The pop-up offer

You may not have to dig through Settings. Once Run Game is installed on your Home Screen and you have an account set up, a sheet titled "Turn on notifications" can appear about two seconds after you reach the Forum or Improve tab. It only shows if this device isn't signed up for notifications yet and you haven't switched them off in Settings. Turn on starts the permission request. Not now closes it, and it waits seven days before it appears again. After that, Settings is the way in.

It's per device

"This device" means exactly that. Turning notifications on for your phone doesn't turn them on for your laptop, and switching it off on one leaves the other alone. The four kinds are a different setting: they follow your account, so a kind you turn off is off everywhere.

If nothing arrives

You see "Notifications are blocked for Run Game." You said no to the permission prompt at some point. Allow notifications for Run Game in your phone or browser settings, then flip the switch again.
You see "This browser doesn't support notifications." Try another browser, or on iPhone install to the Home Screen.
You use Brave. Run Game's own error message says Brave blocks notifications until you turn on "Use Google services for push messaging" in brave://settings/privacy.
The switch is on but nothing shows up. Check that the phone isn't in a focus mode or Do Not Disturb, and that the kind you care about is switched on.
"Your browser couldn't reach its notification service." Check that notifications are allowed for rungame.org and try again.

Notifications aren't needed to use Run Game. Logging, Stats and the forum all work without them. They're for when you'd rather be told than check.

What to do next

Install Run Game to your Home Screen if you're on an iPhone and haven't. Takes about a minute.
Open Settings, then Notifications, and switch on This device.
Confirm the Notifications row reads On back on the Settings page.
Decide the four kinds on purpose. A common choice is to keep Messages and Plans nearby on, and review Comments and replies after a week if it feels like too many.
If you tap Not now on the pop-up, it comes back after seven days, or you can use Settings any time.

Once they're working, the progress guide covers what to log, and using Run Game offline explains how logging behaves without signal.