Turn Google Chat notifications on or off

Notifications appear on the devices that you used most recently. If you're not active in Chat, notifications appear on all devices that are signed in to your Google Account.

You automatically receive notifications when you create or respond to a message or if someone @mentions you.

If you mute a specific conversation or set your Chat status to 'Do Not Disturb', you won't receive notifications.

In this article, learn how to:

Tips:

  • If email notifications are on, you get email reminders for Chat messages that you haven't read for more than 12 hours.
  • If you have multiple Google Accounts, you can set different notification settings for each account.

Google Chat: Manage your settings

Turn Google Chat notifications on or off 

Turn on notifications

Turn on notifications in Google Chat

  1. On your computer, go to Google Chat.  
  2. At the top right, click Settings .
  3. To turn on notifications for Google Chat messages, under 'Desktop notifications', tick the box next to 'Allow chat notifications'.
Tip: To turn email notifications for unread messages on or off, under "Email notifications," select Only @mentions & direct messages or Off.

Check if notifications are on

  1. On your computer, go to Google Chat.  
  2. At the top right, click Settings . 
  3. Under 'Desktop notifications', click Show an example.
  4. If an example notification doesn’t appear:

Turn on notifications in Gmail

  1. On your computer, open Gmail.
  2. At the top right, click Settings and then See all settings.
  1. At the top, click the Chat and Meet tab.

Go to Gmail settings

  1. Next to 'Chat settings', click Manage chat settings.
  2. To turn on notifications for Google Chat messages, under 'Desktop notifications'. tick the box next to 'Allow chat notifications'.

Check if notifications are on

  1. On your computer, open Gmail.
  2. At the top right, click Settings and then See all settings.
  3. At the top, click the Chat and Meet tab.

Go to Gmail settings for Chat

  1. Next to 'Chat notifications settings', click Manage chat settings.
  2. Under 'Desktop notifications', click Show an example.
  3. If an example notification doesn’t appear:
Turn off notifications

Turn off notifications in Google Chat

  1. On your computer, go to Google Chat.
  2. At the top right, click Settings .
  3. To turn off notifications for Google Chat messages, under 'Desktop notifications', untick the box next to 'Allow chat notifications'.
Tip: To temporarily mute notifications, set your status to 'Do Not Disturb'.

Turn off Google Chat notifications in Gmail

  1. On your computer, open Gmail.
  2. At the top right, click Settings and then See all settings.
  3. At the top, click the Chat and Meet tab.

Go to Gmail settings for Chat

  1. Next to 'Chat settings', click Manage chat settings.
  2. To turn off notifications for Google Chat messages, under 'Desktop notifications', untick the box next to 'Allow chat notifications'.
Tip: To temporarily mute notifications, set your status to 'Do Not Disturb'.

Customise Google Chat notifications for spaces and direct messages

Customise notifications for a space with in-line threading

After you start a thread, you can adjust how and when you're notified of new messages. Learn how to customise notifications in a space.

To review or change notification settings for a space with in-line threading:

  1. By the name of the space, click the down arrow Drop-down arrow.
  2. Select notifications .
  3. Select an option for notifications:
    • All: Notifications for new messages and replies to threads that you follow. 
      • Tip: This is the default setting.
    • Following: Notifications for replies and threads that you follow and @mentions. 
    • None: No notifications, just a dot if you're @mentioned.

Tip: When you follow a thread in a space, you're notified with a red dot whenever there's activity in that thread. You can view the number of unread messages next to each thread in a space.

 

Turn notifications on or off for a direct message
  1. On your computer, open Google Chat.
  2. Next to the direct message or group DM, click More options and then Notifications.
    • For group DMs, you can select to get notifications for:
      • All: All new messages
      • For you: Only @mentions
      • None
  3. Select All or None.
  4. Optional: To prevent the conversation from being bolded and moved to the top of your conversation list, select the box next to 'Mute conversation'.

Customise Google Chat notification sounds

Customise notification sounds in Google Chat
  1. On your computer, go to Google Chat.
  2. At the top right, click Settings .
  3. Under 'Notifications sounds', select the sound to use for notifications.
Customise Google Chat notification sounds in Gmail
  1. On your computer, open Gmail.
  2. At the top right, click Settings and then See all settings.
  3. At the top, click the Chat and Meet tab.

Go to Gmail settings for Chat

  1. Next to 'Chat settings', click Manage chat settings.
  2. Under 'Notifications sounds', select the sound to use for notifications.

Get notifications in the Google Chat mobile app

When the Google Chat mobile app is open, you'll get notifications in the app.

You won't get notifications:

When the Chat app is open, you'll get the message 'You're receiving Chat notifications here'. Learn more about the Chat standalone app.

Important: When iPhone or iPad users get messages from you, your profile picture could also appear on the notifications. Learn how to change your profile picture.

Customise notifications when idle on Gmail
If you're idle on Gmail or Google Chat on your computer, Google Chat notifications are sent to your mobile device instead of your computer. By default, you're considered idle on your computer if you're inactive in Gmail or Google Chat on your computer for more than 30 seconds, even if you're still active on your web browser.
If you use a Chrome Browser, you can change this setting to only get chat notifications on your mobile device when you're no longer active on Chrome.
A 'Pause mobile notifications when you are active on this device' banner appears. To turn on idle notifications, click Continue.

Tip: If the banner doesn't appear, go to your Chrome settings and turn on idle detection:

  1. Go to chrome://settings/content/idleDetection.
  2. Tick the box next to 'Sites can ask to know when you're actively using your device'.
  3. Under 'Customised behaviours', include mail.google.com or chat.google.com in the list of sites that you allow to know when you actively use your device.
    • To add the sites that you want to allow, click Add.

Update device or browser notification settings

Update device notifications

Each computer operating system has different steps to turn on notifications. For more info, go to your operating system’s online help.

Some computer operating systems have settings that mute notifications. If you don't get the notifications, make sure that notifications aren't muted.

Update browser notifications
To turn notifications on or off, you might need to update your browser notification settings. Learn how to allow Google Chat notifications.

Related resources


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