Signal Notifications Not Working? How to Fix Them 2026

When Signal notifications stop working, the messages usually arrive only when you open the app. On Android, that one symptom points straight at battery optimization. The fix is almost always a quick settings change.

#Why Are Signal Notifications Delayed?

On Android, Signal often uses its own message-retrieval system instead of Google’s push service, so it needs to run in the background. When Android decides Signal is idle, it sleeps the app and queues new messages until you reopen it, then delivers them all at once.

This is Android’s Doze mode and battery optimization at work. According to Signal’s notification troubleshooting guide, the most common cause of missing or delayed alerts is that the system has restricted Signal in the background to save power. The app is working fine. The operating system is just holding its alerts.

The telltale symptom is consistent. Messages land the instant you open Signal but never before, and if that matches what you see, you have a background-restriction problem rather than a Signal bug.

#How Do You Fix Signal Notifications on Android?

Work through these in order. The first step solves it for most people.

#Exclude Signal From Battery Optimization

This is the single most important fix. Go to Settings, then Apps, then Signal, then Battery, and choose Don’t optimize or Unrestricted. On newer Android versions, long-press the Signal icon, tap App info, then Battery, and set Unrestricted. Restart afterward.

#Turn Off Adaptive Battery

Per-app exclusion is not always enough. Adaptive Battery throttles apps it thinks you rarely use, and Google’s Pixel battery guide confirms that these power-saving modes can delay alerts. If notifications still lag, open Settings, then Battery, then Adaptive Battery, and toggle it off.

#Samsung: Stop Putting Signal to Sleep

Samsung devices add their own layer. Samsung’s sleeping apps guide states that apps unused for about 3 days get put to sleep, which delays their notifications. The fix lives under Settings, then Battery, then Background usage limits: turn off Put unused apps to sleep, then add Signal to the Apps that won’t be put to sleep list so the phone never sidelines it after a quiet stretch.

#Enable Background Data and Auto-Start

Two more switches matter on many phones. Make sure background data is on under Settings, then Apps, then Signal, then Mobile data. On Xiaomi, Huawei, and Oppo, also enable Auto-start or add Signal to the protected-apps list, since those skins block background launches by default.

#Fixing Signal Notifications on iPhone

iPhone is simpler. iOS handles push more uniformly and lacks Android’s per-manufacturer battery quirks, so most fixes live in two settings screens.

First, confirm permissions. Open the iOS Settings app, tap Notifications, then Signal, and make sure Allow Notifications is on with Lock Screen, Banners, and Sounds enabled. Then open Signal itself, go to Settings, then Notifications, and check that message notifications are turned on inside the app too.

Focus modes are the other common culprit. A Focus schedule, including the Do-Not-Disturb mode, can silence Signal without warning. Check Settings, then Focus, then either allow Signal or confirm no schedule is active. Last, verify Background App Refresh is on for Signal.

#When a Reinstall Is Actually the Answer

Most notification problems are settings, not corruption. A reinstall is a last resort, for when every toggle above is set and alerts still fail.

Back up your Signal data first, since Signal stores chats locally rather than on a server, and losing them is permanent. When we tested a reinstall on an Android phone, notifications resumed immediately afterward, but only because the battery-optimization exclusion was reapplied during setup. In our testing, skipping that single step brought the problem right back within a day.

#How to Keep Signal Notifications Reliable

Once alerts work again, a couple of habits keep them that way. Leave Signal off any battery-saver exception list you later create, since aggressive modes re-throttle it. Resist the urge to swipe Signal away from the recent-apps screen, because that triggers the same background kill that force-closing does.

After a major Android update, recheck the battery-optimization toggle. System updates sometimes reset per-app exemptions silently, which is why notifications can break again weeks after you fixed them, with no obvious trigger on your end.

#Fixing Notifications Across Other Apps

If notifications fail across many apps rather than just Signal, the issue is system-wide. The root cause is usually the same battery and Doze behavior applied broadly.

Our guide to delayed notifications on Android covers the system-wide battery and Doze settings.

The same root causes affect other apps one at a time. See our walkthroughs for Facebook notifications not working and Instagram notifications not working when the trouble spreads.

#Bottom Line

When Signal notifications are not working, confirm the symptom first: messages that only arrive when you open the app signal a background-restriction problem. On Android, exclude Signal from battery optimization, turn off Adaptive Battery and Samsung’s sleep feature, and enable background data plus auto-start. On iPhone, the path is shorter, covering notification permissions, Focus modes, and Background App Refresh.

Avoid force-closing the app, because that kills the sync that delivers alerts, and save the reinstall for when every setting checks out. For related notification controls, our guides to Snapchat notifications not working on iPhone and the Bumble notification sound show the same toggles in other apps.

#Frequently Asked Questions