Turn Google Chat notifications on or off

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

You'll automatically get notifications when you create or respond to a message or if you're @mentioned.

You can turn off automatic notifications, or customize your notifications by:

• Device
• Conversation
• Space
• Thread

You can customize notifications within the product you use, such as Google Chat or Gmail. You can set up email reminders for messages you haven't read in more than 12 hours.

Tip: If you have multiple Google Accounts, you can set different notification settings for each account. 

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," check 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:
   • Your notifications may be muted because of your availability status. 
   • Turn on notifications for the device and browser you use with Google Chat.

Turn on notifications in Gmail

1. On your computer, open Gmail.
2. At the top right, click Settings See all settings.
3. At the top, click the Chat and Meet tab.
4. Under "Chat notifications settings," click Manage chat settings.
5. To turn on notifications for Google Chat messages, under "Desktop notifications," check 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   See all settings.
3. At the top, click the Chat and Meet tab.
4. Next to "Chat notifications settings," click Manage chat settings.
5. Under "Desktop notifications," click Show an example.
6. If an example notification doesn’t appear:
   • Your notifications may be muted because of your availability status. 
   • Turn on notifications for the device and browser you use with Gmail.

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," uncheck 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   See all settings.
3. At the top, click the Chat and Meet tab.
4. Next to "Chat notifications settings," click Manage chat settings.
5. To turn off notifications for Google Chat messages, under "Desktop notifications," uncheck the box next to "Allow chat notifications."

Tip: To temporarily mute notifications, set your status to “do not disturb”.

Customize Google Chat notifications 

Customize notifications in a specific space or group conversation

1. Go to Google Chat or your Gmail.
2. Select the conversation participants or space name.
3. At the top, next to the conversation participants or space name, click the Down arrow  or More options   Notifications.
4. Choose an option:
   • Notify always: Get push notifications and a notification dot for all new messages.
   • Notify less: Get push notifications and a notification dot when you’re @mentioned, a thread you follow gets a new message, or if someone in the conversation uses “@all.”
     • For spaces with threads: To get a notification when someone starts a new thread, check the box next to “Also notify for the first message of new threads.”
   • Notifications off: You won’t get any push notifications, but @mentions and @all will continue to get a notification dot.

Tip: Even if you turn off notifications, you'll still get a red notification dot for @mentions and direct messages. 

Customize notifications for a specific thread in a space

If you choose the "Notify less" option in a space, you can follow a specific thread to receive notifications about replies.

1. Go to Google Chat or your Gmail.
2. Open a space.
3. Point to the thread.
4. At the top right, click Follow.

Tips: 

• You automatically follow threads you start, reply to, or are @mentioned in.
• When you follow a thread, the number of new messages appears next to the message or space.
• To unfollow a thread and stop notifications, next to the thread, click Following.

Turn notifications on or off for a specific 1:1 message

1. Go to Google Chat or your Gmail.
2. On the left, to open the conversation, click the person's name.
3. In the window that appears, click the Down arrow  or More options   Turn off notifications or Turn on notifications.

Customize 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.

Customize Google Chat notification sounds in Gmail

1. On your computer, open Gmail.
2. At the top right, click Settings   See all settings.
3. At the top, click the Chat and Meet tab.
4. Next to "Chat notifications settings," click Manage chat settings.
5. Under "Notifications sounds," select the sound to use for notifications.

Customize 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 2 minutes, 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. Check the box next to "Sites can ask to know when you're actively using your device."
3. Under "Customized behaviors," 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 you want to allow, click Add.

Where notifications appear 

When the Google Chat mobile app is open, notifications appear there. Notifications don’t appear:

• Online at chat.google.com
• In the Chat desktop app
• In Chat in Gmail

While the Chat app is open, the message "You're receiving Chat notifications here" appears. Learn more about the Chat standalone app.

Important: Your profile picture may appear on the notifications of incoming chat messages from you if the receiver uses an iPhone or iPad. Learn more about how to change your profile picture.

Related resources

• Mute notifications and change your availability status in Google Chat
• I’m not getting Google Chat notifications
• Stop duplicate chat notifications
• Install the Google Chat standalone app

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