Careswitch keeps everyone in the loop automatically: caregivers hear about new shifts and clock-in reminders on their phones, and the office hears about missed clock-ins, unfilled shifts, and billing issues. This guide covers how notifications are delivered, how to turn them on for office staff (web app) and caregivers (mobile app), what triggers each one, and how to control what you receive.
The three ways a notification reaches you
Every Careswitch notification can arrive through up to three channels:
In-app inbox – every notification is always recorded here, no matter what. Office staff have a Notifications page in the web app; caregivers have the Inbox tab in the mobile app.
Push – a pop-up alert on your device: a browser notification for office staff on the web, or a phone notification for caregivers using the mobile app.
Email – the same notification sent to the email address on your account, from [email protected].
Push and email are both on by default, and you can turn either off in your account settings (covered below). Careswitch does not send notifications by text message — SMS is only used for login codes and app invitations.
Notification preferences belong to your personal Careswitch account, so they apply across every agency you work with. The inbox itself is per workspace — you see each agency's notifications inside that agency's workspace.
For office staff (web app)
Where to find your notifications
Click your profile picture in the sidebar. A badge on your avatar shows how many notifications are unread.
Choose Notifications to open the notifications page.
Use the filter at the top to narrow the list to one notification type, and Mark All Read to clear the unread count.
Click any notification to jump straight to the related shift, policy, invoice, or profile.
Turn on browser push notifications
Push notifications on the web are per browser, and you register the browser you actually work in:
Click your profile picture in the sidebar and choose Careswitch Account.
Scroll to the Settings section and find Web push notifications.
Click Register, then choose Allow when your browser asks for permission.
You'll receive a confirmation notification right away, and the page will show which browser is registered (for example, "Chrome on macOS").
Your account has one registered browser at a time: registering a new browser or computer replaces the previous one. If you switch machines, just register again from the new one.
What the office gets notified about
Staff notifications are routed by role — alerts go to the people whose role gives them the matching permissions, and each person can still mute types they don't want (see Choose what you receive below). The main ones:
Missed clock-ins and clock-outs – if a caregiver hasn't clocked in (or out) within a few minutes of the scheduled time, staff who can view or manage shifts get an alert like "Missed Clock In: [caregiver name]".
Unfilled shift alerts – if an open shift is still unclaimed, or an offer is still unanswered, about 24 hours before the shift starts, scheduling staff are warned so there's time to refill it. See Filling open shifts and handling caregiver callouts.
Open shift claims – when a caregiver claims an open shift, staff who share the same role as the person who posted it are notified.
Policy overages – when applying or editing a policy (or a late clock-out) pushes billable hours over a policy's limits, workspace admins are alerted.
Policy decisions – when a submitted third-party policy is approved or rejected.
Rejected claims – when a payer rejects a claim, billing staff and admins are notified with the payer's message.
EVV status updates – for agencies using Sandata EVV, billing staff and admins are notified when a visit is submitted, accepted, rejected, or blocked.
Service and professional updates – when a teammate creates or updates a service or professional profile and adds you to the update.
For caregivers (mobile app)
Turn on phone notifications
Download the Careswitch app and sign in (see Getting a caregiver into the app).
When the app asks for permission to send notifications, tap Allow. That's it — the phone is registered to the caregiver's account automatically.
If the permission prompt was declined (or never appeared), there are two ways to fix it:
In the app's Settings screen, tap Enable Notifications (the button only appears while notifications aren't set up).
Or turn them on at the phone level: on iPhone go to Settings → Notifications → Careswitch and allow notifications; on Android go to Settings → Apps → Careswitch → Notifications.
Notifications are tied to the phone the caregiver last signed in on. If they get a new phone, they just need to sign in to the app there and allow notifications again.
What caregivers get notified about
New shift assignments and offers – when the office schedules them for a shift or sends an offer to accept or decline. (A Tentative assignment sends nothing until it's confirmed — see Schedule vs. Offer vs. Tentative.)
Open shifts – when a new shift is posted to the Job Board for them to claim.
Offer reminders – about 48 hours before the shift starts, one nudge if an offer or open shift they were told about still hasn't been answered.
Pre-shift confirmations – if your agency turns on attendance confirmation for a service, caregivers are asked to confirm they'll attend as the shift approaches.
Clock-in reminders – 1 hour, 15 minutes, and 5 minutes before a scheduled shift starts, plus a "Clock In Missed" alert a few minutes after the start time passes with no clock-in.
Clock-out reminders – 15 and 5 minutes before the shift ends, plus a "Clock Out Missed" alert if the shift runs past its end time without a clock-out.
Chat messages – a push notification for each new Chat message, titled with the sender's name.
Everything except chat also lands in the app's Inbox tab, where a badge shows the unread count and Mark All Read clears it. Chat messages are separate: they arrive as push notifications only and live in the Chat tab, not the Inbox — and they're always sent, regardless of notification preferences.
Choose what you receive
Both office staff and caregivers control their notifications from the same place: the web app's account page. Click your profile picture → Careswitch Account → Notification Preferences. Caregivers can sign in to the web portal with the same phone number or email they use for the app — the mobile app itself doesn't have per-type notification toggles.
Delivery Method
The Email and Push buttons control the channels. Both are on by default; turn either off and that channel stops for all notification types. The in-app inbox always keeps recording either way.
Notification type toggles
Below the delivery method you can switch individual types on or off:
All Shifts – shift alerts for all shifts you have access to in the workspace. For office staff this includes the Missed Clock In / Missed Clock Out alerts.
Assigned Shifts – shifts you are assigned to. For caregivers this covers new assignments and offers and the clock-in and clock-out reminders.
Open Shift Posts – open shifts on the job board.
Open Shift Post Claims – when an open shift post is claimed (you're only notified for posts whose author shares your role).
Shift Offer Reminders – the reminder about an offer or open shift you haven't responded to as the shift approaches.
Unfilled Shift Alerts – when an open or offered shift is still unassigned shortly before it starts.
Service Updates – when someone creates or updates a service and adds you to the update.
Professional Updates – when someone creates or updates a professional profile and adds you to the update.
Policy Overages from Policy Application / Policy Update / Late Clock-Out – the three policy overage alerts described above.
Turning a type off stops its push and email delivery — the notification is still recorded in your in-app inbox, so you can always catch up later. A few alert types (policy decisions, rejected claims, EVV statuses) don't have a toggle and follow your delivery method settings.
Frequently asked questions
I registered for browser push, but the notifications stopped. Why?
Your account keeps one registered browser at a time. If you (or you on another computer) clicked Register somewhere else, that registration replaced the old one. Go to Careswitch Account → Settings → Web push notifications on the machine you actually use and register it again. Also check that your browser or operating system hasn't muted notifications from your browser (for example, macOS Focus mode or Windows Do Not Disturb).
Why didn't the caregiver get notified when I put them on a shift?
Check how the shift was assigned. Schedule and Offer notify the caregiver right away; Tentative deliberately does not — nothing is sent until you confirm the assignment. See Schedule vs. Offer vs. Tentative.
A caregiver isn't receiving notifications. What should we check?
They're signed in to the Careswitch app on the phone they carry — signing in on a newer phone moves notifications there.
Notifications are allowed for Careswitch in the phone's settings (iPhone: Settings → Notifications → Careswitch; Android: Settings → Apps → Careswitch → Notifications), or via Enable Notifications in the app's Settings screen.
Have them open the app once — the phone re-registers itself when the app is opened while signed in.
In their web portal account settings, confirm Push is still on under Delivery Method and the relevant types (like Assigned Shifts) aren't switched off.
Even without push, they can always see everything in the app's Inbox tab and by email.
If I turn off a notification type, is it gone completely?
No — muting a type stops the push and email for it, but the notification is still recorded in your in-app inbox. Chat message pushes are the exception in the other direction: they're always delivered and aren't affected by these settings.
Can I get emails only, or push only?
Yes. The Email and Push buttons under Delivery Method work independently — turn off the one you don't want. Emails come from [email protected]; add that address to your contacts if notifications land in spam.
Who receives the missed clock-in and missed clock-out alerts?
The caregiver gets a personal alert telling them to clock in (or out) immediately, and every active staff member whose role can view or manage shifts — including workspace admins — gets the office-side alert. Individual staff can opt out by turning off the All Shifts toggle in their notification preferences.
Do clients and family members get notifications?
Yes, if they've been given guest access to Careswitch. Guests are notified when a caregiver is assigned to their shift, when a shift is completed, and — for private-pay clients — when an invoice is ready for payment and when a payment is received. Guests manage their own delivery preferences the same way staff do.
Can notifications be sent by text message?
No. Careswitch uses text messages only for sign-in codes and app invitations. Notifications are delivered in-app, by push, and by email.