Notifications & push

The notifications inbox

Tap the Notifications bell in the sidebar. When something's waiting, the bell shows a badge with your unread count (capped at “9+”). Opening the inbox marks everything as read. The rows you hadn't seen yet keep their highlight for that visit so you can tell what's new. Filter chips at the top narrow the list: Replies for comments on your posts and replies to your comments, Mentions for posts and comments that @mention you, and, on the website, Unread for just the fresh ones. Notifications are grouped by Today, This week, and Earlier, and tapping one takes you to the thing it's about.

When several people like or comment on the same post, they share one row rather than filling your inbox: you see “Susie Joe and 9 others liked your post”, with whoever acted most recently named first, and it counts as one unread. If someone new engages after you have already read the row, it comes back to the top so you do not miss them. Follows, trophies and messages always get their own row.

What generates a notification

As an athlete, you'll hear about things like:

• Follows: someone followed you, requested to follow you (private accounts), or accepted your follow request.
• Comments & replies: someone commented on your post, or replied to a comment you left.
• Likes: someone liked your post or your comment.
• Mentions: someone @mentioned you in a post or comment.
• Club and community posts: new posts in the clubs and communities you belong to, as much as you choose for each one (see Club and community notifications).
• Your post and the admins: a club or community admin, or a race director, removed your post, declined it while it waited for approval, or approved it.
• Director announcements: official updates from races you're part of, plus cancellation and postponement alerts. Tap one (or its push) to open the race page with that announcement open. The full announcements also collect on the Race updates tab at the top of the Notifications page, with its own count of new ones.
• Friends' races: someone you follow registered for a race. If you've marked someone as a favorite, you can also get pushed when they register, RSVP, or save an event (see Following & finding friends).
• Registration openings: a race you saved opened registration, or someone you follow is directing a race that just opened. You won't get this one if you are already registered for that race.
• Trophies & results: you earned a trophy, have one to claim, or your official race result was posted.
• Polls: a poll you asked or voted in closed, with the winning choice. It never says who voted. Turn the push off with the Polls switch in your notification settings.
• Price increases: a heads-up before a race you saved gets more expensive.

Direct messages are the one exception: a new message shows up in Chats (with its own sidebar badge) and can push to your device, but it doesn't add a row to the notifications inbox.

Changed your mind? You have a couple of minutes

Some taps tell somebody else about you: I'll be there on a race and saving a race both ping anyone who favorited you, and Follow pings the person you followed. All of those pushes wait about two minutes before they go out. Undo inside that window and nothing is ever sent, so a mis-tap stays between you and your phone.

The same goes for following a private account and then changing your mind: cancel the request in time and they are never told you asked. Accepting somebody's request works the same way.

Undoing also pulls the “going to this race” card back off your followers' feeds, and that part has no time limit. Whether you change your mind ten seconds or ten days later, the card comes down with it.

Turning on push notifications

Push is optional and off until you say yes. In the browser, you'll see a banner (“Get notified about follows, replies, and event updates”) while push isn't set up yet:

1. Tap Enable notifications on the banner

   It only appears when you're signed in, your browser supports push, and you haven't already decided. “Not now” dismisses it for the session.

2. Allow the browser's permission prompt

   Your browser then asks for notification permission. That native prompt is the real switch. If you block it there, you'll need to re-allow notifications for runthis.run in your browser's site settings later.

In the Run This app, push uses your phone's system notification permission, allow notifications when the app asks, or turn them on for Run This in your phone's Settings. Your notification preferences are shared across the website and the app. In the app, tapping a notification about a feed post, a comment, or a reply opens that post, with its comments.

Choosing what pushes you

Open Settings (the gear at the bottom of the sidebar) and choose Push notifications. At the top is Allow push notifications, a master switch that silences everything below it. Under that, each category has its own toggle: new followers & requests, comments & replies, messages, likes, mentions, director announcements, event activity you follow, registration openings, trophies, race results, plus director- and timing-specific categories if you wear those hats.

Marketing email preferences are separate. They live in the email preference center: open Settings and choose Email preferences, or use the link in the footer of every marketing email. See Email preferences.

Per-event notifications

Every event page has a Notify button (the bell, near Share). It controls push for that one event's activity:

• All activity: every new post on the event's wall.
• Directors only: just announcements and posts from the race directors.
• Off: no activity pushes. You'll still hear about cancellations and replies to you.

Registering for or saving a Run This event subscribes you automatically at Directors only, use the Notify button any time to turn it up, down, or off, or to follow an event you haven't registered for. Outside races (listed from other platforms) have no director on Run This, so their setting is a simple on/off for the event's community wall.

Un-saving a race, or taking back an “I'll be there,” stops its notifications too. They keep coming if you're still registered for this year's race, still saved or going, or you picked a level with the Notify button (that counts as following it on purpose).

When a race comes back for a new year, a registration only keeps you subscribed for the year you registered for. If you haven't signed up for the new year, saved the race, or followed it with the Notify button, its notifications stop. Register again, save it, or tap Notify to hear from it again. Saving or following it carries over from year to year.

Club and community notifications

Each club and community you belong to has a bell on its page, next to Share. It sets which new posts there notify you, just for that club or community:

• All posts: any member's new post.
• Announcements only: only posts from its admins.
• Off: no post notifications from it.

In a club you start at Announcements only. In a community you start at Off: communities are big, so you only hear about their posts if you pick a level with the bell. A club's bell also covers new club events. Replies to you and mentions of you always come through, whatever you pick.