What does in-app notifications mean?
In-app notifications are messages that appear inside an app while you're using it, such as a banner about a new feature, a pop-up asking you to finish a step, or a tooltip pointing at a new setting.
In-app notifications are messages that users receive while actively using an application. Unlike push notifications, which appear outside the app, in-app notifications are designed to engage users when they are already within your app's environment. These notifications can appear as pop-ups, banners, or modals, and are meant to guide users, provide updates, or highlight specific actions.
So when an app offers to "turn on in-app notifications", it means you'll see these messages while you have the app open. It says nothing about alerts on your lock screen, which are push notifications.
What are the types of in-app notifications?
The common types are banners, modals, tooltips, slide-outs and badges, and they differ in how much of the user's attention they take.
- Banners sit at the top or bottom of the screen and leave the page usable. Good for updates that can wait.
- Modals (pop-ups) cover the page until the user responds. Keep them for announcements that need a decision.
- Tooltips and hotspots attach to one element and explain it. Common in onboarding and for new features.
- Slide-outs open from the side of the screen with more room than a banner and less interruption than a modal.
- Badges and notification centres show a count or a dot and keep the messages until the user opens them. A changelog widget works this way.
Purpose and Importance of In-App Notifications
The main purpose of in-app notifications is to keep users informed and engaged without disrupting their current app experience.
These notifications are ideal for feature discovery process, driving the adoption of new functionalities, or nudging users toward specific tasks.
Common Use Cases of In-App Notifications
- User onboarding messages: Guide new users through your app's features.
- Feature announcements: Introduce new capabilities or product updates, such as a new integration or a new export format.
- Promotions and offers: Highlight special promotions or subscription upgrades within the app.
3 Examples of How You Can Use In-App Notifications
1. New Feature Walkthrough
After a release, a notification such as "New: schedule your reports" opens a short walkthrough of the feature. Two or three steps that show where it lives and what to click first get more people to try it than a release note they have to go and find.
2. Update Alerts
A badge on a "What's new" button tells users the changelog has entries they haven't seen. They read it when it suits them, and nothing interrupts the task in front of them.
3. Nudge for Action
A reminder about something the user started and didn't finish: a draft that was never submitted, an invitation that is still pending, or a request waiting for their reply. These work best when they link straight to the unfinished item.
In-App Notifications vs. Push Notifications
In-app notifications appear only while someone is using your app, and push notifications reach their device even when the app is closed. Push also needs the person's permission at the operating-system level, while in-app notifications don't.
Push notifications are alerts sent to a user's device, appearing outside of the app even when it is not actively being used. These can be seen on mobile lock screens or as desktop pop-ups.
Key Differences Between In-App and Push Notifications
- Push notifications are used to re-engage users and bring them back into the app, even when they are not currently using it.
- In-app notifications, on the other hand, are meant to enhance the current user experience while the app is in use.
When to Use In-App vs. Push Notifications
- In-app notifications: Ideal for prompting users to take specific actions, provide feedback, or guide them through new features while they are using the app.
- Push notifications: Best for re-engaging inactive users or informing them of important updates they need to act upon, such as a critical bug fix notification.
What is the difference between in-app notifications and in-app messaging?
In-app notifications are mostly one-way messages from the product to the user, and in-app messaging is a two-way conversation, usually in a chat window.
In-app messaging is a more conversational form of communication within an app, often via chat windows or persistent message feeds. While both in-app messaging and in-app notifications occur within the app, messaging focuses on direct, two-way communication with users.
Differences in Functionality and Use Cases
In-app notifications are primarily one-way communications designed to inform or guide users through specific actions or updates within the app. In contrast, in-app messaging is a two-way dialogue between the app and the user, often serving as a tool for customer support or gathering detailed user feedback.
Best Practices for Using In-App Notifications
In-app notifications work when each one reaches the right person at the right moment and is easy to dismiss. Sent to everyone at once, they become noise people learn to close without reading.
Personalization and Timing
Match the notification to what the person is doing. A tip about bulk editing helps someone who has just edited ten items one by one. Shown on their first login, the same tip means nothing.
Avoiding Notification Fatigue
Cap how many notifications one person sees per session or per week, and retire old ones on a schedule. If every release gets a modal, users stop reading modals, including the one that matters.
Integrating with User Experience Flow
Show notifications between tasks, not in the middle of one. Someone filling in a form shouldn't have a pop-up cover the submit button. Make every notification closable with one click, and don't show it again once it's closed.
Measuring What Each Notification Does
Track views, clicks and dismissals for every notification. A high dismissal rate on one message tells you the timing or the audience is wrong, which is easier to fix than guessing from support tickets later.
In-app notifications for enterprise product teams
In a large product, several teams ship to the same users in the same month. Without coordination, a customer logs in and meets three announcements from three PMs at once. Someone has to own the calendar: who announces what, to which audience, and when it comes down.
The announcements also become a record. When a change was driven by customer requests, the notification closes the loop with the people who asked for it. Months later, the log shows what was released, when, and to whom, which helps when you compare feedback from before and after the change.
How Usersnap sends in-app announcements
Usersnap covers the announcement side of in-app notifications with two features, Announcements and Changelog.
- Announcements: build a message in Usersnap and show it inside your product. Targeting rules decide who sees it, you schedule a start and an end date, and the Statistics section shows how each announcement is doing.
- Changelog: collect all your announcements, or only the highlights, into a changelog. Users open it from the feedback menu, or you publish it as a standalone page.
Because announcements live in the same tool as the feedback, the team that collected a request can announce the change from the same place.
In-app notifications FAQ
Do in-app notifications need permission?
No operating-system permission is needed, because in-app notifications are part of the app's own interface. Push notifications are different: on phones, the app has to ask before it can send them.
How do you turn off in-app notifications?
Look in the app's own settings, usually under Notifications or Preferences. Your phone or computer settings control push notifications, so switching those off won't stop messages that appear inside the app.
What are examples of in-app notifications?
"New: export your report as PDF" as a banner, a tooltip pointing at a moved menu item, a badge on a "What's new" button, or a reminder that a draft hasn't been submitted.
Can Usersnap show announcements inside my product?
Yes. Usersnap Announcements appear inside your product for the audience you target, on the schedule you set, and can be collected into a changelog that users open from the feedback menu.
Related terms
See how product teams announce changes inside their product and keep a changelog users can browse.
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