Notifications Overview

Viewu Server is required for Apple Push Notifications. This section explains the moving parts, the recommended order, and the “common traps” that cause notifications to silently fail.

Quick start (recommended ordering)

If you want the highest chance of success on the first try, follow this order:

1. Confirm Frigate publishes events to MQTT
   • Mosquitto (MQTT)
2. Deploy Viewu Server
   • Viewu Server → Docker Setup
3. Configure templates in the app (optional, but strongly recommended)
   • Use Notification Manager to avoid spam
4. Pair your phone
   • Viewu: Settings → Notifications / Pairing → Pair
5. Verify snapshot images
   • Prefer HTTPS with a trusted certificate (Cloudflare edge TLS or Let’s Encrypt)

If you only do one thing from this page: validate each step before moving on. Notifications are an end-to-end system, and one missing link breaks the chain.

Step 0: Understand the flow (in plain English)

1. Frigate detects motion/objects and publishes event messages to MQTT.
2. Viewu Server listens to MQTT and decides which events should generate notifications (based on templates).
3. Viewu Server sends Apple Push Notifications to paired devices.
4. Your phone fetches snapshots (recommended) over HTTPS so notifications can include images. It will fetch over HTTP on your LAN too.

Step 1: Checklist (don’t skip this)

Before you pair your phone, confirm:

• ✅ Frigate is connected to MQTT and publishing events
• ✅ Your MQTT broker is reachable from Viewu Server
• ✅ Viewu Server is running and shows clean logs
• ✅ Your phone can reach Frigate (LAN, VPN, or Cloudflare)
• ✅ (Recommended) Snapshots are reachable over trusted HTTPS for notification images

Common trap: “Push works but images don’t.” That almost always means the phone cannot reach the snapshot URL at notification time (VPN not connected, DNS not reachable on cellular, self-signed cert, or Cloudflare Access headers missing).

Step 2: Configure templates (Notification Manager)

Templates prevent “notification spam” and make notifications useful.

In Viewu, open the Notification Manager screen and create a starter template. Then sync/push templates to your server (if your version supports it) so server-side filtering matches what you configured in-app.

A safe starter template

If you want a reasonable default that most people start with:

type==new|end, label==person

After you confirm end-to-end delivery, tighten it (camera, zones, etc.) to match your environment.

Step 3: Choose remote access for snapshots (VPN vs Cloudflare)

You can use either model for notification images, but the implications differ.

VPN model (Tailscale)

• Private and simple
• Your phone must be connected to VPN at notification time to fetch images

Start here: Tailscale (VPN)

Cloudflare Tunnel model

• Phone can fetch images over the public hostname without VPN
• Must configure tunnel routing correctly
• Strongly recommended to protect with Cloudflare Access (Service Token)

Start here: Cloudflare Tunnels

Step 4: Troubleshooting pattern that saves time

When debugging notifications, always validate in this order:

1. MQTT events exist (broker is receiving Frigate messages)
2. Server can subscribe (Viewu Server logs show it receives events)
3. Server can send push (pairing exists, push is enabled, no server-side errors)
4. Phone can fetch snapshot URL (reachable over HTTPS, trusted cert, correct Access headers)

If you validate in a different order, you can lose hours chasing the wrong layer.