Fix macOS Notification Center alerts

Troubleshoot missing TechDash banners, permissions, Focus settings, app state, and incident policy on a Mac.

Last checked 21 August 2026

Start with a test so you can separate a macOS delivery problem from an incident rule.

  1. Open Notifications in TechDash.
  2. Confirm Desktop notifications is On.
  3. Select Send test.
  4. Read the status text below the controls and any message that appears.

The expected result is Test notification sent. in TechDash and a visible TechDash banner or entry in Notification Center. A success message means TechDash did not receive a delivery failure during the test. macOS can still accept a notification while delaying or hiding its banner, so verify Notification Center as well.

Allow TechDash in macOS

Open System Settings > Notifications, then select TechDash.

Confirm:

  • Allow notifications is On.
  • The alert style is Banners or Alerts, not None.
  • Notification Center and other presentation options you want are enabled.
  • Focus is not currently suppressing TechDash.
  • A scheduled notification summary is not delaying it.

After changing permission, quit and reopen TechDash, then use Send test again. If TechDash says Notifications are blocked. Allow TechDash in System Settings → Notifications., macOS reported a delivery failure during this app session.

Keep the app running

Closing the TechDash window is supported. The app continues running from the menu bar and can monitor sites and show banners. Choosing Quit stops the app, scheduled checks, and new banners until TechDash is opened again.

The Mac must remain powered on and signed in. Sleep, no network connection, a paused website, or a stopped monitoring queue can prevent the check that would have produced the alert.

Check incident settings

If Send test works but an incident did not notify:

  1. Confirm a built-in incident is Warning or Critical. Built-in Advisory incidents do not notify.
  2. For a Custom Check, confirm its Notify option is enabled. Custom severity and notification policy are separate.
  3. Open the website's Monitored Pages, expand the relevant page, and confirm Desktop is On under Notify.
  4. Check Notifications > Ignored Checks for a matching rule.
  5. Confirm the result was a new failure or severity escalation. An unchanged open failure does not repeatedly notify.
  6. Check Notify when a check recovers if the missing banner was expected after a pass.

Good means the check passed. It does not open an incident or lower Health Score. When a Good result closes a previously notifiable failure, TechDash can send a recovery banner if Notify when a check recovers is On.

Advisory identifies a lower-impact concern and does not produce a built-in desktop notification. Warning identifies a meaningful risk that may affect visitors, crawling, indexing, reporting, or a renewal. Critical identifies the highest likely impact, such as serious availability or certificate trouble. Warning and Critical incidents are eligible to notify.

Open incidents affect Health Score even when desktop notifications are Off: Advisory has weight 1, Warning weight 4, and Critical weight 10. Notification controls change delivery only. Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Discord have separate webhook and page-level controls, so a desktop problem does not prove those channels are failing.

Reinstall if TechDash is missing

If TechDash does not appear under System Settings > Notifications, or tests still fail after permission and Focus checks, quit TechDash and reinstall the current official build. Open it, turn Desktop notifications On, and select Send test again. Do not modify the app bundle.

If no banner appears, restart the Mac and test once more. When contacting support, include the exact TechDash status or error text, your macOS version, whether TechDash appears in System Settings > Notifications, and whether the test appears in Notification Center.

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