Fix: Facebook Notifications not Working

Missing out on a Facebook notification can have very unpleasant consequences. But figuring out why your smartphone fails to send push notifications for Facebook is no easy task because the potential culprits are numerous.

Your problem could be caused by a 3^rd party app that manages background processes (Greenify or something similar). Also, this issue is a common occurrence among manufacturers that use custom versions of Android that are very aggressive with battery-saving methods. A good example of this is Huawei’s EMUI, which forbids some apps from running in the background when the phone is inactive. Apple’s iOS has a similar approach, but it’s much easier to turn push notifications back ON.

Your best chance to get your Facebook Notifications to work again is to go with a trial and error approach. To make things easier for you, we have compiled a list of potential fixes that might or might not work for you. Feel free to explore each guide until you find one that works for your smartphone.

Things you should start with

Before you start following the guides below, there are a few simple tweaks you should try:

1. Make sure App Notifications are turned on. The exact path differs across different manufacturers but it will be something like Settings > Sound and notifications > App Notifications. You should see a list with all apps that have work with push notifications. Tap on Facebook and make sure notifications aren’t blocked.
2. Try clearing cache data from the Facebook app and Messenger app. If notifications still don’t appear, try reinstalling the app.
3. Check if there’s any background data restriction to your Facebook app or you enabled any power-saving modes that might hinder notifications. Don’t just focus on native power-saving functions and check if you have any 3^rd party battery-saving apps that might cause this behavior.

Enabling Auto-Sync on Android

1. Go to the home screen and tap on Menu.
2. Tap on Settings and scroll down until you find the Accounts and Sync

Note: The name of this menu option may differ from manufacturer to manufacturer. You can also find under the name “Accounts”.

3. Check to see if your Facebook account is configured for this device. If you see a Facebook entry throughout the list with accounts, you’re good to go.

Note:  If you don’t see a Facebook entry, tap on Add account and insert your Facebook user credentials.

4. Tap the three-dot icon in the top right section of the screen (More on some custom versions of Android).
   
5. Check to see if auto-sync is enabled. If it isn’t, tap on Enable auto sync and hit OK to confirm your selection.

That’s it. Wait for a new notification to come in to see if they are working properly.

Enabling Push Notification on iPhone, iPad and iPod

1. Go to Menu > Settings and scroll down to the list of installed apps.
2. Tap on Facebook and then select Push Notifications.
3. Toggle the slider next to Messages to enable it (it should be set to ON).
4. Repeat this step for any other type of notification that you might want such as Friend Requests, Comments or Wall Posts.

Now check to see if notifications are showing properly on your iOS device.

Fixing Facebook Notifications on Huawei’s EMUI

A lot of Huawei models often fail to send push notification. The issue is not necessarily restricted to Facebook and applies to any type of push notification. Some older versions of EMUI (Huawei’s custom Android version) have very aggressive battery saving methods that don’t always show notifications from apps unless you mark them as a priority. Here’s what you need to do to fix them.

PS: In order to get full notifications from the Facebook app, you need to complete all three steps from below.

1. Go to Settings > Advanced Settings > Battery Manager > Protected Apps, find the entries for the Facebook app and Facebook Messenger app and add them to the protected list. This will ensure that background data for these apps isn’t cut down for the sake of saving battery life.
2. Go to Settings > Apps > Advanced and tap on Ignore battery optimizations. Search for the Facebook app and then repeat the procedure with the Facebook Messenger

Note: Don’t worry about the word “ignore”. For this instance, “ignoring” an app actually signals the battery optimization function to let it run no matter the circumstances.

3. Go to Settings > Notification panel & status bar > Notification center, find the Facebook app and activate Allow Notifications and Priority Display. Repeat the procedure with the Messenger App.

Facebook Notification should now be working on your Huawei device.

Fixing Android notifications from the desktop version of Facebook

For some reason, disabling account log-ins from the desktop version of Facebook has helped a lot of users to re-enable Facebook notifications on their Android devices. Using a PC or laptop will make things a lot easier, but there’s also a workaround if you don’t have access to either.

1. Log in with your Facebook account on your PC and go to Settings.
   

Note: If you don’t have access to a PC or laptop, you can visit the desktop version of Facebook directly from Android by using Chrome. Insert Facebook’s address inside the address bar, tap on the action button and enable Request desktop site.

2. Click on Apps.
   
3. Under Logged in with Facebook, remove all accounts. Don’t worry, this won’t close any of your accounts and you won’t lose any purchases you might have made through them. This will only disable logging in that account with Facebook, so no harm done.
   
4. Once you cleared out the list click the Edit button under Apps, Websites and Pages and hit Disable Platform.
   
5. Now switch over to your phone and open the Facebook app. Expand the action bar located in the top-right section of the screen and tap on Notifications. Toggle it OFF and ON

That’s it. Wait for a notification to come in and see if it shows. Don’t forget to re-enable Apps, Websites and Plugins from the desktop version of Facebook.

Enabling Always on Top

In some cases, the Always on top feature might be disabled due to which the notifications might get glitched and stop appearing on your device. Therefore, in this step, we will be enabling it from the settings. For that:

1. Navigate to your devices’ settings.
2. Do a search for “Always on Top” and enable this feature for the Messenger.
3. Check to see if the issue persists.

We hope one of the methods featured above solved your Facebook Notification problem. If you still don’t receive notifications, doing a factory reset will most likely solve it. Best of luck.