RVAltCtrl can send you a real push notification whenever a Routine's Alert action runs, the kind that shows up right on your phone, tablet, or computer, even when you don't have anything open. You can receive these in your web browser, through the free ntfy app, or both, and manage everything from the RVAltCtrl Portal.
Notifications themselves come from Routines. See Routines & Triggers for how to add an Alert action to a routine and tie it to whatever Trigger you care about, like low battery, a tank getting full, or a door left open.
Video Overview
Prefer to watch instead? A full video walkthrough of setting up push notifications is coming soon.
Activating Push Notification Management
Before a browser can receive notifications, or manage ntfy topics, it has to be activated. This proves you have local access to your RVAltCtrl device, so someone who only knows your Device ID can't quietly start managing notifications for your RV.
On your device's own local web page, go to Settings → Push Notifications, then tap Manage Push Notifications. This opens the RVAltCtrl Portal in a new tab and adds a Push Notifications section there for this device. If this browser has already been activated, you'll see a message saying so instead, with a button straight to the Push Notifications page.
Browser Push Notifications
Once activated, the portal's Push Notifications page lets you turn on notifications for that specific browser. Tap Enable notifications on this browser, and grant permission when your browser asks. Browser push is the simplest option and recommended for most people. No extra app, just the browser or installed web app you already have.
iPhone and iPad
On iOS, browser push notifications only work once RVAltCtrl has been added to your Home Screen and opened from there, not from a regular Safari tab. See RVAltCtrl Portal for how to add it. If you try to enable notifications before doing this, the page will let you know to add it to your Home Screen first.
ntfy
For alerts on a phone or computer that isn't running the browser you activated, or as an app-based option separate from the browser, RVAltCtrl also supports the free ntfy notification service. From the Push Notifications page's ntfy tab:
- Tap Suggest to fill in a ready-made topic, or type one of your own choosing.
- Tap Add to start receiving alerts on that topic.
- Install the free ntfy app, tap +, and subscribe to that same topic.
- Copy any topic at any time using the copy button next to it, to paste into the ntfy app or share with someone else.
- Tap Revoke on a topic to stop sending alerts to it.
You can add more than one ntfy topic, for example one for each person who wants their own alerts.
Managing Activated Browsers
The Push Notifications page also lists every browser that's been activated for this device, below the tabs, each with its own Revoke button. Revoking a browser removes its ability to manage push notification settings, and turns off its own browser notifications if it had them enabled. It does not affect ntfy or other providers; those keep working until removed individually.
If you ever lose access on a browser, for example it says access was revoked or was never activated, just repeat the activation steps above from your device's own local web page.
Testing
To confirm everything works without waiting for a real Alert to trigger, use Send Test Notification on the device's Settings → Push Notifications page. This sends a real notification immediately, the same way an Alert set up in Routines would, to every browser and ntfy topic you have set up.
Security: Managing Notifications Without a Login
You don't sign in to the portal to manage push notifications, so it's fair to ask what stops someone else from doing it. The answer is that the device itself vouches for you, and that only works from your own local network.
- Pressing Manage Push Notifications is like a login from the device. When you press it on your device's local web page, the device creates a short-lived pass (valid for about five minutes) and signs it with a private key that never leaves the device. The portal checks that signature against the public key registered for your device. Only the device itself can produce a valid pass, and only someone on its local network can ask it to.
- Your Device ID isn't a password. Device IDs appear on receipts, in support conversations, and can be seen by a previous owner of an RV. Knowing one is not enough to view or change anything about notifications. Without a fresh pass from the device, the portal turns the request away.
- That pass activates only your browser. After the portal accepts the pass, it gives that one browser a long-lived, private key of its own, stored only in that browser. From then on the browser uses it, instead of a password, to open the Push Notifications page for this device. The portal keeps only a scrambled (hashed) copy, so even the portal can't read your browser's key back.
- Activation isn't shared. Activating one browser doesn't activate any other. A different phone or computer has to press Manage Push Notifications from your device's local web page before it can manage notifications.
- You're always in control. Every activated browser is listed on the portal's Push Notifications page, and any of them can be revoked at any time (see Managing Activated Browsers). A revoked browser stops working immediately and has to activate again from the device to get back in.
- Notifications only go where you've set them up. Browser push and ntfy alerts are only sent to browsers and topics that were added through an activated browser. Alerts also carry only the short message you wrote in the Routine, not control of your RV.
One thing to keep in mind with ntfy: a topic name works like a shared address, so anyone who knows it can subscribe to it. Choose a topic that's hard to guess, and share it only with people who should see your alerts. Revoke it if it gets out.