> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.chirpwireless.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.chirpwireless.io/alarm/chirp-alerts-app/alert-behavior.md). # Alert Behavior Here's the thing that makes the app genuinely useful: not every alert treats your phone the same way. A leaking water heater should wake you up; a door opening in the afternoon shouldn't. You decide which is which by the **severity** you give each alarm when you set it up on the web — and that single choice controls how loud (or quiet) the alert is on your phone. ## The quick version | You set the alarm to… | …and your phone does this | | --------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Critical** | Opens a full-screen alarm with a sound that loops and vibration, and keeps going until you respond. This is the **only** level that rings through silent mode and Do Not Disturb. | | **Important** | Shows a prominent notification with a sound and a buzz — more noticeable than usual, but no full-screen alarm and no looping. | | **Information** | Drops a quiet notification into your normal list — no sound, no vibration. You'll see it next time you glance at your phone. | If an alert ever comes through without a severity set, the app plays it safe and treats it as **critical** — better a false alarm than a missed flood. ## Critical — the wake-you-up alarm A critical alert takes over the screen: a pulsing warning, the device name, the message, and the time, with the alarm sound looping and the phone vibrating. It's built to get your attention when your phone is face-down, locked, or silenced. This is the level that uses the app's **Critical Alerts** approval from Apple, which is what lets it ring through a silent phone or a Do Not Disturb schedule. It only works if you allowed Critical Alerts when the app asked (Step 4 of [Getting Started](/alarm/chirp-alerts-app/getting-started.md)) — if you didn't, your phone's quiet settings will hold even critical alarms back. When the alarm is ringing, you've got two choices: * **Close** — hushes the alarm on your phone, but the alert stays active in Chirp. Other people in the house still see it, and the alert keeps escalating if you set that up. * **Dismiss & Acknowledge** — hushes the alarm and marks the alert resolved for everyone in the home. Save critical for the real emergencies: water leaks, fire, a security breach, a freezer that's failing. ## Important — a firm tap on the shoulder An important alert pops up clearly, with sound and vibration, but it won't take over your screen or loop. It's for things you should look at soon but that aren't a wake-the-house emergency — a temperature spike, a sensor acting up, a reading that's drifting. ## Information — a quiet heads-up An information alert slips in quietly, no sound or buzz. It's a normal notification you can read whenever — not a hidden background message, just a calm one. Use it for the everyday: a door opening during the day, a routine check-in, the kind of thing you like to know about but don't need to jump on. ## It all comes from severity Every behavior above traces back to the severity you pick when you [create the alarm](/alarm/set-up-a-home-alert.md). Want it louder? Bump the severity up. Too noisy? Bring it down. For how severity also controls how often an alert repeats, see [Notification Severity](/alarm/notification-severity.md). ## When delivery can lag Push depends a little on your phone's mood: * If you've force-stopped the app (Android) or swiped it away (iPhone), alerts may not arrive until you open it again. * Some Android phones aggressively save battery and can delay alerts — letting the app run in the background fixes that. * The surest setup is to keep the app installed on everyone's phone and use [escalation chains](/alarm/escalation-chains.md), so if one person misses an alert, it moves on to the next. --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. 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