Short answer

There are no automatic reminders or notifications yet, so there is nothing to switch on — if the phone's settings look as though the app is blocking them, or no emails are arriving, nothing is misconfigured at your end. They are on the roadmap, and the first version will alert on one-off events being created: a job created, an inspection created, a defect created. In the meantime, you don't need them to keep people on top of their work: anyone you assign tasks to sees all of their assigned tasks in the mobile app, sorted by due date by default, so whatever needs doing soonest sits at the top. Turn on Hide completed tasks so finished work drops off and the list is always just what's outstanding. The one thing to get right is permissions — set operatives as Field Operative so they see only their own tasks.

Detail

What exists today. The day-to-day "what do I need to do?" view lives in the mobile app, not in an email or a push notification:

  • Assignees see their own task list. Every task you assign to someone appears in their mobile task list. They don't need to go looking — it's the home screen of their working day.
  • Sorted by due date by default. The list orders soonest-first, so the top of the list is always the most urgent work. (In the web app, inspections and jobs are ordered by due date too, if a clerk or supervisor prefers the desktop view — but the people doing the work will mostly be on mobile.)
  • Hide completed tasks. Tap Filter (top right) and switch on Hide completed tasks. As each task is marked done it disappears, so the list shrinks through the day and what's left is always outstanding work. See What's the recommended way for an operative to use the mobile app each day?.

Permissions make this work. Visibility is driven by role:

  • Field Operative — sees only the tasks assigned to them or that they created. This is the right setting for grounds staff: their list stays focused on their own work.
  • Supervisor — sees the whole team's tasks on the app. Use this for someone overseeing the work, not for an operative who should only see their own round.

If operatives are on the wrong role they'll either see everyone's tasks (overwhelming) or not the ones they should. See What can a Field Operative actually do in Civic.ly?.

What's coming. Notifications are on the roadmap (track it at ideas.civic.ly), and the first version is deliberately narrow: an alert when a one-off piece of work is created — a job created, an inspection created, a defect created. Those are the moments where an alert genuinely tells you something you would not otherwise know.

What is not coming, and why. An alert per completed job is not planned, and on a round of any size you would not want it: if you empty 67 bins a week, that is 67 emails on a Tuesday. Noise rather than information. "How will I know the round got done?" is usually the real question behind a request for notifications, and the honest answer today is that you check the Jobs or Inspections list (see Checking off a round below), not your inbox. A periodic summary email has been discussed as the eventual answer for scheduled and routine work, but it is not in the first version and there is no date for it, so don't plan around one.

Nothing has shipped yet, so the mobile task list above remains the supported way for a team to see what is due, and the Jobs or Inspections list is where the office checks what has been done.

Checking off a round today. If someone wants to see what their team completed on a routine, the list view already does it without notifications:

  • Open Jobs (or Inspections) and set the quick filter to show completed tasks. The choice sticks for that list.
  • Use the advanced filter on due date to narrow to today or this week.
  • Filter by the round's checklist template and every reading from that round lines up in one view, which can then be downloaded. See reporting/finding-filtering-and-reporting-your-data.

Watch-outs

  • Don't plan around notifications arriving on a particular date. As of autumn 2026 they are not built. If your team needs to be actively alerted right now, use the mobile task-list approach above and treat notifications as an improvement to come rather than something to wait for.
  • Nothing is broken at your end. It is natural to assume the silence is a settings problem: that the app is blocking notifications on the phone, or that an email address is wrong. It isn't. The app sends no push alerts and no emails today, so there is no toggle, on your device or in Civic.ly, that will produce one. Worth knowing before you spend an afternoon in your phone settings.
  • A notification per completed job isn't coming, and you probably don't want it. It is a natural thing to ask for, but do the arithmetic on your own rounds first: a weekly round of 60 bins is 60 emails every collection day.
  • A summary email is not part of version one. It has been discussed as the eventual answer for routine and scheduled work, but it is not in the first release and has no date, so treat it as an idea rather than something arriving soon.
  • The first version is about work being created. The alert comes from the ad-hoc job, inspection or defect somebody raises. Don't assume that reassigning existing work, or a routine generating its next cycle, will alert anyone.
  • The task list only helps if people open the app. With no push/email yet, the workflow depends on operatives checking their list each day. Build that habit during onboarding rather than assuming a reminder will prompt them.
  • Wrong permissions defeat the whole thing. A Field Operative set as Supervisor sees every council task and can't tell which are theirs; the reverse hides work they should see. Check the role when someone says "I can't see my jobs" or "I'm seeing everyone's jobs".
  • Notifications will go to the address on each user's account. When the feature does land, accurate user email records matter — worth keeping them tidy now.