---
title: "Turn notification types off for everyone"
description: "Use Notification Defaults to switch a kind of notification off for your whole organization, families and staff alike, or leave it on so each person chooses."
type: setup
updated: 2026-10-09
canonical_url: https://help.nestlicare.com/owners/settings/configure-notification-defaults
roles: ["super_admin"]
platforms: [web, ios, android]
---
The switches under **Settings → Operations → Notification Defaults** are organization-wide on/off switches. They do not set what each parent starts with.
- **On** (the default): each person's own notification settings decide whether they get that kind of notification.
- **Off**: nobody in your organization gets that kind of notification, families or staff, whatever their own settings say. No push, and no entry in the bell.
Turning a switch on does not turn that notification on for anyone. It only lets people's own choices through. For example, parents start with **Daily Activities** off in their own settings, so leaving the switch on here doesn't mean every parent gets a ping for each meal and nap.
Only owners can change these. Center admins don't see the **Operations** tab.
## The switches
On the web:
- **Sign-In and Sign-Out**: a child was checked in or out.
- **Daily Activities**: meals, naps, photos and other feed updates.
- **Room Transfers**: a child was moved to, or checked in to, a different room.
- **Incidents**: incident reports.
- **Billing**: invoices and payment updates.
- **Newsletters**: newsletters and announcements.
In the app, owners find the same switches under **Admin → Settings → Notification Defaults**. There they are called **Check-in / Check-out**, **Daily activities**, **Incidents**, **Billing** and **Announcements** (the same switch as Newsletters). **Room Transfers** is only on the web.
## When to turn one off
Leave these on unless you never want anyone in your organization alerted about that category. Remember that a switch also silences staff. For example, turning **Incidents** off stops incident alerts to your center admins too.
Turning a switch off doesn't hide anything. Parents still see their child's feed and invoices in the app. They just don't get alerted.
These switches control alerts for everyone. They are separate from Email Reports & Backups, which are copies sent to your own inbox.
## What a check-in notification says
Parents get a short alert with the child's first name and the time in your center's timezone:
> **Emma checked in**
> Emma was checked in at 08:15 AM
Check-out is the same shape:
> **Emma checked out**
> Emma was checked out at 05:42 PM
- It uses the child's **first name only**. No last name, no room, and no mention of who checked them in.
- It works the same way whether the check-in happened at the kiosk, from a parent's own phone, or by a teacher.
- **Automatic end-of-day check-outs don't send the usual check-out alert.** If your center relies on auto check-out, parents see the arrival alert but no departure alert.
- If a child is checked in to a room that is not their own, parents get a **second, separate** alert saying so. That one follows the **Room Transfers** switch, so a parent who has muted check-in alerts can still get it.
## Where notifications show up
The **bell** in the app is the one place notifications appear. Anything that pushes to someone's phone also lands in their bell, so a missed push is never a lost message.
## Staff notifications
Staff have their own notification settings on their profile in the app, for things like leave updates, messages and announcements.
Owners get **leave updates** on by default, so a staff member's time-off request reaches you. Owners and center admins with Finances access also get **Payments received** on by default: an alert each time a parent pays an invoice online. Both can be turned off in your own notification settings. See Enable online payments.
## Troubleshooting
**I can't find the Operations tab.** It's for owners only. Center admins see **General**, **Reports** and **Privacy**.
**A parent says they get nothing.** Check that the switch for that kind of notification is on here. Then ask the parent to check their own notification settings in the app, and that notifications are allowed for NestliCare in their phone's settings.
**A parent's child changed rooms and they got no alert.** Check that **Room Transfers** is on (web only), and that the parent hasn't turned room transfers off in their own settings.
**I turned a switch on, but parents still don't get daily activity alerts.** That's expected. On only lets each parent's own setting through, and parents start with daily activities off. They can turn it on in the app.