Ophio sends alerts through the phone’s connection to your computer. There is no push service between them. The computer must be running and reachable.
What raises an alert
Android has two task-alert categories:
- Needs you covers questions, approvals, blocked tasks and results requiring your decision. A question names its agent, for example Question from Claude Code.
- Finished tasks covers Task finished and Task stopped with a problem. A task you stopped does not raise a finished-task alert.
There are no notifications for streamed text or progress. Native coding approvals depend on the task’s launch policy. New coding Work normally skips those prompts.
Tap an alert to open its question, approval or result. Answer inside the app. Answering on another device, at the computer or through an authorized chat also clears the alert.
Turn on closed-app alerts
After pairing, or after the update that adds this feature, the Alerts setup asks Get alerts when an agent asks something or finishes? Choose Turn on and tap Continue. Ophio then walks through only the Android steps that are still needed:
- Allow notification permission.
- Set Ophio’s battery use to Unrestricted.
Android lets Ophio keep waiting for alerts after the app leaves the screen only with Unrestricted battery use. Without it, alerts arrive only while the app is open. Not now also means alerts arrive only while the app is open. Closing the setup without choosing asks again the next time the app opens.
While it waits, Ophio keeps nothing in the status bar or the notification shade. Only the alerts themselves appear.
You can change Alerts when the app is closed under Settings → Notifications. One switch covers every paired computer. An older computer companion may need updating before closed-app alerts work.
If notification permission is blocked, use Open Android settings. The two category rows, Needs you: questions, approvals and blocked tasks and Finished tasks, and tasks that stopped with a problem, have Change buttons for their Android settings. A disabled category prevents those alerts even when the app has notification permission.
What the phone receives
A separate watcher keeps an alert-only connection to each computer. It receives the alert kind, project, task title and time. It does not receive task text, terminal output or the screen. It only receives items the device is allowed to see.
With Unrestricted battery use, the watcher starts again on its own after you swipe the app away, after the phone restarts and after the app is updated. A check every 15 minutes restarts it if Android stopped it. Without Unrestricted battery use, Android stops it about a minute after the app leaves the screen, and opening the app starts it again. Force-stopping the app in Android settings stops it until you open the app.
When the phone’s network comes back, the watcher reconnects straight away.
Privacy
Notification detail offers Minimal, which names the computer and project, or Include task title. Task titles may contain private information and appear on the lock screen.
With Lock the app enabled under Settings → Lock, an alert says Open the app to review. instead of showing those details.
Offline alerts and status
Unresolved alerts raised after you enabled alerts can arrive once the phone reconnects. Items answered while the phone was away do not resurface. The shade holds up to 24 alerts, with an overflow notice for more. Clearing shown alerts makes room for waiting ones.
Settings → Notifications shows the selected computer’s status, such as Ready for alerts from the computer, connecting, unreachable, needs an update or no longer accepts the phone. Reopen the app to try reconnecting immediately. If it shows Android stopped alerts, tap Start again.
If battery use is not Unrestricted, the screen warns Alerts stop when the app closes. Allow opens Android’s battery settings.
A sleeping computer cannot send alerts. A connection or notification failure is not evidence that a task stopped. Check Work → Needs you and Results after reconnecting.
Chat fallback
An owner-configured Telegram or Discord bot can send task notices independently of the phone’s connection. Under Settings → Connections and devices → Chat, use Link a chat and Check code. Verify the user and chat identifiers before approving the named identity. A copied display name is not identity proof.
The computer controls the chat’s grants and project. Linked identities may start tasks and answer approvals where allowed. Choose project or Change project changes where new chat tasks start. Revoking the chat identity does not revoke phones or erase messages already held by Telegram or Discord. See Telegram & Discord for setup, commands and disclosure settings, and Item links for opening a referenced item in the app.
Qualification limits
The public qualification record includes background task alerts hand-tested on one physical Android 14 tablet with Linux, alongside emulator lifecycle checks. Long-duration behavior, battery use and other physical phones still require qualification. Do not treat this as proof that every Android phone will keep the watcher running. See Platform qualification.