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Set up alerts

Alerts come from your server, not from the app: Frigate decides something is worth telling you about and sends it to your iPhone. Before it can, a few things have to be true on the server and on the iPhone. Settings › Server Notification Setup checks every one of them, says which are missing, and, with an administrator account, fixes them for you. The welcome walkthrough opens the same screen at its Alerts from Frigate step.

What has to be true

Section titled “What has to be true”
What Why
On this iPhone Notifications allowed iOS delivers nothing to an app that isn’t allowed to send them.
On this iPhone Signed in to Frigate The app needs an account to read the server’s settings and register.
In Frigate A notification contact address Frigate sends nothing without one. Nothing is ever emailed to it.
In Frigate Notifications on for each camera Each camera has its own switch, and only the cameras with it on can alert you.
In Frigate Object detection on An alert starts as something a camera detected.
In Frigate Recording on (recommended) Lets an alert open the clip of what happened.
In Frigate Snapshots on (recommended) Puts the full picture in an alert, not a small crop.
Then This iPhone registered Gives Frigate the address this iPhone’s alerts go to. Any account can do this.
Then Frigate restarted Frigate reads its settings and its list of registered devices only when it starts.

Each iPhone and iPad registers separately, so each one runs through this list once. A second device signed in to the same server skips everything already done on the server.

Let the app do it

Section titled “Let the app do it”

With an administrator account, the screen opens with Set it all up for me.

  1. Set it all up for me: makes every change on the list, registers this iPhone, and restarts Frigate once.
  2. Cameras that alert you: which cameras get their notifications turned on. All of them, to begin with.
  3. Set up automatically: starts it. The app asks before it restarts anything.
  4. I’d rather do it myself: the same changes as a list of steps, for doing by hand.
  1. Open Settings › Server Notification Setup.
  2. Under Cameras that alert you, turn off any camera you never want alerts from. You can choose more finely later, per object, zone and time of day, without touching the server: see Notification filters.
  3. Tap Set up automatically.
  4. Read what it will do, and tap Set up and restart.
  5. Keep the screen open while each step ticks over. Frigate is down for a few seconds while it restarts.
  6. When the screen says All set, an alert has reached this iPhone and you’re done.

The restart is the only disruption: Frigate stops for a few seconds, recording pauses, and anyone watching is disconnected until it’s back. The app never restarts your server without asking first.

While it works, a card at the top says what’s happening, and every step below it ticks over:

If a step fails, setup stops before the restart and opens that step, saying what Frigate answered. Fix it there, or tap Try again.

Do it yourself

Section titled “Do it yourself”

With a viewer account, or after I’d rather do it myself, the screen is a numbered list. Work down it: each step opens when the one before is done.

  1. You’ll restart Frigate 2 times: how many restarts the list needs, and how many are done. Each restart is a step of its own.
  2. The open step: what it’s for, with Show me the Frigate Settings UI steps for doing it in Frigate’s web interface, Show me the YAML to apply for doing it in config.yaml, and a link to Frigate’s documentation. When it’s done, tap I’ve made this change.
  3. Restart Frigate · 1 of 2: finishes by itself when Frigate comes back with the change in place.
  4. Prove it works: the last step, ticked when a real notification arrives.

Steps already done on the server are ticked as soon as the screen opens, so you’ll often have fewer than the full list. Recording and snapshots are marked Recommended: tap Skip on either if you’d rather not use the disk space; alerts still work, with a cropped picture and no clip.

The app checks each change for itself. Tapping I’ve made this change moves you on, and the step is checked again when Frigate restarts. If it’s still off then, the step reopens with Frigate restarted, but this is still off.

Restarting by hand

Section titled “Restarting by hand”

When the list reaches a restart, restart Frigate however you usually do: in its web interface choose Restart Frigate from the ⚙ menu, or restart its Docker container or Home Assistant add-on. The step notices by itself when Frigate is back. With an administrator account, Restart Frigate now does it from the app.

With a viewer account

Section titled “With a viewer account”

A viewer can’t change Frigate’s settings or restart it, so the list starts with a card saying so, and Share these steps sends the whole list, Settings steps and YAML included, to whoever runs the server. Registering this iPhone is the one step any account can do, so do it once they’ve made their changes, and ask for the last restart.

The contact address

Section titled “The contact address”

Frigate won’t send a notification without a contact address, and it puts that address in every one it sends, so the relay that delivers alerts and the push services behind Frigate’s browser notifications receive it too. Nothing is ever emailed to it.

When it sets the address up, the app uses [email protected], a placeholder that belongs to no one. If your server already has a real email address there, the step offers Use a placeholder instead. Nothing restarts, and notifications carry the new address within the hour.

Prove it works

Section titled “Prove it works”

The last step finishes only when a real notification reaches this iPhone, because that’s the only proof that every part works. Two ways to get one:

  • Ask Frigate for a test notification: an administrator on Frigate 0.18 or later. It goes to every device registered with the server, not just this one, so warn anyone else who’d get it. Frigate 0.17 doesn’t accept the request.
  • Walk past a camera: works on any version, with any account.

Send a test to this iPhone only is different: it checks that this iPhone can receive an alert at all, without Frigate involved, so it doesn’t finish the step. It’s useful for telling an iPhone problem from a server problem.

A notification can take up to 30 seconds to be counted after it arrives.

Later

Section titled “Later”

Settings › Server Notification Setup is safe to open any time: it re-reads the server and changes nothing until you ask. If alerts ever stop, it’s the first place to look, because it reopens whichever step is no longer true. Then see Alerts don’t arrive.

Register this iPhone again, at the bottom once everything is done, is only for when alerts have stopped and you can’t see why. It gives Frigate a new address for this iPhone, which needs another restart.

Safe mode

Section titled “Safe mode”

If Frigate started in safe mode, its config.yaml has an error, often a line indented one step too far or too little, and the app can’t change anything until it’s fixed. In Frigate’s web interface, open the ⚙ menu › Configuration Editor, fix the line it points to, and tap Save & Restart. The list picks up again when Frigate is back.