Alarm setup

The plugin’s webhook feature lets you receive real-time push notifications on your phone — even when Obsidian is running on a separate device. This is critical for overnight feeding reminders when you need to actually wake up.

Obsidian can’t wake your phone

Obsidian plugins cannot trigger native alarms or override Do Not Disturb directly. Alarms require an external service to relay the notification to your phone’s native alert system.

Quick comparison

Approach	Platform	Alarm loop?	Bypasses DND?	Offline?	Cost
Pushover	Android + iOS	Yes (retry until acknowledged)	Yes (Critical Alerts on iOS)	Yes (cloud-based)	$4.99 one-time
ntfy.sh	Android + iOS	Android only (insistent mode)	Android only	Yes (scheduled delivery)	Free
Todoist reminders	Any	No	No	Yes	Free (basic)
Tasker + ntfy	Android only	Yes (custom alarm)	Yes	Yes	$3.49 one-time

iOS users

Pushover is the only way to get alarm-loop notifications on iOS. ntfy on iOS only supports “time-sensitive” interruption level — no looping alarm, no DND bypass. Pushover’s emergency priority retries every 60 seconds until you tap Acknowledge, and iOS Critical Alerts bypass both DND and silent mode.

Pushover (recommended for iOS)

Pushover ($4.99 one-time per platform) provides alarm-style notifications on both Android and iOS. Emergency priority notifications retry until you acknowledge them.

Setup

1. Create an account at pushover.net.
2. Install the Pushover app (Google Play or App Store).
3. Copy your User Key from the Pushover dashboard.
4. Create an application at pushover.net/apps/build — name it “Postpartum Tracker” or similar.
5. Copy the API Token from your new application.
6. In Obsidian: Settings > Postpartum Tracker > Notifications.
7. Enable Webhook notifications, select Pushover from the preset dropdown.
8. Paste your App token and User key.
9. Click Send test to verify.

Priority mapping

Alert level	Pushover priority	Behavior
Info	0 (normal)	Standard notification
Warning	1 (high)	Highlighted, bypasses quiet hours
Urgent	2 (emergency)	Retries every 60s until acknowledged (up to 1 hour)

iOS Critical Alerts

To enable alarm-style behavior on iOS:

1. Open Pushover app > Settings.
2. Enable Critical Alerts (iOS will prompt for permission).
3. Critical Alerts play sound even when the phone is on silent or DND.
4. Emergency priority notifications will repeat every 60 seconds until you open the notification and tap Acknowledge.

Android alarm

On Android, Pushover emergency notifications already repeat. For extra reliability:

1. Exclude Pushover from battery optimization.
2. In Android notification settings, set the Pushover channel to Alarm priority.

ntfy.sh (recommended for Android)

ntfy.sh is a free, open-source push notification service. Works with the public server or self-hosted.

Setup

1. Install the ntfy app (Google Play or App Store).
2. In the app, subscribe to a unique topic (e.g., my-baby-alerts-abc123).
3. In Obsidian: Settings > Postpartum Tracker > Notifications.
4. Enable webhooks.
5. Set webhook URL to https://ntfy.sh/my-baby-alerts-abc123 (use your topic name).
6. Click Send test to verify.

Priority mapping

The plugin maps alert levels to ntfy priorities:

Alert level	ntfy priority	Android behavior
Info	2 (low)	Silent
Warning	3 (default)	Normal notification sound
Urgent	5 (max)	Overrides Do Not Disturb

Feeding reminders that exceed the threshold by 1+ hours are sent as urgent (priority 5).

Making it an alarm (Android)

1. In the ntfy app, tap your subscription > Settings.
2. Set Min priority to filter noise.
3. Go to Android Settings > Apps > ntfy > Notifications.
4. Find the notification channel and set it to Alarm or Override DND.
5. Set a loud notification sound.

Making it an alarm (iOS)

Caution

ntfy on iOS only supports “time-sensitive” interruption level. There is no alarm loop or DND bypass on iOS via ntfy. For alarm-style behavior on iOS, use Pushover instead.

1. Go to iOS Settings > Notifications > ntfy.
2. Enable Time Sensitive Notifications (breaks through Focus modes).
3. Choose a loud alert sound.

Todoist reminders

If you already have Todoist integration enabled, Todoist creates tasks when alerts fire. Todoist Pro users get push notifications with reminder times.

Setup

1. Enable Todoist integration with createOnAlert: true.
2. Set dueDateStyle to datetime for timed reminders.
3. Configure Todoist mobile app notifications:
   • Android: Set notification channel to high priority / alarm sound.
   • iOS: Enable Time Sensitive notifications for Todoist.

Tip

Todoist reminders work without any webhook setup, but they depend on Todoist’s notification delivery which may have slight delays. For time-critical overnight feeding reminders, ntfy.sh + Todoist together gives you both reliable alarms and task management.

Pushcut (iOS)

Pushcut ($3) provides rich iOS notifications with automation triggers.

1. Download Pushcut from the App Store.
2. Create a notification action in Pushcut’s server settings.
3. Copy the webhook URL and paste it in the plugin’s webhook URL field.
4. Pushcut notifications support:
   • Custom sounds (including alarm-like tones)
   • Time Sensitive delivery
   • Triggering iOS Shortcuts (e.g., set a timer, play alarm sound)

Note

Pushcut expects { "title": "...", "text": "..." } while the plugin sends { "title": "...", "message": "..." }. You may need a Pushcut server action or middleware to remap the field.

Tasker + ntfy (Android power users)

Tasker can intercept ntfy notifications and trigger a full alarm.

1. Set up ntfy as described above.
2. In Tasker, create a Profile > Event > Notification (App: ntfy).
3. Add a Task that:
   • Sets media volume to maximum
   • Plays an alarm sound file on loop
   • Shows a lock-screen scene with a “Dismiss” button
4. Optionally filter by notification title (e.g., only trigger for “Feeding reminder”).

This gives you the most reliable wake-up experience — a full system alarm that won’t stop until you dismiss it.

Self-hosted ntfy

For privacy, run your own ntfy server:

docker run -d -p 8080:80 binwiederhier/ntfy serve

Set webhook URL to http://your-server:8080/your-topic.

Troubleshooting

Notifications not arriving?

• Verify the webhook URL with the Send test button in settings.
• Check that Obsidian is running (webhooks only fire while the plugin is active).
• On Android: ensure ntfy is excluded from battery optimization.
• On iOS: ensure ntfy has background refresh enabled.

Not waking you up?

• Verify the alert is urgent level (priority 5 in ntfy).
• Check that the ntfy notification channel is set to Alarm priority in Android settings.
• On iOS, verify Time Sensitive Notifications are enabled.
• Test with [Dev] Force notification check command in Obsidian.

Webhook errors?

• ntfy: JSON is sent to the server root with { topic, title, message, priority, tags }. Priority uses ntfy scale: 1-5.
• Gotify: JSON is sent to <server>/message with { title, message, priority }. Priority scale: 1-10.
• Pushover: URL-encoded form with { token, user, title, message, priority }.
• Check the developer console (Ctrl+Shift+I) for error details.