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Guide

How to get Android notifications on a Mac

Install Synqed on your Mac and your Android phone, pair them on the same network, and turn on notification access for Synqed on the phone. Your phone's notifications then appear in macOS Notification Center with each app's own icon, and you can reply inline or use the app's action buttons from the Mac.

Before you start

  • A Mac running macOS 14 Sonoma or later · Apple silicon and Intel.
  • An Android phone running Android 13 or later.
  • Both on the same local network: the same Wi-Fi, or the Mac joined to the phone's hotspot. Synqed has no relay server, so it does not work across the internet.

Steps

  1. Pair the phone and the Mac. Open Synqed on both devices, compare the numeric code on the two screens and confirm.
  2. Turn on notification access on the phone. Synqed opens Android's notification access setting for you. Switch Synqed on there. Without it, no app can read the phone's notifications.
  3. Allow notifications on the Mac. macOS asks whether Synqed may show notifications. Allow it, and set the alert style to Banners or Alerts in System Settings, Notifications, if you want them to appear on screen.
  4. Reply or act from Notification Center. Mirrored notifications carry the app's own action buttons and inline reply where the app offers them. What you do is sent back to the phone.
  5. Mute the apps you don't need. In the Notifications section of the Mac app, pick apps to mute from the list of everything installed on the phone. Muted apps are dropped on the phone before anything reaches the Mac. You can also save named Do Not Disturb profiles and switch between them.

First time? Install the Mac app and the Android app, open both, and confirm that the numeric code matches on the two screens. That pairs them, and they reconnect on their own after that. If they can't find each other, see support.

What it does not do

  • Dismissing a notification on the phone removes it from the Mac, but swiping a banner away on the Mac does not clear it on the phone: macOS does not tell apps when that happens.
  • If the Mac's notification permission is off, macOS silently shows nothing. Synqed shows a warning in the app when it detects this, with a link to the setting.
  • The daily digest of what you missed uses Apple Intelligence on the Mac, so it needs a Mac and macOS version that support it. Everything else works without it.

Questions

Do my notifications go through a server?

No. They travel from the phone to the Mac over your local network, encrypted with AES-256-GCM. There is no Synqed server and no account.

How long is notification history kept?

Seven days, stored on the Mac. Older entries are deleted automatically.

Cost

The Mac app is free. The Android app has a 7-day free trial, then Synqed Pro is $20 once, plus tax. No account. Details on Synqed Pro.

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