ByN vs Pocket Notifier
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ByN
This app allows users to create custom push notification listeners that can be triggered remotely via simple HTTP requests. It's designed for developers and system administrators to receive instant alerts from their infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, servers, or IoT devices without complex SDK integration.
- Simple HTTP API for triggering notifications
- Passwordless magic link authentication
- Multiple custom notification listeners
- Notification history with delivery status
- Configurable notification priority levels
- Mute individual listeners
- Multi-device notification support
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ByN — Build your Notification — lets you create your own custom notifications and send them from anything that can make a web request, and set up monitors that alert you the moment something stops working. Every alert can arrive as a push notification, a text message, or an email. CUSTOM NOTIFICATIONS Design a notification with your own title, message and priority (in the app, it's called a listener). Send it with one web request from a script, a server, a smart home automation, or even your browser. A door opens, a build finishes, a sensor trips: your phone knows right away. NEW: HEALTH MONITORS Some problems are silent. A monitor expects your server, website or device to check in on a schedule, and tells you when it doesn't. • Set check-ins from every 30 seconds to once a day or longer. • Add a grace period, so something running a little late doesn't page you. • Get a down alert when check-ins stop, and a recovery alert when they resume. • Each monitor has its own ping URL: no API key or setup needed. • See 30-day uptime, recent check-ins, and every outage with its duration. • Pause a monitor for maintenance, send a test alert, or change its ping URL anytime. NEW: SMS AND EMAIL ALERTS • Get alerts by text message and email, not just as push notifications. Choose the channels for each notification and monitor. • Verify your phone number once for SMS. Email goes to your sign-in address, or another address you verify. • Each month includes 10 SMS and 100 email alerts, and Settings shows how many are left. USE CASES • Smart Home & IoT — Door alerts, water leaks, temperature warnings, and sensor readings. • Home Servers & Websites — Know when one goes down, and when it's back. • Scheduled Tasks — Find out when a nightly task fails, or never runs at all. • Builds & Deployments — Get notified when builds finish, tests fail, or releases go out. • Home Automation — Connect Home Assistant, Node-RED, or anything that can make web requests. KEY FEATURES • Override Focus — Important alerts can arrive as Time Sensitive notifications that get through Focus and Do Not Disturb. • Ping URLs — Every notification and monitor has its own web address. Nothing else to set up. • Notification History — Every alert with its time, channel, and delivery status. • Priority Levels — Normal or high, for each notification and monitor. • Pause Per Device — Pause a notification or monitor on one phone without changing it anywhere else. • Multi-Device — All your phones and tablets get your alerts. • Passwordless Sign-in — Magic link login, no passwords to manage. • Developer Friendly — A simple HTTP API and an API key for curl, Python, Node.js, or any language. • Open & Lightweight — No vendor lock-in, no bloated SDKs. GETTING STARTED Send yourself a notification: 1. Download the app and sign in with your email — no password needed. 2. Create a listener, e.g. "Front door opened", and choose push, SMS, email, or all three. 3. Copy its ping URL from the web portal at buildyournotification.com. 4. Open that URL from anything that can make a web request — even your browser: https://api.buildyournotification.com/api/ping/YOUR_PING_TOKEN 5. Your phone buzzes. Done. Watch something that must stay on: 1. Create a monitor, e.g. "Home server", and choose how often it checks in, say every 5 minutes. 2. Have it open the monitor's ping URL on that schedule. The app shows the URL, ready to copy or share. 3. If the check-ins stop, ByN alerts you that it's down, and again when it's back up. Full guide and API docs: https://www.buildyournotification.com/docs
Pocket Notifier
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Pocket Notifier turns just about anything — a server, a script, a cron job, a home-automation rule, a CI pipeline, a webhook — into a push notification on your iPhone and iPad. No code needed on the receiving end. How it works: 1. Create a notification group and get a unique API key. 2. Have any system send an HTTP POST to /api/notify with your key. 3. The notification arrives instantly on your devices. Features: • Unlimited notification groups, each with its own API key • Full notification history, with a home-screen widget for the latest • Mute individual groups per device when you want quiet • Teams (Premium): share a group so notifications reach every member Free plan: 100 notifications per month, 3 devices, 3 notification groups. Premium: a one-time purchase that unlocks unlimited notifications, devices, and groups, plus Teams.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ByN at none against Pocket Notifier's 1. ByN also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). Pocket Notifier's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs fortnightly). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Pocket Notifier sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. ByN asks for nothing beyond the download.
ByN ships an update fortnightly, Pocket Notifier every 5 days. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | ByN | Pocket Notifier |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 2 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 24 MB | 4 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ashwin Ashok | Vanmo IT AB |
In-app purchases
ByN
No in-app purchases
Pocket Notifier
- Premium$3.99









