If you use the Velaro Messaging desktop app (V27) and also have browser notifications allowed for messaging.velaro.com, you can get two alerts for every new conversation: one from the desktop app and one from your browser. This article explains why, compares every way to run Velaro Messaging (browser, installed browser app, desktop app, and the iPhone, iPad and Android apps), recommends combinations, and shows how to turn browser notifications off in each common browser.

This article is for Velaro Messaging (V27), where you sign in at messaging.velaro.com. If you sign in at app.velaro.com, see Avoid Double Alerts From Your Browser and the Desktop Client (V11).

Why you can get two alerts

Velaro sends each new conversation, message and assignment to every place you are signed in, and also keeps a backup path to your browser. This is designed for reliability: if a tab is asleep or a connection drops, another path still reaches you, so a conversation is not missed.

Modern browsers add to this. When a website asks to show notifications and you choose Allow, the browser remembers it for that site, in that browser and profile. After that, Velaro can send a notification to the browser through the browser's own push service, and your computer shows it even when the Velaro tab is in the background or closed, as long as the browser itself is running.

The desktop app is a separate program. It shows its own native alerts and does not need the browser permission. A website is not allowed to see what other programs on your computer are doing, so the browser and the desktop app cannot tell each other that one of them already alerted you. Each one does its job, and you see the event twice.

Velaro cannot safely turn the browser's alerts off for you, because only you can change a permission your browser holds. That is why the fix is a one-time change in your browser.

Ways to run Velaro Messaging

The iPhone, iPad and Android apps are made for mobile work. They are not as feature rich as the desktop app or the browser version, so use them to stay reachable, and use the desktop app or the browser for your main day.

Recommended combinations

Turn browser notifications off for Velaro

Do this in every browser and profile where you ever allowed notifications for Velaro. An app you installed from the browser uses the same setting as the browser.

Google Chrome

1. Open messaging.velaro.com in Chrome.
2. Choose the icon at the left of the address bar (two sliders or a padlock).
3. Choose Site settings.
4. Find Notifications and change it to Block.

You can also paste chrome://settings/content/notifications into the address bar, find messaging.velaro.com under Allowed to send notifications, choose the three dots next to it, and choose Block or Remove.

Microsoft Edge

1. Open messaging.velaro.com in Edge.
2. Choose the padlock at the left of the address bar, then Permissions for this site.
3. Change Notifications to Block.

You can also paste edge://settings/content/notifications into the address bar, find messaging.velaro.com under Allow, choose the three dots next to it, and choose Block or Remove.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Open the Firefox menu, then Settings.
2. Choose Privacy & Security and scroll to Permissions.
3. Next to Notifications, choose Settings.
4. Find messaging.velaro.com, change its status to Block, and choose Save Changes.

Apple Safari on a Mac

1. In Safari, open the Safari menu, then Settings.
2. Choose Websites, then Notifications in the left list.
3. Find messaging.velaro.com and change it to Deny.

Brave

1. Paste brave://settings/content/notifications into the address bar.
2. Find messaging.velaro.com in the allowed list, choose the three dots, and choose Block or Remove.

Check that it worked

Reload messaging.velaro.com. The icon at the left of the address bar should show notifications as blocked. Start a test conversation in your queue. You should see one alert, from the desktop app. If you ever want browser alerts back, change the same setting to Allow.

Controlling what you see in the browser and in the desktop app

Open Profile, then Notifications. These settings decide which events alert you, and they are separate from the browser permission above.

Alert routing

You are alerted only when all three match: the channel, who is handling the conversation, and the kind of event.

• Channel: Web chat, SMS, WhatsApp, Apple Messages, Email, and Phone / IVR bot conversations.
• Handling: Mine, Unassigned / Incoming, Bot-handled, and Teammates'. Tick any combination.
• Kind: Conversations, Tickets, Calls and Visitors.
• Phone bot chats: off by default. Turn on to be alerted when an inbound phone bot conversation starts.

Alert routing is remembered separately in each browser and in the desktop app on each computer. That means you can keep the desktop app fully alerting while you set the browser to a quieter routing, for example alerting only for Mine. This is the supported way to have different alerts in the browser and in the desktop app. It filters which events alert you. It does not change the browser's notification permission, so to stop browser notifications completely, use the permission steps above.

Alert toggles

• New conversation alerts. An alert when a new conversation enters the queue.
• Show conversation assigned alerts. An alert when a conversation is assigned to you.
• Show new message alerts. An alert when a visitor sends a message in your conversation.
• Unassigned conversation warning. A warning before your conversation is unassigned for inactivity.
• Text alerts. SMS text alerts for new conversations. Required for the SMS alert events on the same page.

The page also lists the events you can send to your phone by text, such as a new conversation in the queue, a missed chat, an unassign warning and a ticket follow-up reminder.

Toast notifications and sounds

• Sticky alerts keep a toast on screen until you close it. Alert duration sets how long a toast stays when it is not sticky. Toasts appear inside Velaro, not in the browser or the operating system.
• Under sounds you can turn sounds on or off, use one sound for everything or pick a sound for new live chats, new text and SMS, new phone calls, new bot conversations, and queue alerts, and repeat alerts for unread messages.

Automatic reminder in the desktop app

When you run the Velaro Messaging desktop app, and Velaro sees that browser notifications are also registered for your account, the app shows a one-time note: browser alerts may also reach you, so you may see each alert twice. The note links to this article and can be dismissed. It only tells you. It does not change anything on your account or in your browser. Velaro cannot see your browser's settings, so the note says "may" and not "will".

Quick fixes

• Every alert appears twice. Turn browser notifications off for messaging.velaro.com in the browser, or close the browser tab.
• I turned off browser notifications and now get nothing. Check that the desktop app is open and you are signed in, that your status is Available, and that Windows Do Not Disturb or Focus assist is off.
• I get a second alert on my phone. That is the phone app doing its job. Silence Velaro in the phone's notification settings while you are at your desk.
• Alerts arrive when I thought the browser was closed. Chrome and Edge can keep running in the background after you close the last window. Blocking the notification permission stops it.