Bell notifications vs push notifications: what’s the difference?

Bell notifications are in-app notifications.

They are always available inside Willow360 and appear under the bell icon in the top-right corner of the screen. Whenever you open Willow360, this is where you see everything that needs your attention — approvals, signing requests, failed actions, missing information, and other workflow tasks. The number of notifications is shown on the badge. 

If you are signed in to Willow360, you do not need push notifications to see what’s happening. All notifications will already be visible via the bell icon and the relevant workflow to-do lists.

Push notifications, on the other hand, are attention alerts.
Their purpose is to notify you when you are not currently signed in to Willow360 or not actively looking at it. A push notification is sent to your browser to let you know that something new has appeared in your bell notifications or that a job has completed.

In simple terms:

Bell notifications tell you what needs attention once you open Willow360

Push notifications tell you that something needs attention when Willow360 is not open

Push notifications do not replace bell notifications — they simply act as an external reminder that there is something waiting for you inside the application .

How this works in practice

If you are working in Willow360, you rely on bell notifications

If you are away from Willow360, push notifications alert you that you should open it

Turning push notifications off will not hide or remove any notifications inside Willow360

Turning push notifications on does not create extra tasks — it only mirrors important events externally

This distinction helps keep Willow360 calm and focused while ensuring users don’t miss time-sensitive tasks when they are not actively using the system.