On a computer or an Android phone, visitors tap Allow and they are subscribed. On an iPhone or iPad, the same steps do nothing. This is not a bug in your site or your plugin. It is how Apple handles web push.
The Apple rule
Safari on iOS and iPadOS can receive web push only for sites that have been added to the Home Screen, and only on iOS 16.4 or later. A page that is just open in a normal Safari tab cannot receive push from any site. Nothing in WordPress can change that.
What your visitor needs to do
- Make sure the iPhone or iPad is on iOS 16.4 or later.
- Open your site in Safari.
- Tap the Share button, then Add to Home Screen.
- Open your site from the new Home Screen icon, not from Safari.
- In that window, tap the bell or the Allow button and accept the permission.
What the plugin does for you
The plugin provides the home-screen icon and the web app manifest that iPhones need. If your site has no icon, it uses a built-in one until you set your own under Settings, General, Site Icon.
If “Add to Home Screen” does not behave
- Check your permalinks. If your site uses Plain permalinks, push still works, but the install prompt needs the manifest, and that relies on permalink rewrite rules. Go to Settings, Permalinks and choose any option except Plain.
- Set a Site Icon under Settings, General.
- Purge your caches. A cached copy of the manifest or service worker can break things. See the caching plugin fix.
If notifications still do not appear
- On the iPhone, check Settings, then Notifications, and make sure your site’s Home Screen icon is allowed to send them.
- Check whether a Focus mode is silencing notifications.
- Remember that Safari does not show action buttons. A tap on the notification still opens your link.
Tell your visitors
Because the steps are different on iPhone, a short line on your site helps: “On iPhone, add this site to your Home Screen to get notifications.” Our troubleshooting guide lists more fixes, and the documentation explains each setting. If you are starting from scratch, read how to add push notifications to WordPress.