Skip to content

Vesana on your phone

Vesana can be added to the home screen of any phone — Android, iPhone and iPad. There is nothing to download and no app store: Vesana is a PWA, meaning the regular web interface, installable and able to receive push notifications.

Requirement: HTTPS with a valid certificate

Browsers only allow installation and push notifications over a secure connection. If your instance runs over http:// or with a self-signed certificate, neither works on any device — regardless of what you configure inside Vesana. That is a browser rule, not a setting Vesana can work around.

Install

  1. Open Vesana in your browser (Chrome, Edge or Firefox).
  2. Under Settings → Push (or, for admins, on the Downloads page) tap "Install now" — the button appears as soon as the browser offers installation. Otherwise pick "Install app" / "Add to home screen" from the browser menu (⋮).
  3. Launch Vesana from the new icon.
  1. Open Vesana in Safari. Chrome and Firefox cannot do this on iOS — Apple only exposes the required capability to Safari.
  2. Tap the share icon at the bottom (square with an arrow).
  3. Choose "Add to Home Screen" and confirm.
  4. Launch Vesana from the new icon.

There is deliberately no install button on iOS — Apple offers no prompt, those three steps are the only way.

Chrome and Edge show an install icon in the address bar. Vesana then runs in its own window without browser chrome.

Enable push notifications

Push is enabled per device, not per account: if you want alerts on your work phone but not on your desktop, that is exactly what you get.

  1. In Vesana open Settings from the user menu, tab Push.
  2. Under "Push on this device" set the switch to "Signed in".
  3. Confirm the browser prompt.
  4. Use "Send test notification" to verify something actually arrives — every test notification appears separately.

On the phone: allow background activity

For notifications to arrive instantly even with a locked screen, the device must allow the browser or installed app to run in the background (battery optimisation). Otherwise the operating system holds push notifications back until the app is opened — where to change this depends on the device. Vesana itself sends pushes with high urgency so they are delivered immediately even in idle mode.

Install first on iPhone and iPad

While Vesana only runs as a Safari tab there, the push capability does not exist — the toggle will say so. It becomes available after "Add to Home Screen".

Which alerts arrive

That is decided by your alert rules, not by the device. For anything to be sent at all, a notification channel of type "Push aufs Smartphone" (push to phone) must exist and be used by a rule. On the channel you set the target users (empty = all users of the tenant); which statuses and whether recoveries go through the channel is set in the respective alert rule — per channel and escalation step. See Notification channels.

The channel states its own limit: the operating system can delay or suppress push notifications (battery saver, Doze) without Vesana seeing it. For alerts you must be able to rely on, also set up a Telegram or e-mail channel.

What a notification contains

  • A bundled notification lists the affected checks with their message.
  • Every alert states when the problem began ("since") — important because the operating system may delay delivery.
  • A recovery appears green (✅) and carries its message; UNKNOWN appears grey.
  • Every notification is a separate one — a recovery does not replace the alert of the same device.
  • Tapping opens the affected check in Vesana.

There is nothing for the operator to set up: Vesana generates the required keys (VAPID) itself when the first device registers. No Google account, no Firebase, no environment variable.

Managing your devices

Under Settings → Push → Your signed-in devices you see all devices signed in for your account, with the time of the last delivery. Each can be muted (stays signed in, gets nothing) or signed out for good. When a device signs in again, it keeps its mute state and device name.

What the app can do

Everything the web interface can do — it is the web interface. On narrow screens tables become readable cards, navigation folds into a menu, tab bars scroll sideways, and filters and dialogs open from the bottom. Error overview, host detail with history, ACK, downtimes and bulk actions all work on the go just like on the desktop. The top bar shows the menu, the current page, Send feedback and a search button; in the installed app, host and check detail pages get a back arrow. The menu also closes with a swipe to the left. In the installed app the interface cannot be enlarged by accident (no pinch, no double-tap zoom); in the browser zooming stays possible, and maps zoom in both. For feedback a title is enough, the description is optional.

Reload: at the very top of a page, pull down and let go once the circle turns coloured. This also works in the installed app, which has no reload button of its own. The app rotates to landscape with the device (Android picks this up after the app updates, which can take up to a day).

What is deliberately view-only on the phone

Anything that needs a mouse, dragging or width is not offered half-working on the phone — it is shown instead:

  • Map — zoom, pan, tap devices; moving and connecting on the desktop (hint "Edit on a desktop").
  • Dashboards — view, switch, share and manage (widgets are stacked, the state summary first); editing and arranging widgets on the desktop (⋯ menu "Edit (on desktop)").
  • Scripts — read and scroll; writing on the desktop ("Read-only on phones — edit on a desktop.").
  • Profiles — checks cannot be reordered by dragging on the phone; editing via the ⋯ menu works.

Limits
No offline mode Without a connection Vesana shows a notice page. Measurements are not cached — a monitoring view from two hours ago would be more misleading than none.
No biometric lock The device protects the app through its screen lock; Vesana does not add a second one.
iOS: installed app only Removing Vesana from the home screen also removes the push subscription. Re-enable it once after reinstalling.
Editing complex views Map, dashboard grid and scripts can be viewed on the phone but not edited — see above.
Delivery depends on the operating system Battery saver and Doze can hold pushes back — allow background activity (see above) and set up a second channel for important alerts.

Troubleshooting

The "Push on this device" toggle is missing or disabled. Vesana states the reason right at the toggle:

  • Not available without HTTPS — the instance is not reachable over a secure connection (see the box above).
  • Add to home screen first — iPhone/iPad without installation.
  • Once declined — Vesana isn't allowed to ask again — notifications were denied for this site once; the browser then never asks again. In a browser tab: icon on the left of the address bar (lock or sliders) → set "Notifications" to "Ask" or "Allow" → reload the page. In the installed app (Android): open Chrome → ⋮ → Settings → Site settings → Notifications → the address under "Blocked" → "Allow"; also check Android Settings → Apps → Vesana → Notifications.
  • Browser doesn't support this — the browser does not support push notifications.

The test notification arrives but real alerts do not. Then it is usually not the device but the rules: is there a "Push aufs Smartphone" channel? Is it referenced by an alert rule? Is the status that occurred selected for this channel in the rule (or "Recovery" for recoveries)? Are you one of the target users? If notifications only arrive when you open the app, background activity is not allowed (see above).

A device stopped receiving anything. Subscriptions expire when the app is uninstalled or the browser is cleared. Vesana removes such subscriptions on the next send; simply re-enable it on the device. When a device last received something is shown under Settings → Push for your devices; admins with the permission to create channels see the device list of all users under notification channels (column "Last used"). If a device's keys were silently renewed, the Global Log records it (category Mail / notification).