An ntfy alternative that loves iOS

July 20, 2026 · 4 min read

ntfy deserves its popularity: open source, self-hostable, unlimited on your own box. But if your daily phone is an iPhone – or you never wanted to run a server in the first place – its trade-offs start to show.

Where ntfy struggles

iOS is the weak spot. Apple forbids persistent background connections, so delivery must go through APNs – ntfy's own docs and issue tracker are frank about the iOS app lagging behind Android in features and reliability.
The topic is the password. On ntfy.sh, anyone who guesses your topic name can post to it (or read it, unless you reserve topics with a paid plan).
Self-hosting is work. A server to update, TLS to renew – great if you enjoy it, overhead if you just want your phone to buzz.

The Webhooky way

Webhooky is a native app for iOS and Android delivering through APNs/FCM – the same infrastructure as any messenger. No server, no account: install the app and your endpoint URL with a random 24-character key is ready.

« ntfy »
curl -d "Backup done" ntfy.sh/my-secret-topic

« Webhooky »
curl -X POST https://api.webhooky.app/YOUR_KEY \
  -d '{"title":"✅ Backup done","sound":"level_up_2"}'

On top: 40 notification sounds (per endpoint and per message), structured title/text instead of raw body dumps, and webhooks from Stripe, Shopify or GitHub can post directly – unknown JSON falls back to your configured texts.

When ntfy stays the better pick

If self-hosting is the point – data sovereignty, unlimited volume, Android as your main platform – ntfy remains the right tool, and honestly so. Webhooky is for the other case: it just works, especially on iOS, free for the first 100 notifications. The full comparison including Pushover is here.

Get Webhooky

Free for your first 100 notifications – set up your endpoint in two minutes.