Get a phone notification when a website changes

ntfy easiest

ntfy is a free push notification app. There is no account and no sign-up: a topic name works like a private channel.

1. Install the ntfy app on your phone (Android or iPhone) and open it.
2. In the app, tap + and subscribe to a topic name. Any name works, but anyone who knows it can read it, so make it hard to guess.
3. In RefreshWatch, open the options page and choose the Phone alerts tab. Under Send with, pick ntfy.
4. Leave Server as https://ntfy.sh (or enter your own server). In Topic, type the same topic name, or click Make a random topic and subscribe to that one in the app.
5. Click Save destination. Chrome asks to let RefreshWatch send to the ntfy server; allow it. Nothing else is granted.
6. Click Send test. Your phone should buzz within a few seconds. Tapping the alert opens the page.

Discord

A Discord notification arrives in a channel of your own server, and the Discord phone app pushes it to you.

1. In Discord, open Server Settings, then Integrations, then Webhooks, and choose New Webhook. You need permission to manage webhooks on the server.
2. Pick the channel the alerts should go to, give the webhook a name, and click Copy Webhook URL.
3. In RefreshWatch, open Phone alerts, pick Discord, and paste the address into Webhook URL.
4. Click Save destination. Chrome asks to let RefreshWatch send to discord.com; allow it. Nothing else is granted.
5. Click Send test and check the channel.

Telegram

A Telegram alert goes to your own chat, through a small helper account that you create for yourself in a minute.

1. In Telegram, open a chat with @BotFather, send /newbot, and follow the questions. It replies with a token that looks like 123456789:AA….
2. Open a chat with the new account you just made and send it any message, such as “hi”. This lets it message you back.
3. Find your chat ID: open https://api.telegram.org/bot<your token>/getUpdates in a browser tab and look for "chat":{"id":…}. For a channel you can use its name, such as @mychannel.
4. In RefreshWatch, open Phone alerts, pick Telegram, and fill in Bot token and Chat ID.
5. Click Save destination. Chrome asks to let RefreshWatch send to api.telegram.org; allow it. Nothing else is granted.
6. Click Send test and check Telegram.

Slack

A Slack alert goes to a channel you choose, using Slack's incoming webhooks.

1. Go to api.slack.com/apps, create an app for your workspace, and turn on Incoming Webhooks.
2. Choose Add New Webhook to Workspace, pick a channel, and copy the webhook URL.
3. In RefreshWatch, open Phone alerts, pick Slack, and paste the address into Webhook URL.
4. Click Save destination. Chrome asks to let RefreshWatch send to hooks.slack.com; allow it. Nothing else is granted.
5. Click Send test and check the channel. The Slack phone app shows it as a normal message.

Any other app (JSON POST)

Anything that accepts a web request can receive RefreshWatch alerts: a Home Assistant or n8n flow, your own script, or a service such as webhook.site for testing.

1. Get an https:// address from the app that should receive the alert.
2. In RefreshWatch, open Phone alerts, pick Other (JSON POST), and paste it into Address (URL).
3. Click Save destination. Chrome asks to let RefreshWatch send to that address; allow it. Nothing else is granted.
4. Click Send test. The app should receive a request with the test event below.

Every alert is a POST with Content-Type: application/json, no cookies and no other headers. If the receiver needs a key, put it in the address. The body always has these fields:

{
  "source": "RefreshWatch",
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "event": "price",
  "title": "Price dropped below 120",
  "pageTitle": "Waxed Field Jacket",
  "url": "https://shop.example/jacket",
  "text": "$119.00",
  "at": "2026-10-24T09:30:00.000Z"
}