How to get an alert when a word shows up in an iPhone notification

By Gustavo Takechi, developer of NotiKeep. Updated October 24, 2026.

What it’s for

So you don’t miss the message that matters among groups and apps that send notifications all day. A few examples, with the notification each alert would catch:

How to create an alert

1. Set up capture, if you haven’t yet: the alert only sees the notifications that reach NotiKeep.
2. Open the Alerts tab and tap + or one of the ideas.
3. Type the word or phrase. If you want, choose an icon, an app, and a sender (“From”), by typing the name or picking from your contacts.
4. Tap Test and type some text to see which words the alert finds. The editor also shows the most recent saved message that matches.

1. Install NotiKeep on an iPhone running iOS 27 or later.
2. Open the app and tap Set up. Tap Add to Shortcuts, choose Shortcuts, and confirm the import of Salvar no NotiKeep.
3. In Shortcuts, open Salvar no NotiKeep, tap Edit, then the trigger’s › arrow, and turn on Automation.
4. WhatsApp is already selected in the trigger. Tap + to add other installed apps. Leave the filters empty to save everything.
5. Back in NotiKeep, tap Test now. The app sends a test notification and confirms within seconds that the automation is on.

How NotiKeep matches words

• Capitalization, accents, punctuation, emoji, and filler words such as “of” and “for” don’t count.
• Every word in the phrase has to appear, in any order, in the sender’s name, the group, or the text.
• Each word matches the start of a word in the message, including plurals: “deal” finds “deals,” but “approved” doesn’t find “disapproved.”
• Words of up to 4 letters and numbers have to match whole: “tax” doesn’t find “taxi.”
• Written together or apart both count: “black friday” finds “#BlackFriday.”

Focus and bursts

Alerts are time-sensitive, so they get through Focus; you can turn that off for each alert. When several messages with the word arrive in a row, each one triggers an alert, but only the first one in a minute plays a sound and gets through Focus.

Free plan and Pro

The free plan includes one active alert, with the message text for the unlocked app. If the word shows up in a locked app, you get an alert without the text, at most once every 6 hours per alert. Pro unlocks unlimited alerts, in every app.

What’s not covered

• Apps that aren’t in the capture automation’s trigger.
• Ignored conversations and duplicate notifications.
• Messages that didn’t arrive as a notification, such as those in a conversation open on screen.

Alerts only use what’s already saved on your iPhone. Nothing is sent to a server. See also notification history.

Frequently asked questions