What’s New: Gentle High Priority Alerts

A calmer way to respond quickly, without the shock.

I’m really excited to share a new feature that’s been close to our hearts (and ears 😉): Gentle High Priority Alerts. This one’s for everyone who’s ever been jolted out of sleep, or even deep focus, by a high-priority notification/”page” that felt more like an alarm clock than an alert.

Where the idea came from

The feature was born out of conversations with doctors, on-call practitioners, field engineers, IT engineers, and software teams who are on call around the clock. A common issue they recently shared was that the traditional high-priority alerts were too abrupt. Whether they were doing rounds at the hospital or debugging an incident mid-sprint, the first few notifications often felt like an unnecessary shock to the system. What they really wanted was the safety of a high-priority notification, but only after being given a fair chance to respond to a quieter, less disruptive alert first.

So we asked: What if there was a way to ease into urgency?

Meet Gentle High Priority Alerts

Now, when you enable this setting, your high-priority alerts will start with a softer, low-priority tone that you can fully customize. You decide how long the gentle period lasts—say, the first 5 alerts—and if the message still goes unread, the system will progressively escalate to your usual high-priority tone. That way, your attention is captured without chaos—but you’ll still never miss something critical.

Here’s what you can customize:

• 🎵 Pick your soft sound: Any low-priority tone that works for your environment.

• ⏱️ Set the Gentle Period: Choose how many alert repetitions should stay soft.

• 🔁 Enable Progressive Alerting: The alert grows louder if it’s still unread.

Why this matters

Sometimes, you just need a gentle nudge—especially at 3 a.m. or during a heads-down coding session or during night shifts between rounds as an on-call resident. But we also know that certain messages must get through. This feature strikes the right balance: it gives you a moment to respond without panic, and it builds urgency only if needed.

We built this to be more human. More thoughtful. And ultimately, more helpful.

Ready to try it? Go to your alert settings, toggle on Gentle High Priority Alerts, and enjoy a quieter start—with a built-in safety net.