How Reminders and Notifications Work

PrepSmart sends one gentle, optional reminder: a nudge to sit down and build your Weekly Plan. That's it — no spam, no marketing blasts. This page explains what the reminder is, why it exists, and how to change, turn off, or re-enable it.

The Weekly Planning Reminder

During setup, PrepSmart asks you to pick a day and a time for a weekly planning reminder. When that day and time roll around, your phone shows a simple local notification reminding you to open the app and plan the week's meals.

You choose:

• A day — for example, Sunday (a common choice, since many people plan and shop on the weekend).
• A time — picked on the hour, like 10:00 AM or 6:00 PM.

This is a real device notification scheduled on your phone. It fires on your local time, every week, on the day and hour you picked.

Why the Reminder Exists

Meal planning works best as a small, repeatable habit. The reminder exists to give you one gentle weekly cue — a moment to open PrepSmart, pull recipes from your Recipe Box and the creators you follow, and lay out your Weekly Plan before the week gets busy.

It's a nudge, not a nag. There's only ever one weekly reminder, you pick exactly when it lands, and you can change or silence it anytime. PrepSmart will never bury you in notifications.

Changing or Turning Off the Reminder

You can adjust the reminder whenever it stops fitting your routine — open Settings, then find the Reminders (notifications) section.

From there you can:

• Change the day — move it to whatever day you actually plan, like Friday or Monday.
• Change the time — pick a different hour that fits your schedule.
• Turn it off — switch the weekly reminder off entirely. Everything in the app keeps working exactly the same; you just won't get the weekly nudge.

Changes apply right away. If you turn the reminder off and later decide you want it back, return to the same place in Settings and switch it on again.

If You Denied Notifications at Setup

When you first set up PrepSmart, your phone shows a short permission prompt asking whether to allow notifications. If you tapped Don't Allow (or dismissed it), PrepSmart can't send the weekly reminder — even if it's switched on inside the app. The block lives at the device level, so you re-enable it in your phone's settings, not in PrepSmart.

On iPhone (iOS):

1. Open your device Settings app.
2. Scroll to and tap PrepSmart.
3. Tap Notifications.
4. Turn on Allow Notifications.

On Android:

1. Open your device Settings app.
2. Tap Apps, then PrepSmart.
3. Tap Notifications.
4. Turn on Allow notifications (wording varies slightly by phone).

Once notifications are allowed at the device level, open PrepSmart, go to Settings > Reminders, and confirm your day and time are set. Your weekly planning reminder will start arriving as scheduled.

Quick Answers

• Will I get lots of notifications? No. The only scheduled reminder is the weekly planning nudge you set up yourself.
• Do I need to keep the reminder on? No. It's completely optional. Turning it off changes nothing else about the app.
• I'm not getting my reminder. Check two things: that the reminder is switched on in Settings > Reminders, and that notifications are allowed for PrepSmart in your phone's device settings (see above).
• Can I have more than one reminder? The app sends one weekly planning reminder. You choose the single day and time that work best for you.

Still Need Help?

If your reminder still isn't showing up after enabling notifications at the device level, contact our support team and we'll help you sort it out.