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How do messaging and notifications work?

Messages is where one-to-one and small-group conversations live. Notifications is where Collabhouse tells you about milestones, collaboration requests, and tips. They're separate pages, both reachable from the sidebar.

Written by Lisa Smith

For: Anyone using Collabhouse to talk to other artists or stay on top of activity You'll need: A plan that includes Messages (for direct messaging) Time: 3 minutes

Quick answer

Open Messages from the sidebar to see your conversations and start a new one. Open Notifications to see milestones, collaboration requests, and AI tips. Notifications also surface at the top of the app as a badge when there's something new.

Messages

Starting a conversation

  1. Open Messages from the sidebar.

  2. The left column lists your existing conversations. Tap one to open it.

  3. To start a new conversation, open the other person's profile (from Community, Collaborations, or Discovery) and tap Message.

  4. Type and send. Attachments (images, audio) work the same way as in group chat.

Group conversations vs group chats

  • Messages holds your direct conversations — one-to-one or small private threads you started yourself.

  • Groups (see article 9.2) have their own chat, scoped to group members. Group chats don't show up in your Messages list.

Read receipts and typing indicators

Messages shows when someone has read your message and when they're typing — the standard chat experience. If you don't want to send read receipts, that's not a per-conversation setting today.

Notifications

The Notifications page groups updates by type:

  • Milestones — your releases hit stream thresholds, new listener counts, performance updates.

  • Collaborations — someone wants to work with you, remix your track, or join your team.

  • AI tips — suggestions from AI (the in-app assistant) about how to grow your reach.

Tap any notification to open the related page (a release, a profile, a collaboration request). The badge in the header clears as you read them. You can also tap Mark all as read to clear the list.

Step-by-step: stay on top of activity

  1. Check Notifications when the badge shows a number — it's usually something time-sensitive (a collab request, a milestone).

  2. Open Messages at least once a day if you're actively collaborating; replies don't email you by default.

  3. For the deeper picture of what's happening in your community (posts, replies, likes), check Feed — see article 9.4.

Why it works this way

Direct messaging is gated to paid plans so that inboxes stay useful — no spam from drive-by accounts. Notifications are free for everyone, because they're how the app tells you something important happened, regardless of plan.

Common problems

  • I can't message someone — Either you're on a plan that doesn't include Messages, or the recipient has limited who can message them. Check your Subscription page; if that's fine, see article 4.1.

  • My Notifications list looks the same every time — The current notifications view shows recent activity but doesn't refresh in real time on every visit. Reload the page to pull the latest.

  • I missed a reply — Open Messages directly; conversation activity isn't (yet) summarised on the Notifications page. [TODO: confirm with product whether message activity will be added to Notifications.]

  • I want email notifications instead — Email preferences live on the account settings page. See article 11.4 for unsubscribe controls.

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