You signed in to Microsoft Teams on your phone, and now mentions in chat no longer trigger a notification on your desktop or mobile device. This problem often appears after a fresh sign-in on a new device because Teams resets notification settings or the device syncs with a different profile. The cause is usually a combination of disabled notification policies, incorrect activity settings, or a stale app cache. This article explains why mentions stop alerting you and gives you a step-by-step fix to restore alerts on both desktop and mobile.
Key Takeaways: Restore Teams Mention Alerts After Mobile Sign-in
- Teams > Settings > Notifications > Mentions: Choose Banner and Email to get a visible alert for every mention.
- Teams mobile app > Profile > Notifications: Enable Allow notifications to let the phone receive mention alerts.
- Teams admin center > Messaging policies > Mentions: Verify the policy allows notifications for mentions in your organization.
Why Mention Alerts Stop After a Mobile Sign-in
When you sign in to Teams on a mobile device, the app creates a new device profile and syncs your notification settings from the server. If your organization has a messaging policy that disables mention notifications, or if you previously turned off alerts in the desktop app, the mobile sign-in can overwrite your local preferences. Teams treats each device as a separate notification endpoint, so a mobile sign-in may reset the alert behavior on all devices.
Another common cause is the notification policy assignment in the Teams admin center. Administrators can block mention notifications entirely, or they can set them to only show in the activity feed without a banner. If your policy changed recently, the mobile sign-in may pull the new policy and apply it immediately.
How Teams Handles Notification Settings Across Devices
Teams stores notification preferences per user, but each device caches its own copy. When you sign in on a new device, Teams downloads the server-side settings and merges them with the device cache. If the cache is corrupt or the server settings are outdated, the merge can fail and disable mention alerts. The activity feed still shows the mention, but no banner or sound appears.
Steps to Diagnose and Fix Mention Alerts After a Mobile Sign-in
Follow these steps in order. Start with the simplest fix and move to the more advanced ones only if needed.
- Check the desktop notification settings
Open Teams on your desktop. Click your profile picture at the top right, then select Settings. Go to Notifications and find the Mentions section. Set the dropdown to Banner and email. This ensures you get a visible alert and an email for every mention. - Enable notifications on the mobile app
Open Teams on your phone. Tap your profile picture, then select Notifications. Toggle on Allow notifications. Make sure the switch for Mentions is also on. If it is off, turn it on and test with a mention from another account. - Clear the Teams cache on your mobile device
A stale cache can prevent the app from reading new notification settings. On Android, go to Settings > Apps > Microsoft Teams > Storage > Clear cache. On iOS, delete and reinstall the Teams app. Sign in again and test a mention. - Verify the messaging policy in the Teams admin center
If you are an administrator, go to Teams admin center > Messaging policies. Select the policy assigned to the affected user. Scroll to Mentions and confirm it is set to On. If it is Off, change it to On and save. Wait 10 minutes for the policy to propagate. - Check the activity feed settings
In the desktop app, go to Settings > Notifications > Activity feed. Ensure that Mentions is set to Show in feed, banner and email. Sometimes the mobile sign-in resets this to Show in feed only, which hides the banner. - Sign out and sign back in on all devices
Sign out of Teams on your mobile device and desktop. Then sign in again on the desktop first, followed by the mobile device. This forces a fresh sync of notification settings from the server.
If Teams Still Has Issues After the Main Fix
Teams Shows No Notification Banner for Mentions
If the banner still does not appear, the problem may be with the Windows notification settings. Open Windows Settings > System > Notifications. Find Microsoft Teams and confirm that Notifications are enabled. Also check the Focus assist settings. If Focus assist is set to Priority only, it can block Teams banners. Set Focus assist to Off or add Teams to the priority list.
Mentions Alert Only on Mobile, Not on Desktop
This usually means the desktop app has a different notification profile. Go to the desktop app Settings > Notifications and verify the Mentions dropdown. If it is set to Only show in feed, change it to Banner and email. Then sign out and sign back in to refresh the local cache.
No Email Alert for Mentions
Email alerts require the policy to allow email notifications. Check the Teams admin center > Messaging policies > Email notifications. If this is Off, you will not receive an email for mentions. Set it to On and save. Also confirm that your email address is correct in Teams Settings > Profile.
Teams Desktop vs Teams Mobile: Mention Alert Settings
| Item | Teams Desktop | Teams Mobile |
|---|---|---|
| Mention notification control | Settings > Notifications > Mentions dropdown | Profile > Notifications > Mentions toggle |
| Banner and sound | Set Mentions to Banner and email | Enable Allow notifications and Mentions toggle |
| Email alert | Controlled by the same Mentions dropdown | Controlled by the same server-side policy |
| Cache reset method | Clear cache via Run dialog or reinstall | Clear cache in Android settings or reinstall on iOS |
| Policy enforcement | Applies immediately after policy change | May require sign-out and sign-in to apply |
After you complete these steps, you should receive a banner, sound, and email alert for every mention in Teams. Test the fix by sending a mention from a secondary account. If the alert still does not appear, check the Windows notification settings and the messaging policy again. For advanced control, use the Teams admin center to adjust the global notification policy to match your needs.