Your Teams desktop app stops showing notifications right after you sign in on your phone. The alert banner, the sound, and the taskbar badge all go silent. This happens because the mobile sign-in triggers a background refresh that resets the desktop notification state. This article explains why the desktop client loses its notification settings and gives you a step-by-step fix to restore them.
You will learn how to check your notification settings, repair the Teams cache, and re-register the app with Windows. The fix takes about five minutes and works for both Windows 11 and Windows 10.
Key Takeaways: Restore Teams Desktop Notifications After a Mobile Sign-in
- Teams > Settings > Notifications: Re-enable the notification toggles that the mobile sign-in may have turned off.
- %appdata%\Microsoft\Teams: Clear the cached notification preferences to force Teams to rebuild them on next launch.
- Windows Settings > System > Notifications: Confirm that Teams is allowed to send notifications and that Focus assist is off.
Why Mobile Sign-in Silences Teams Desktop Notifications
When you sign in to Teams on your phone, the desktop client receives a push message that tells it to refresh the user profile. During this refresh, Teams re-reads the notification settings from the server. If your mobile app has a different notification configuration, the desktop client adopts that configuration. For example, if you muted notifications on your phone, the desktop client may apply the same mute state.
The refresh also touches the local cache. The cache stores your notification preferences in a JSON file. A failed or interrupted refresh can corrupt that file, leaving Teams unable to read your settings. When Teams cannot read the settings, it falls back to the default state, which is to show no notifications.
Windows itself can also block the notifications. The Teams desktop app registers itself with the Windows notification center. If the registration is lost during the mobile sign-in, Windows treats Teams as a new app and applies the default notification policy, which may be set to off.
What the Mobile Sign-in Changes in Your Profile
The mobile sign-in changes three things: the notification preference file, the Windows app registration, and the Teams background process state. The preference file is located at %appdata%\Microsoft\Teams\settings.json. The Windows registration is stored in the registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Notifications. The background process is the Teams.exe process that runs in the system tray.
Each of these can independently block notifications. The fix must address all three to be reliable.
Steps to Restore Teams Desktop Notifications After a Mobile Sign-in
- Open Teams notification settings
Launch Teams on your desktop. Click your profile picture at the top right, then select Settings. In the left sidebar, choose Notifications. Review each toggle under Notify me about. Set every toggle to On. Pay special attention to Messages, Mentions, and Channel mentions. Click Save. - Check Windows notification permission for Teams
Press Win + I to open Windows Settings. Go to System > Notifications. Scroll down to the list of apps and find Microsoft Teams. Confirm the toggle next to it is On. Click the app name and verify that Notifications, Notification sound, and Badges on taskbar are all enabled. If any toggle is off, turn it on. - Turn off Focus assist
In the same Notifications page, click Focus assist. Select Off. If Focus assist is set to Priority only or Alarms only, Teams notifications will be suppressed. Set it to Off for a permanent fix. - Clear the Teams notification cache
Close Teams completely. Right-click the Teams icon in the system tray and select Quit. Press Win + R, type %appdata%\Microsoft\Teams, and press Enter. In the folder that opens, locate the file named settings.json. Right-click it and select Rename. Change the name to settings_old.json. Do not delete it yet. Relaunch Teams. The app will create a new settings.json file with default notification settings. - Restart the Teams background process
After relaunching Teams, check the system tray. If you see the Teams icon, right-click it and select Quit. Then open Teams again from the Start menu. This forces Teams to re-register with the Windows notification center. - Test the notification
Ask a colleague to send you a direct message or a mention in a channel. Wait 10 seconds. You should see a banner, hear the sound, and see the taskbar badge. If the notification appears, the fix is complete.
Alternative Method: Repair the Teams Installation
If the cache clearing does not work, repair the Teams app. Close Teams. Open Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features. Find Microsoft Teams in the list. Right-click it and select Repair. Follow the prompts. This reinstalls the app components without deleting your chats or files.
If Notifications Still Do Not Appear After the Main Fix
Teams Shows No Notifications but the App Works Fine
This usually means the Windows notification registration is still broken. Open PowerShell as administrator. Run the command Get-AppxPackage Teams | Reset-AppxPackage. This resets the Teams app package and rebuilds the notification registration. Restart Teams after the command finishes.
Notifications Work on the Phone but Not on the Desktop
The mobile sign-in may have set your presence to Inactive or Away. When you are away, Teams suppresses notifications by default. Click your profile picture and set your status to Available. Then check the notification settings again.
Only Sound Is Missing
Open Teams Settings > Notifications. Scroll to the bottom and click the Sound option. Select the default sound. If the sound is set to None, Teams will not play any audio. Also check Windows Volume Mixer: right-click the speaker icon and make sure Teams is not muted.
Team Notifications Appear but Only in the Activity Feed
This happens when the banner style is set to Only show in feed. Go to Teams Settings > Notifications. For each event, click the dropdown and choose Banner and feed. This shows the pop-up banner and the feed entry.
Teams Desktop vs Teams Mobile Notification Behavior
| Item | Teams Desktop (Windows) | Teams Mobile (iOS/Android) |
|---|---|---|
| Notification source | Uses the Windows notification center | Uses the OS push service |
| Settings location | Teams Settings > Notifications and Windows Settings | Teams Settings > Notifications and OS settings |
| Cache file | %appdata%\Microsoft\Teams\settings.json | Stored in the app sandbox |
| Effect of mobile sign-in | May reset notification preferences | No effect on desktop settings |
| Repair method | Clear cache or repair installation | Force stop the app or reinstall |
The desktop client is more sensitive to profile changes because it stores settings locally. The mobile client relies on the server. That is why a mobile sign-in can break desktop notifications but not the other way around.
You now know how to restore Teams notifications after a mobile sign-in. Start by checking your notification settings, then clear the cache, and test with a colleague. If the issue persists, repair the Teams installation from Control Panel. For a quick check, press Ctrl + Shift + M to open the activity feed and see if notifications are being logged there.